NHT N-AZB Absolute Zero Speaker (Black)

Other products by NHT

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12 x 10 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000BYNP7K
• Item model number: N-AZB
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,843 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 3, 2005

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Since its inception, NHT has held to the belief that what makes a speaker high-end is real, but what makes it expensive is not. No matter what model is right for you, be assured it was designed with one goal....to recreate in your home the performance the artist intended, without editorializing. After all, it is the music that matters.

NHT Classic Series Surround Sound--Form Follows Function

While the Classic series of products are certainly beautiful, their shape is all about the business of making great sound. The graceful cabinets place every driver into a consistent, predictable acoustical environment. For example, variable radius edges on the cabinet sides randomize diffraction from the midrange and tweeter drivers, aiding the speakers’ dispersion of midrange and high frequency sounds, while careful placement of the Four’s built-in subwoofer guarantees tremendous deep bass response in almost any room.

Our cabinets are made with MDF, a board manufactured primarily of wood residues from the production of lumber and plywood with a low percentage of virgin tree wood. We finish them with 7 coats of hand-finished polyurethane applied in a "solid particle" method that’s safe for the environment. This finish is then sealed with 2 coats of automotive grade clear-coat to protect the finish for years. By avoiding exotic wood veneers, and using materials such as MDF in the construction of our cabinets, we’re not sacrificing scarce natural resources to make acoustically sound, furniture-grade cabinets.

All of the 5.25" and 6.5" woofers in the Classic line feature frames made from BMC (Bulk Molding Compound). Usually a designer has to choose between inexpensive, mechanically sound materials such as ABS plastic and stamped steel, or expensive materials such as cast aluminum or magnesium that are ideal acoustically and mechanically. BMC gives us the best of both worlds: a cost effective material that is immensely stiff, and easily shaped into acoustically ideal shapes.

The critically-acclaimed Classic Series provides both performance and value. Click here to get started building your own NHT Classic system.

NHT Bookshelf Speakers--The Advantage of Acoustic Suspension

NHT bookshelf speakers use "acoustic suspension" designs that use nature’s perfect spring force--air--to control the cone motion instead of a heavy and unpredictable mechanical suspension. It takes a little more development time and amplifier power to do an acoustic suspension design justice, but the greatly decreased distortion, deeper bass response, and increased detail are well worth it.

NHT Center Channel Speakers--Superior Center Sound

While small, 2-way three-driver center speakers are very popular, such a design is really more about creating a low-profile speaker than one that’s suited for center channel use. A traditional center speaker’s frequency response changes quite a bit as the listener moves away from the cabinet’s center. This dramatic dip in the critical midrange is clearly visible in practice. NHT’s 3-way design eliminates this huge dip and maintains smooth response over a much wider listening area, ensuring that every seat in your home theater is the best seat in the house.

NHT Subwoofers--Bass Without Boundaries

A subwoofer is the most difficult speaker in your system to find a home for. Subwoofers are often placed where they look best in the room, not where they sound best. Placement in a corner can make the bass boom while moving it away from the walls can rob your system of the deepest bass. With NHT’s exclusive Boundary EQ control placement and performance can finally coexist.

Ready to Build Your Own NHT System?

NHT speakers are sold by the piece, not by the pair, for maximum versatility. To build your perfect 2.1, 3.1, or 5.1 surround-sound system, click here or on the image to the right to start building the audio system that's right for you.

Classic Absolute Zero NHT's newest, and best mini-monitor to date, the Absolute Zero combines NHT’s new 5.25" woofer and 1" aluminum dome tweeter to make beautiful music together. Easily wall mounted using the threaded insert on the rear panel, or place it on a shelf or stand with the user installed cabinet rails. The Absolute Zero has a frequency response of 71Hz-20kHz and a sensitivity of 86dB. Available in High Gloss Black or White.

Classic Two The Two is the Absolute Zero with deeper bass extension and higher power handling. Using a 6.5" woofer in a larger enclosure than the Absolute Zero, the Two produces a big room-filling sound with no loss of detail. Easily wall mountable using a pair of rear panel threaded inserts. The Two has a frequency response of 51Hz-20kHz and a sensitivity of 86dB. Available in High Gloss Black or White.

Classic Three NHT's best bookshelf speaker, the Three is a 3-way acoustic suspension design that features a newly developed 6.5" aluminum cone bass driver, and NHT’s exclusive midrange/tweeter assembly. Offering a wider listening area, better deep bass extension and higher power handling than the Two, the new Three is the ultimate bookshelf speaker for music and film. the Three has a frequency response of 45Hz-20kHz and a sensitivity of 86dB. Available in High Gloss Black.

	Classic Two C (center channel) The ideal center channel match for the Absolute Zero and Two, the Two C combines NHT’s new midrange/tweeter assembly with dual 5.25" aluminum cone woofers to create a center speaker that sounds great outside the narrow "sweet spot" produced by ANY 2-way design. The Two C has a frequency response of 78Hz- 20kHz and a sensitivity of 87dB. Available in High Gloss Black.	Classic Three C (center channel) Optimized for use with the Three and Four, the Three C uses two 6.5" aluminum cone woofers and NHT’s new midrange/tweeter assembly to create a huge listening area. Designed to play well in even the largest rooms, the Three C is the ideal center speaker for high performance multi-channel music and movies. The Three C has a frequency response of 73Hz- 20kHz and a sensitivity of 87dB. Available in High Gloss Black.
	Classic Twelve (subwoofer) The Twelve’s gracefully curved cabinet houses a massive 12" aluminum cone driver and an efficient, powerful 250 watt Class G amplifier--a duo capable of filling even the largest rooms with powerful, clean, deep bass. Boundary EQ, adjustable phase, and LFE outputs make this subwoofer easy to integrate into any high performance audio/video system. The Twelve has a frequency response of 27Hz-180Hz. Available in High Gloss Black.	Classic Ten (subwoofer) A scaled-down version of the Twelve designed for use in small- to medium-sized rooms, the Ten couples a highly efficient 150-watt amplifier to a 10" aluminum cone woofer to make tight, tuneful bass. The Ten has a frequency response of 31Hz-180Hz. Available in High Gloss Black.

Product Description

NHT's Classic Series represents their best efforts to date in passive loudspeaker design. Classic speakers start with the design fundamentals that have made NHT's reputation for accuracy and high performance, and add new driver and cabinet technologies which reduce distortion and improve dispersion. The benefit to you is a more articulate, more musical listening experience. NHT's newest, and best mini-monitor to date, the Absolute Zero combines their new 5.25" woofer and 1" aluminum dome tweeter to make beautiful music together. Easily wall mounted using the threaded insert on the rear panel, or place it on a shelf or stand with the user-installed cabinet rails.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice but not worth twice the price of the SB1s, February 7, 2008

By	EmbeddedFlyer (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: NHT Absolute Zero White (Ea) 2-Way Bookshelf Speaker (Electronics)

The Absolute Zero replaces the NHT SB1 but the street price has roughly doubled. I have a pair of the original Super Zeros, a pair of SB1s, and now a pair of Absolute Zeros. I've compared all 3 to each other in a carefully set up environment listening to a variety of material from high quality sources.

Unlike older NHT products, the Absolute Zeros are made in China which makes the new higher price even harder to swallow. I'm betting NHT's costs have actually gone down over the USA made SB1s. So it's kind of sad they saw fit to raise the price so high? This is even more true because, as I'm about to explain, one can argue the much cheaper SB1 sounds better!

Before I get to the sound, the Absolute Zero looks nicer, less obtrusive, and a bit more expensive than the previous SB1. The curved cabinet makes them look more sleek although the plastic grill frames don't fit all that well and have two cheesy visible strips of foam rubber that's tacked on flanking the tweeter. I presume the strips are there to control high frequency diffraction effects improving the sound but it's ugly if you look at the speakers from the side with the grills on.

Sound wise, the Absolute Zero is the brightest of the three speakers. Some have said it's more detailed as well, but that's very subjective. Most people consider a brighter speaker to be more detailed, but that's not always true. More high frequency distortion, for example, can make a speaker sound brighter while revealing LESS detail. I'd say the new Absolute Zero reveals about the same musical detail as its predecessors and many other good speakers in its price range.

The deeper bass performance is very similar to the SB1 which means there's honest bass down to 90hz or so. Below that, the bass rolls off more gently than in most similar sized speakers which are typically ported these days. The sealed NHT designs are also better for putting up against a wall, in a cubby hole, cabinet, etc. as there's no port to worry about. The new Zero has much more satisfying bass than the much smaller original Super Zero but most will still want a subwoofer if you like real bass.

The new Zero allows a subwoofer to be crossed over around 100hz with no big "hole" in the bass like you get with most small satellite speakers. Most satellites with 4.5 inch or smaller woofers have trouble honestly making it down to even 150hz despite their optimistic specifications. Not so the Absolute Zero or SB1.

In terms of soundstage (imaging), all 3 speakers are about the same with perhaps the SB1 being slightly weaker. NHT speakers have always done a good job of "disappearing" and the Absolute Zero is no exception.

My biggest complaint with the Absolute Zero is a somewhat nasal character in the lower midrange that's missing in the SB1 and Super Zero. It's especially obvious on certain vocals and it's the same sort of sound, just less obvious, that you often hear from those cheap plastic enclosure surround sound satellites that are so common these days. Perhaps NHT is making their drivers at a different factory in China and they're not as accurate as they used to be? Whatever the reason, it's a step backwards.

The brighter high-end can also be a mixed blessing. The old SB1 is more forgiving of MP3 material with encoding artifacts, poorly recorded/mixed content, etc. The Absolute Zero can make less than pristine recordings sound more harsh--especially at louder volumes. The tweeter looks very similar to the SB1 tweeter, but it's clearly not identical and there may be crossover changes as well. Again, it's possible the new tweeter is made by a different manufacture in China.

In terms of efficiency, NHT has been steadily increasing it. The SB1 is slightly more efficient than the old Super Zero, and the Absolute Zero is very slightly more efficient still. It will play about equally as loud as the SB1 before it starts to sound obviously strained. But again, the brighter high end makes it sound more harsh when pushed hard. I was driving them with a high-end power amp with 200 watts per channel and clipping indicators, so I'm quite certain it wasn't my amp that was straining.

Most people will think either the SB1 or Absolute Zero sound significantly better than the original Super Zero--at least unless you're using a properly set up subwoofer. The SB1, in particular, sounds notably warmer and more full than the thin sounding Super Zero. The Absolute Zero initially sounds a bit louder (which it is) and brighter (which it also is) than the SB1 perhaps giving it an edge in a quick A/B comparison.

But if you spend some time listening to a variety of material on both the SB1 and Absolute Zero, as I have done, I think most would agree NHT has taken a small step backwards even if the Absolute Zero were the same price. At roughly double the price, I think they've taken a BIG step backwards and there are better options in the Absolute Zero's now lofty price range.

Overall, I wish NHT still made the SB1 as I prefer the sound and they were half the street price. Still, if you require a non-ported small speaker under 10 inches high that can reach down below 100hz, there are not that many good choices. So for these rare applications, the Absolute Zero might still be worth considering. Or, if the street price ever drops back to where it should be, the Absolute Zero would again be competitive.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate and smooth., June 12, 2007

By	J. Fera - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am more into music than movies, and while these do a great job with DVDs and HiDef TV, they really make CDs sound awesome. I listen to music in 2.1 using an NHT Classic Twelve subwoofer, and it's the best my music has ever sounded. The Zeroes by themselves leave a little to be desired in the low end, but I totally expected that from seeing the specs (71 Hz. low end rolloff). So I crossover at 80 Hz. with my Onkyo receiver and voila - great sound. I've got other speakers that can go lower, but the mids and highs from the Zeroes is SO much smoother. If you want to listen in 2.0, I'd bet the Classic Threes would do a great job on their own. You'd probably still want a sub for movies, though.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect small room use, March 25, 2007

By	T. Wilson "skexzies" (Saint Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

These mini speakers have excellent tonality - but take note that their small size prohibits them from reproducing lots of bass. I use them for my PC speakers - because every pair of normal PC speakers I've ever purchased were junk. The grills come off and the finish is polished piano black EVEN on the back which looks cool when approaching my desk. Just remember that much below 120Hz and these speakers struggle (Can't defy the laws of Physics). Midrange and Treble are open and airy. No strain at loud volumes either - although they want to hop a little. I listen to mix of Rock/Rap/Country/Death Metal/Irish Pub songs and Frank Sinatra/Johnny Cash/Karen Carpenter for vocals. I recommend them to everyone. NHT makes a very versatile speaker that is shockingly good.