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Naim Audio DBL loudspeakers. Any review

Suffolk Tony said:
Hi Jez,

The ATCs were excellent in many ways, but in the end I found them a bit too “Cold”. I did rope my reluctant wife in to give me her opinion. The DBLs were just more enjoyable, & we both agreed it was a relief to go back to them.The ATCs did work fairly close to the back wall though. I do wonder if they might be better being driven passively by the Accuphase, rather than active with their internal amps. I really can't be bothered to do any more experiments though.
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They almost certainly wouldn’t have been better passive but they do have a relatively neutral tone. Very different from a naim speaker, TBH I thought I would keep the SBLs forever but I ended up getting tired of the naim ‘buzz’. I do think ATC actives work better with their own pre-amps than naim but many would disagree.

Your system is a stunner so always a difficult one to beat.
 
per-Sony-fied said:
Nice info re tweeters. Not really had much thought of replacement should the worse ever happen...
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Tweeters are by far the most likely of your drivers to fail. I've replaced a few over the years. Buying speakers which have spares available is sensible consideration.

matt j said:
With all the things that have been through my doors over the years, Naim speakers have never been one of them.
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Me neither. I've heard DBL, SBL, Credo and Intro speakers but the impression I've always got is of an also-ran speaker, at best. I know one Naim dealer who flat out refused to stock some of their speakers. The question today though is not how good they are relative to their competition when new but how they shape up as a used buy. SBLs are a tidy little speaker for not much money these days. Not sure I would buy them myself but an interesting option for some.

colasblue said:
The trouble with ACT's is that they do need to be off the walls quite a way, which is a big issue in some rooms.
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It's interesting that 'free space' speakers are so popular considering how small the average UK livingroom is.
 
Mr Pig said:
I know one Naim dealer who flat out refused to stock some of their speakers.
It's interesting that 'free space' speakers are so popular considering how small the average UK livingroom is.
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Naim speakers (the multi-box ones) were certainly not popular with dealers. Now they're history, I've been told by a couple of them on the quiet that they actively discouraged folk from buying them and it wasn't to do with sound quality, but rather they required some time & knowledge to set them up properly. Getting the best out of them does require some care and effort, but it's hardly difficult.
 
Funny story, well not really funny. Many years ago I was talking to a show dealer (don't ask me whom but it was not Naim) in their demonstration room about speakers & we got on to the conversation of which speakers do I own & when I told him his response was: Never get rid of those speakers!
 
Naim speakers were actually far more popular than the second generation of Linn speakers with most Linn/Naim dealers. Same for Linn electronics which were also pretty meh.
 
I have used dbls for last 6 years with cheap (ish) gear . Bought used but with new bass drivers /passive xover . Guy I bought them from agreed to set them up but unfortunately when dosh (asking price ) went into his bank he refused ! Ok he did back track big time afterwards 'really want to help' etc but by then I had 'set them up' as best I could and opted to have nothing else to do with him as trust blown.
They are on castors , in a smallish room with high ceilings , driven by ancient (1979) exposure iv amp single transformer , other gear helius viridian/rega/AT anniversary /4 box trichord phonostage / audio synthesis passive on unconventional supports (maf stands on brick/concrete/towshend stuff etc). I liked the sound from the word from word 'go', easy , clean , communicative with an odd ability to convey the energy of 'live music' to my ears . Compared to how they sound now they did sound 'undynamic' , now very dynamic since using nos nac 5 and naim speaker plugs so I would cite 'breaking in' as relevant. They really do it for me with classical symphonic music mainly due to the scale/dynamics/clarity. Detail retrieval best I have heard on my records, not forward or harsh etc . Quite good depth . Foam covers now shit but tweeters sound nasty without some sort of covering. May sound odd but they do remind me of quad 63s but with scale/dynamics etc. I did try to sell them once as a stunning looking pair of lowther auditoriums came up but were quickly sold . Active ? Maybe when things settle down (if ever !), previous owner did have a bass driver blow on His active set up (500s) and apparently naim could not explain it so not that keen . Also have used the headphone jack of a roberts radio to play classical stuff through them with acceptable results .
My intention was always to 'upgrade' the amplifiers but there always seem to be financial constraints so am happy with what they are .
 
I remember hearing them at a dealer's many years ago. I was very excited to see them, but I didn't like the sound at all, I thought they sounded like a PA.

All academic now. Mrs Hammeredklavier wouldn't allow them in the house and I couldn't afford them anyway!
 
the loaf said:
They are on castors , in a smallish room with high ceilings , driven by ancient (1979) exposure iv amp single transformer , other gear helius viridian/rega/AT anniversary /4 box trichord phonostage / audio synthesis passive on unconventional supports (maf stands on brick/concrete/towshend stuff etc).
My intention was always to 'upgrade' the amplifiers but there always seem to be financial constraints so am happy with what they are .
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Exposure amps go exceptionally well with Naim 'speakers like IBL, SBL, NBL, DBL and Ovator.

I would keep the Exposure IV and have the main capacitors replaced with new ones, I noticed a big drop in performance with my older IV's when the capacitors were nearing 30 years old (yours are 40+ yrs) and when replaced (a simple job as they are screw fittings) the performance returned with better lower frequency extension and the brittle high end was also cured.
 
JezmondTutu said:
Naim speakers were actually far more popular than the second generation of Linn speakers with most Linn/Naim dealers.
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I don't like that generation on Linn speakers either but they were not unpopular. The Nexus was the best selling speaker Linn had ever built.
 
the loaf said:
I have used dbls for last 6 years with cheap (ish) gear . Bought used but with new bass drivers /passive xover . Guy I bought them from agreed to set them up but unfortunately when dosh (asking price ) went into his bank he refused ! Ok he did back track big time afterwards 'really want to help' etc but by then I had 'set them up' as best I could and opted to have nothing else to do with him as trust blown.
They are on castors , in a smallish room with high ceilings , driven by ancient (1979) exposure iv amp single transformer , other gear helius viridian/rega/AT anniversary /4 box trichord phonostage / audio synthesis passive on unconventional supports (maf stands on brick/concrete/towshend stuff etc). I liked the sound from the word from word 'go', easy , clean , communicative with an odd ability to convey the energy of 'live music' to my ears . Compared to how they sound now they did sound 'undynamic' , now very dynamic since using nos nac 5 and naim speaker plugs so I would cite 'breaking in' as relevant. They really do it for me with classical symphonic music mainly due to the scale/dynamics/clarity. Detail retrieval best I have heard on my records, not forward or harsh etc . Quite good depth . Foam covers now shit but tweeters sound nasty without some sort of covering. May sound odd but they do remind me of quad 63s but with scale/dynamics etc. I did try to sell them once as a stunning looking pair of lowther auditoriums came up but were quickly sold . Active ? Maybe when things settle down (if ever !), previous owner did have a bass driver blow on His active set up (500s) and apparently naim could not explain it so not that keen . Also have used the headphone jack of a roberts radio to play classical stuff through them with acceptable results .
My intention was always to 'upgrade' the amplifiers but there always seem to be financial constraints so am happy with what they are .
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This company does replacement foam grills for DBL, a few years back I received a set of replacement DMS grills from them and I am very pleased as I find them almost indistinguishable from OEM, unfortunately they are based in the US. ...http://foamspeakergrilles.com/further_info.html

Mr Pig said:
Ditch the Naim speaker plugs. The cable is fine but the plugs are crap. Get some decent plugs and the top end will be a lot nicer.
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Nothing wrong with Naim speaker plugs when used with Naim gear due to the set spacing, they are built to a very high standard and can't imagine why or how you may think they are inferior in some way to, say, another high quality 4mm Deltron type connector?
 
Mr Pig said:
Ditch the Naim speaker plugs. The cable is fine but the plugs are crap. Get some decent plugs and the top end will be a lot nicer.
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You’d be wrong about that surely - you mean the Helix?

I had Nexus speakers in my yoof, with the right amp, they rocked! In fact I chose them over ES14’s at the time.
 
A pal had active DBL's in a rather small basement room. Simply stunning, made the music more 'real' than anything else I've heard, as in the musicians actually present in the room and playing on real instruments (I have BIG JBL monitors myself).

Also heard passive DBL's. Honestly, like a pair of 6*9 in the parcel shelf of a car. Lots of bass, no midrange and some sizzzling in the treble. Ok, on a track with sub 20 Hz content it made me believe our small town actually has a subway system!
 
RJohan said:
Also heard passive DBL's. Honestly, like a pair of 6*9 in the parcel shelf of a car. Lots of bass, no midrange and some sizzzling in the treble.
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Having gone from full-on active DBLs to passive, that's absolutely not my experience. Too many differing factors to make such a comparison - amps, positioning, source, recordings...
 
Suffolk Tony said:
Having gone from full-on active DBLs to passive, that's absolutely not my experience. Too many differing factors to make such a comparison - amps, positioning, source, recordings...
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I’m sure you are absolutely right Tony.

I bought a new pair of later SBL’s from Audio T in Brighton, had them set up properly in my house by Julian. They were the biggest audio disappointment ever for me as I’d heard them sounding amazing in other peoples houses and with very similar setups (decent LP12’s/Naim amps). Just simply didn’t work in my room so their tenure was short-lived.

I’d also love to hear your DBL’s sometime, we might actually meet one of these days!
 
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