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SBL mk2, worth a try?

One thing that may surprise some is SBLs can sound very good indeed on the end of a tube amp!
 
One thing that may surprise some is SBLs can sound very good indeed on the end of a tube amp!

Yup ! You've surprised me, Tony ! If so, it may well temper the coolness in presentation, but I do wonder about that crisp SBL bass.
 
I'm not sure 250/135s is necessarily the route to take here. I would think the mono 110s will give an adequate account on the SBLs. As others have stated, setup is key and going active can really make them sing. An active 110 mono 4 pack could be a very nice system.

Stuart, my comment re. improved amplification was directed at the 14s, not the SBLs. I ran mine with 135s, so no idea of other power sources.
 
My SL2s need new tweeters, so I have gone back to Mk1 SBLs that cost me £350 for now. Really impressed with them again.
If the Aluminium pads have multiple puctures, they cost a few pence each from Naim. If your dealer can't find the part number and says you have to get the whole expensive gasket kit, phone Naim directly and they will help.

I did post the part number here a few years ago. Don't know if it will come up on a search. Try Ali pads Naim, but may fall foul of 3 letters
 
A tip given to me from a NAIM dealer was if the main seals on SBL was good there was no need to purchase the complete Seal Kit just cut 8 small Alum strips about the same size as the originals from a alum soft drinks/beer Can and flatten them as apparently it's the same thickness.
Regarding your dilemma, you seem to have the perfect room conditions solid floor & stone walls despite what others have implied they are not that difficult to set up ,if the seal has failed ( due to moving) a tube of silicon sealer and washing up liquid is all you will probably need most importantly is that all of the existing silicon seal must be removed before attempting to re assemble. Mine were striped and re assembled several times without any problems .If the price is right, go get 'em you'll never regret it. The only drawback is that once the SBL bug has bitten, the itch will start , it's then going active and eventually you will end up chasing a pair of Briks
oldie
 
Thread resurrection.

What sort of amp is needed to run the SBL Mk2? I’m on a Quad 606 with Monitor Audio RS8 at the moment.

Room is approx 4x5m and 2.2m ceiling, hard floor on concrete.

starting to think of ‘proper’ speakers and working backwards.

Front end is Well Tempered Simplex and a Dynavextor cart, digital is a Beresford DAC (which I really like).

It’s my room so looks are not important.

Speakers are pointing down the short way as currently sat.

I do like a ‘full’ range sound. Quite a fat bass hump currently with the ported RS8s.
 
Room sounds about right, floor sounds ideal; key point being can you get them (almost) flush with a solid back wall? They can benefit from a tiny amount of toe-in and coming off the wall by an inch or two. The other mod that lots of people used to do back in the day was putting them on Mana Soundstages, which tightened things up even further - although this was a matter of taste IME.

If you're used to a traditional midbass hump, it will disappear and the LF extension will extend downwards - all to the good. I remember distinctly seeing the windowpanes in my Putney flat flexing to SBLs.

The obvious amp choice would be a Naim 250 or 135s. This issue is probably doing this while somehow avoiding the Naim preamp/PSU thing. A 72/Hicap would be fine, and look cute. But, pace Tony and other comments, well worth thinking out of the box.

Used prices on SBLs are insanely low IMO; possibly reflecting the fact that they are comparatively tricky to set up, and a little esoteric.
 
I’d like to loose the bass hump, which is quite noticeable (but not annoying). And I’d like bass extention. I can get them close to a wall.

Do I want to start on down the rabbit hole of Naim amps though..? :eek:
 
They will work fine with most amps. Buy a nice pair, take a bit of time setting them up & enjoy.

You don’t need Naim amps but they do work well with them, obviously. You can really max out the front end & they will shine, a very revealing speaker.
 
Tread carefully Eoin. I bought what I thought were my endgame speakers - Mk2 SBL’s. Purchased new from Audio T in Brighton, set up by Julian.

They sounded awful in my room, bright and thin. In fact, I’d borrowed a pair previously and assumed they just didn’t work in a different room, but were similarly horrid. That was with a NAP250 too. I’d heard them sounding great many rooms so it was really frustrating. Sanity restored by Dynaudio’s and then moved
on to Shahinians.

They may be worth a punt as they are really cheap used (no idea why).Imaging is definitely not a strong point, speed of bass, timing, general musicality and detail are though.

You are welcome to borrow my ES14’s, I’d be looking at Ruark (Talisman/Crusader) for a safer option but the midrange driver of the Crusader is no longer available.
 
I had a pair for about 15 years & always liked them. My current speakers are better but they retail at nearly £8k, SBLs do some have a pretty unique character which is hard to replicate. If they work for you then it will be difficult to find alternatives.
 
The big issue with SBL's now is that they are a fairly risky buy on the used market.

They're absolutely fabulous in the right room with the right equipment and I've owned plenty over the years, (still have two pairs in storage).

The big issue is that there is no longer any driver support whatsoever.

Of the 5 used pairs I've bought in my life, 3 came with bass driver issues which required replacements, which would now be virtually impossible to source.

Be warned - you're quite likely to have to buy multiple pairs to get one good pair.

People tend to overdrive them and then won't accept that they're dead when the inevitable happens.

What does happen is either the cone creases which causes the driver to "quack" or "fart" intermittently when given the right stimulation or the coil deforms causing it to rub on the former. These faults do not necessarily manifest themselves in a short audition so you can easily get caught out.

If I dealt in used hifi for a living they'd be top of my "don't buy" list.
 
I had a pair for about 15 years & always liked them. My current speakers are better but they retail at nearly £8k, SBLs do some have a pretty unique character which is hard to replicate. If they work for you then it will be difficult to find alternatives.

How would you describe that character?
 
Your room sounds close to what sbls like to do their " thing " the question is will you like their ,"thing " . I desperately wanted to love them especially after obtaining a set mk 2 and giving them the works in restoration ( they eventually went to Hong Kong at crazy price .)
Just make sure you purchase at right price so you don't suffer them if they don't work out .
 
The pair of Mk2 SBL's I own are run with a Krell 300i integrated which works pretty well. I still believe they sound at their best tho' with Naim equipment. They can even be driven with the likes of the original Naim Nait although the poor oll amp does run out of steam past the 2 0'clock position.

I place my speakers out from the back wall by about 6" or 7" & towed in a little, 10 to 15 deg or so. I prefer them like this as they then gather more of an in room presence rather than the flat rather 2 dimensional sound they can give slapped right up against the wall which to be honest isn't helped by the Naim electronics of the day.

I would agree they are fast sounding & quite tight with a bass response that isn't domineering but throws out a wack when required. However I have tried a few amplifiers with these & different amps produce different kinds of presentation. An ATC amp for example provides a much smoother heavy type of sound (hard to describe), they seemed to have lost all of their sparkle & excitement which was far from my liking.
 
I’d heard a top end Naim front end on SL2 speakers recently, and while impressive it wasn’t for me. If the SL2 is in any way similar.
 


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