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Naim SBL

Fair speakers with my Avondale kit but they were superb when active. Succeeded by active Avondale speakers which were of a similar excellence.
Now all binned and I prefer my current stuff which is possibly more a sign of my age than anything else.

Simon
 
One thing SBL's do very well is low down volume, they are fab with that.

200 will drive them fine. Solid walls are a must (speaking from plasterboard experience!).
 
solid walls def a plus, but I do alright as I reinforced the balustrade with three layers of 18mm MDF, glued and screwed together.

I bought mine 12 months before I managed to install them.

If it is an itch you want to scratch, buy at sensible money, and it'll be hard to lose much on them.

I listen to mine, and reckon that you'd prob be spending £6k upwards for a new speaker as good, especially when you think they were replaced with SL2, that finished at over £6k a few years ago.

And you need to keep your eyes out, http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=152070, but I have to declare an interest, as they belong to my GF, and I have listened to that pair a lot.

John
 
STOP IT, just collected upgraded (built from scratch ) cross-overs, pictures in the morning !

.......must resist wiring them now............
 
I echo the comments made that they sound like grown up Linn Kans. I'm a huge Kan fan and enjoyed them for many years. After listening to many speakers, the SBL is the only one that I was happy to replace them with. One bonus is that they are not too big and take up about the same amount of space as Kans too. I love them :)
 
amazement said:
Thanks for that Gaius. I am bit fed up with ported bloaters booming all over the place that need to be in the middle of the room to work. Would you say you lose some depth with them to the back wall?
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They aren't boomy like most ported speakers, but then they aren't ported. They are a kind of aperiodic loading from a small cabinet in to a larger one - as a result bass is tight but absolute extension is limited.

Depth of soundstage is nothing to get excited about with them but that's not what they are about and it never is (IME) with speakers closely coupled to the wall.

I don't really think they do sound like Kans myself, but then an element of the Kans apparent pace is a contrivance brought about by its steeply attenuated bass extension. Ultimately I always felt the SBL was limited by the absolute quality of the drive units which was OK, but not that special - plus the fact that the passive crossover was always seen by Naim as a bit of a stop-gap before going active. Like any decent speaker they benefit from using as good a front end and as good an amplifier as you can - and many use them in systems where they are therefore one of the cheapest components. However, they aren't particularly inefficient and are easy to drive so, in a technical sense, you can actually use pretty much any amplifier with them.
 
YNWOAN said:
They aren't boomy like most ported speakers, but then they aren't ported. They are a kind of aperiodic loading from a small cabinet in to a larger one - as a result bass is tight but absolute extension is limited.

Depth of soundstage is nothing to get excited about with them but that's not what they are about and it never is (IME) with speakers closely coupled to the wall.

I don't really think they do sound like Kans myself, but then an element of the Kans apparent pace is a contrivance brought about by its steeply attenuated bass extension. Ultimately I always felt the SBL was limited by the absolute quality of the drive units which was OK, but not that special - plus the fact that the passive crossover was always seen by Naim as a bit of a stop-gap before going active. Like any decent speaker they benefit from using as good a front end and as good an amplifier as you can - and many use them in systems where they are therefore one of the cheapest components. However, they aren't particularly inefficient and are easy to drive so, in a technical sense, you can actually use pretty much any amplifier with them.
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Nice to read a balanced appraisal of their strengths and flaws for a change instead of the usual hype.

They make a great buy at the prices you can get them for provided all is well with their bits. If you have limited space then boundary placement is a bonus provided the compromises this brings are acceptable to you. There are one or two places you can get grilles from these days, should they be the only thing needed to complete a purchase.

The passive crossovers deteriorate over time and people who have had them updated / serviced report considerable gains. The plug socket joints can fracture under strain from use with the stiff NAC A5 in some situations.
 
Thanks :)

I agree, they make a great second hand buy, as long as they haven't been abused, and are really very easy to fit in to a room - as someone wrote earlier, they don't actually take up any more room than a pair of Kans on their stands and that makes them one of the most compact packages available.

They don't really sound that much like DBL's though, which are more like a pair of IBL's with a big subwoofer attached :).

I think there has been a few DIY threads on the crossovers and there is plenty of room for cheap (or expensive if you prefer) improvements to be made in this area. Naim made logical component choices, but all the components in the crossovers can easily be bettered.
 
I had a pair of SBLs for 9 years running active with 2 x Avondale NAP 250s and they were incredible. So good in fact that I shall definitely buy another pair for a second system.

I now have DBLs and they have a lot of similarities in terms of presentation and set up/placement requirements. The DBL creates an enormous spacious and compelling sound yet the SBL is also a real force to be reckoned with.

I would recommend the SBL unreservedly if you have Naim amplification. They produce a sound that utterly defies their s/h price (even though they do seem to be getting a bit expensive these days).
 
YNWOAN said:
They aren't boomy like most ported speakers, but then they aren't ported. They are a kind of aperiodic loading from a small cabinet in to a larger one - as a result bass is tight but absolute extension is limited.

Depth of soundstage is nothing to get excited about with them but that's not what they are about and it never is (IME) with speakers closely coupled to the wall.

I don't really think they do sound like Kans myself, but then an element of the Kans apparent pace is a contrivance brought about by its steeply attenuated bass extension. Ultimately I always felt the SBL was limited by the absolute quality of the drive units which was OK, but not that special - plus the fact that the passive crossover was always seen by Naim as a bit of a stop-gap before going active. Like any decent speaker they benefit from using as good a front end and as good an amplifier as you can - and many use them in systems where they are therefore one of the cheapest components. However, they aren't particularly inefficient and are easy to drive so, in a technical sense, you can actually use pretty much any amplifier with them.
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Yes good to hear their failings too, when you say absolute extension is limited, what would you say they go down to?
 
DMP said:
Anyone care to comment on how these might work with an Avondale S100? I would guess pretty well and certainly a step up from my Credos.

First hand experience anyone?

dmp
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I went from Credos to SBLs many, many years ago and the difference was night and day. The SBL is in a different league entirely
 
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