north creek music speaker kits


Well now that George has closed up shop on His Kits and He sold a lot in the last 3 months what do you think . I am looking for your thoughts on the Manifest kit or any other of His kits . I know some of you must of ordered some of the kits did you make your own cabinets or did Lee Taylor make them? What do you think of the sound I ordered the Manifest kit and the cabinets are being made by a local craftsman now . I should have them in a week or two I hope . The wood is a waterfall Bubinga on the sides and top and a pommel bubinga for the fascia should look great. Marc
lake513
I ordered some of the Signature Rhythms Revelators when he announced he was getting out of the kit business and they are great speakers. The vast number of orders that came in after that announcement must have made him re-evaluate the decision. He is still preparing his extremely high quality kits.
Musicfile; I would think Kitty Kat looks very nice but you need to place it very close to the back wall a few inch's . The fiesta and casita are two I would like to buy if I set up a second system and all 3 would work well in your room. I do not know if George still has all the parts for the Fiesta and Casita call or email Him . The Fiesta and Casita are not picky of amp's or cable sound good with average eq. or sound great with above average eq. The Kitty Kat or Pegasus are great speakers but need above average eq. to sound good and great eq. to sound great if you have the eq. to feed them the high quality signal they need go for it. The Pegasus needs very high quality eq to feed it . The Fiesta or Casita would be a great speaker for the real world if George can still make them. The 2 also can be built in a parts express cabinet for low cost or have a local wood worker make a pair of cabinets for you print the plans from the web site .I looked at as many kit and internet speaker sites as I could find for 3 years and I think North Creek offered the best value and sound I found. I think the Manifest's could sell for 12000 to 14000 in a showroom as a mass produced product. I have listened to many speakers well over 15000 and not found many I could live with, some are very good ones and I would like to have but do not have that kind of money. I think speakers from a company like North Creek ,Jim Salk's speakers and Usher are great speaker designs a chance to get world class performance for a real world price. The North Creek kits allow you to build or have built a cabinet with you choice of wood and look to finish off your system and room a one of a kind speaker . Marc
Lake thanks for your response
My room may be a little small for this speaker (18x11)
Are you familiar other North Creek Models that would work a bit better for a room my size
Hi ; I own the Manifest speaker the cabinets were built by a local woodworker . The cabinets were built to the North Creek plans with a waterfall bubinga veneer He charged Me 1420 $ . I after looking at all the work He did think it was well worth it.I would take the plans from the web site and go to a few local woodworkers and show them the plans and ask for a price.I was lucky as the woodworker I found was also a teacher of cabinet making at a local college His skill was so much better than anything I could of ever hoped for. The speakers only have about 15 hours on them now so still breaking in and still playing with placement in the room but all ready sound great . They are very picky of placement in the room you need a larger size room Mine is 16.6 X 23 and I wish it was a little bit wider. Any Manifest owners care to share your thoughts about cables, amps or placement of the speakers send Me a email . Marc P/S George likes the Ridge Street Audio speaker cable with them on the highs and heavy gauge copper on the woofers His is home made on the woofers.I will save up for the Ridge Street Audio cable just started a new job.
Let me clarify my earlier posting... My understanding is that NorthCreek is exiting the KIT business, not going-out-of-business. I believe that if you visit northacoustics.com you will see several speakers, including the Manifest. The old website, northcreekmusic.com shows the kit product line. Hope this helps.
I emailed North Creek to inquire about their Manifest kit and they advised me these kit's are still in production
I thought the company had closed it's doors ?

Interested in knowing from fellow manifest owners how much did the cabinet and setup cost
Well the Manifest's are done the cabinets were built by a local woodworker and he did follow Georges plans. He took about two months to build and it took Me 2 weeks to finish them. I put 5 coats of gloss poly on them they look great I will try and post some pics in the gallery soon. The sound is more than I could of hoped for they simply make music . I hope people that were on the fence about getting one of His kits did so before the end. The speakers only have a few hours on them so still breaking in I will post more as the hours of play time add up. I wish to thank George for a wonderful speaker design I hope a few other people had a chance to get this kit and here the magical sound . More to come later Marc
I built a set of George's Eska speakers, which are basically floor-standing Okara II MTM speakers. The crossovers are a work of art! MASSIVE inductors and great parts quality. The drivers are among the best available.

Your skills as a woodworker will determine the quality of the finished outcome. I'm a woodworking hacker, altho I've built quite a bit of furniture. But I will say that the Lee Taylor cabinets are extraordinarily fine looking. I started to build my own cabinets, but then I got busy at work and they sat for 6 months. So eventually I just ordered a set from Lee.

One thing I did notice. If you build your own cabinets according to George's guidelines, you'll have much more rigid and acousically inert boxes. When I carefully examined the ones Lee made, I found they do NOT have all the features of the designs that George suggests that you build. Specifically, the wood thickness of the front baffle is less, and the internal bracing is less. The internal damping and constrained-layer construction isn't there either. I never did finish my own cabinets, but sometime I will and do a comparison of the sound to the Lee Taylor cabinets.

The speakers themselves turned out to sound extremely nice. I needed speakers that could be close to walls, and these fit the bill. Great highs, nice midrange and clean but not very extended bass. I supplement with a Vandersteen subwoofer and I'm a happy camper.

Recommended! And the Manifest is a beauty! Wish I could afford them.

Good luck!

Frank
I'm apparently one his the last customers, but it's not the first purchase I have made from George. This guy knows his stuff. I have the Kitty Kat Revelators and they are wonderful. I have been using the Parts Express cabinets for break-in and until Lee finishes my cabinets. I wish I could hear the Manifest, it looks to be quite the statement. You can search for my other posts on this speaker. I'll try to do a review once I feel they are fully broken in. Cheers!