Norman Lab 16

[capt.chaos]

I picked up a pair of Norman Lab model 16's today. I can't seem to find any information about these speakers. I have search the Internet and found nothing. Does anyone know anything about these speakers?

 

[orionkc]

I've never heard of them, but they sure look nice. :thmbsp:

 

[peterfranks]

oh wow. those are nice - I just picked up a pair of Norman Model 7s and brought them back up to snuff. They are a great speaker.

Have you had a chance to fire them up yet? What size are the woofers?

 

[Deep South]

I saw a set of those on ebay recently, not top of the line but definately interesting.:thmbsp:

 

[capt.chaos]

I am sure they are far from the top of the line but they looked unusual. I certainly did not need them but they looked to be in nice shape and were cool. They look to me like a model 7 or 8 that has been squished flat.

 

[capt.chaos]

oh wow. those are nice - I just picked up a pair of Norman Model 7s and brought them back up to snuff. They are a great speaker.

Have you had a chance to fire them up yet? What size are the woofers?

Congratulations on your model 7's. I think the woofers are ten inches but I will have to measure them when I get home to be sure. I have not had a chance to hook them up yet.

 

[gbroot]

Congratulations on your model 7's. I think the woofers are ten inches but I will have to measure them when I get home to be sure. I have not had a chance to hook them up yet.

I like my Model 11's a lot. Looks like the same woofer and tweeter used in the 11's. I'm curious how they sound with the unusual cabinet. :yes:

 

[cubdog]

I love the look of those. I'd buy a pair, if I ever saw them, based on the looks alone. So how do they sound?

cubdog

 

[capt.chaos]

I finally hooked up the Normans and they sound great. However they don't seem to be very efficient . I have to crank them to eleven to get the same sound level as my Cornwall's at two.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I finally hooked up the Normans and they sound great. However they don't seem to be very efficient . I have to crank them to eleven to get the same sound level as my Cornwall's at two.

That's about right, cornwalls play really loud with no input.

 

[mikewish]

Looks like Dave's place.

 

[capt.chaos]

Looks like Dave's place.

That it is:thmbsp: Home of the forensic coneologist.
He is one of my regular pushers.
I am a audio junkie.

 

[new2ltrk2009]

They look very cool!! now I have to add the model 16 to my NL collection wish list...how is the bass on them and have you checked out the inside of them yet? wonder about the x-over for the woofer....

 

[capt.chaos]

The bass is good for the size of the speaker. I have not opened the up yet.
I wish I could find the specs on them.

 

[stickman]

The drivers look to have been sourced from Phillips with the woofers coming from the US based Amperex Division. Those woofs look identical to units used in many Design Acoustics D series speakers back in the 1970's. With a good cross-over and proper cabinet tuning I would expect them to sound quite good, but as mentioned efficiency is not a strong point of such a system. The cabinet designs are totally cool though!

 

[capt.chaos]

Thanks Stickman.

 

[peterfranks]

but as mentioned efficiency is not a strong point of such a system. The cabinet designs are totally cool though!

My NL Model 7s are less efficient than my main speakers - Polk Monitor 5s and EPIs. Unfortunately I don't have a large collection of speakers by which to compare. But I really don't have to add much extra volume to them to make them sound really good - they just need another notch or so from the Sansui 7070. They sound too good to be too concerned about their efficiency.

 

[capt.chaos]

I agree Peterfranks they do sound good. Like you say I will turn them up a couple of notches.

 

[basicblues]

Looks like Dave's place.

If that's Dave's place, he's cleaned up a lot. I know he moved a while back...

 

[basicblues]

I picked up a pair of Norman Lab model 16's today. I can't seem to find any information about these speakers. I have search the Internet and found nothing. Does anyone know anything about these speakers?

I saw these speaker sometime a while back. Notice the tweeter on the left speaker, it's not installed correctly - dead give away it's the same set I saw.

I've seen about a half dozen of these or so, they were not a big hit and more experimental than anything else. These were manufactured around 1981 and 1982.

The drivers in your speakers are likely not original to the cabinets but they do appear to be Credence drivers but as fat as that roll is on the rubber surrounds there's small chance they could be very early CTS drivers which NL used in the early days.