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Naim SBL

F

FC united

pfm Member
Hi,
I have had a pair of SBL's for a few months now and I like the sound of them with well recorded music.
My problem is when I listen to some of my stuff that isn't that well recorded they can sound a bit harsh in the treble. I have read this is a trait of the SBL'S but is there any thing I can do to cure it (get rid, I hear you cry )

Would a different pre-amp cure it, currently have a 152xs
Would different crossovers like Avondale's help?
Would room treatment help?
Thank's in advance
 
Try a little toe in, consider some room treatment to deal with first reflections? They use a Scanspeak tweeter that isn't thought of as harsh and bright in other speakers and they don't measure as having a bright balance, in fact they gently dip away in the treble as you would like. So my thoughts are that this is more to do with a lack of toe in built in to the design and the increase of, particularly side wall, reflections that a straight back to wall design must suffer.
 
Room treatment is a good shout. I got rid of mine as they were harsh as hell in my room and bought them new. Was a bit gutted and I suspect they would sound amazing in my now heavily furnished room.
 
They are not a bright speaker. I ran mine with a 252/250 they were never bright but were sensitive to heavily compressed recordings.

Make sure they are as close to a solid wall as possible, feed them well & they will shine.
 
I have had SBLs since the early 90s and run them with 135x2. All I can say is get your room right. I made some changes recently and it took me ages to get the sound right again. Put some plants, rugs ect in the room. I went from a fairly low listening chair to a high one and that helped.
 
For the years I had mine, they certainly enjoyed a bit of power and all in all I think they worked best with the electronics of the time, I had a 52/250 and they sung with that. Not so much with a supernait.
 
That Scanspeak tweeter, or a version of it, was used in all of the early Linn speakers. They gained a great reputation for musicality, speed and incisiveness. That tweeter was part of the reason for that and is why it was still chosen by other manufacturers even when other arguably more civilized options were available. So it's a good tweeter but there are some considerations.

Components don't exist in isolation, they are products of their time. They are designed in the context of what they will be working with and that tweeter was born when vinyl was king and digital did not exist. Whether you want to concede that digital often tends to be harsher at the top end or not, the main point is that it typically doesn't sound like vinyl. So you have a tweeter playing a signal it wasn't designed for. Is that a big deal? Well, it can be.

The speed and incisiveness is a good thing but there is a trade off. If the tweeter can reveal cymbals and other high frequency detail well it can also reveal any problems at the top end just as effectively. So the bottom line, if you're set on keeping the speakers, is that you need to pay a lot of attention to system matching and housekeeping. You've got a speaker that lives on the edge of sounding harsh and it doesn't take much to tip it over. A very bright amp, a harsh CD player, general set up and even down to cable and plug choice. All are going to make a difference. You could start with set up, cables etc but you might end up casting an accusing eye on your front end.

You might end up simply not getting on with them. My son is a sound tech and he thinks these tweeters are terrible. I like them. Matter of taste. Last resort, apart from losing the speakers, the tweeters can be replaced.
 
FC united said:
My problem is when I listen to some of my stuff that isn't that well recorded they can sound a bit harsh
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Ultimately, that's why I sold mine. I tried various things but found myself listening to all those well-recorded hi-fi records you hear at shows, rather than what I wanted to listen to. There's only so many times you can tolerate Nils Lofgren, Dark Side, Gaucho etc. I was using CDS/LP12-Aro-Geddon-Klyde/52/250 at the time.

After a couple of years trying to like them, I sold them for something far more forgiving (and actually more resolving - I discoved bass again) and never looked back. Never missed them. Good luck, but don't try to flog a dead horse too much...
 
say it as it is said:
not filling me with confidence as I await to try my SBLs
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Naim speakers are very marmite. Many will tell you they're utter sh1te and yet many others wouldn't use anything else. Depends what you want from a speaker. Personally I don't want a speaker that masks bad recordings as on good recordings it's not going to reveal their full potential. As for the bass comments sure the SBL doesn't do subwoofer levels of bass, but what it does do it does very very well and the bass is fast and tight (as long as they are set up properly). Every set of SBLs I have ever heard sounding poor turned out to not be installed properly. Get them set up right and on the end of some decent kit in the right room and they will sing.... all IMO of course.
 
SteveH said:
I tried various things but found myself listening to all those well-recorded hi-fi records you hear at shows, rather than what I wanted to listen to.
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To be fair, this is an issue of the system as a whole and is not solely the fault of the speakers. Lots of classic Linn/Naim system sound this way and it can just as effectively be resolved by changing other parts of the system. It sounds crazy to say that often Naim CD players aren't the best match in a Naim system but it can be true. The LP12 prints its own signature on music which accentuates some characteristics while not doing so well on others.

Speakers are among the most characterful parts of a system and if you like the general picture you're getting I'd be inclined to stick with them. For now at least.
 
Mr Pig said:
Components don't exist in isolation, they are products of their time. They are designed in the context of what they will be working with and that tweeter was born when vinyl was king and digital did not exist. So you have a tweeter playing a signal it wasn't designed for.
Click to expand...

Have to admit that makes a lot of sense; with the SBLs I enjoyed my LP12/ARO far more than my CDS...and the CDS was a sublime CD player, even by todays standards.
 
SteveH said:
I enjoyed my LP12/ARO far more than my CDS...and the CDS was a sublime CD player, even by today's standards.
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I would say the CDS is one of the most polished sounding players Naim have made. Running a CD3, CDX etc through that tweeter is a lot more tricky.
 
tiggers said:
Depends what you want from a speaker. Personally I don't want a speaker that masks bad recordings
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My present speakers (Kii3) have forensic levels of detail portrayal but, for whatever reason, manage that with far less offence than the SBLs ever did. I've been listening to some God-awful 70s recordings this afternoon (Rainbow Down-To-Earth anyone? Needed some nostalgia!), but despite being very obviously lo-fi, I managed to enjoy them.
 
SteveH said:
My present speakers (Kii3) have forensic levels of detail portrayal but, for whatever reason, manage that with far less offence than the SBLs ever did. I've been listening to some God-awful 70s recordings this afternoon (Rainbow Down-To-Earth anyone? Needed some nostalgia!), but despite being very obviously lo-fi, I managed to enjoy them.
Click to expand...

Hence why I used the word 'personally', thanks!
 
tiggers said:
As for the bass comments sure the SBL doesn't do subwoofer levels of bass, but what it does do it does very very well and the bass is fast and tight (as long as they are set up properly).
Click to expand...

Agree, the bass is one of the best features of the SBLs. No bloat.

Tim
 
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