SBL mk2, worth a try?

[colasblue]

I suspect most SBL owners found SL2's not to their liking at all. I certainly didn't like them! No bass at all!

The SL2's didn't sell at all well.

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.

Interestingly I also "bought out" of the "hard against the wall" philosophy and found about 4 inches off the wall to be optimal (but no toe).

Do that and suddenly SBLs do all the things people normally complain they don't do such as clear imaging.

 

[garyi]

Don't put SL2s and SBLs in the same sentence, SL2s are bloody horrible.

 

[per-Sony-fied]

Don't put SL2s and SBLs in the same sentence, SL2s are bloody horrible.

I did hear a pair of SL2's in somebody's system & I wasn't sure I liked them. Horrible is bit of a strong word tho'.
Could be wrong but I do believe not designed by the same person.

 

[garyi]

I did hear a pair of SL2's in somebody's system & I wasn't sure I liked them. Horrible is bit of a strong word tho'.
Could be wrong but I do believe not designed by the same person.

well yes I should have stated in my opinion they are horrible. I did not like them at all but there are lots of factors at play with speakers to be fair

 

[2ManyBoxes]

Don't put SL2s and SBLs in the same sentence, SL2s are bloody horrible.

I couldn't disagree more. SL2s are in another galaxy from SBLs. Having said that, mine were mk1s so the difference is much bigger apparently.

I may not be able to tell a real film from some *****'s fake , but I can hear that my SL2s are faster, more musical and far easier to set up than the SBLs that preceded them.

I wonder if you heard them in the same room, as both SBLs and SL2s chuck out a lot of treble that must be either damped or kept away from your ears. This makes them very room dependent.

To the OP: VERY IMPORTANT - check the first reflection point on both side walls. You can find this by sitting in your normal listening position and drawing an imaginary line between your ear and the treble driver. Now take that line and extend it into a flat triangle so the point hits the side wall. Sound bounces off surfaces at the same angle that it comes in at, so now walk along the side wall and find the point where the treble driver and your listening position are at roughly the same angle to each other. At that place, find the point that is at the same height as the plane of your ears/treble driver that you found earlier.

If the first reflection point is on a hard reflective surface then you've got a problem. The treble will sound painfully bad at certain frequencies. You MUST either have some acoustic damping at that point or be lucky like me and be able to change the angle so that the treble is reflected away from your ears.

On one sidewall I've got a nice absorbent two layer insulating curtain. On the other that point happens to fall exactly on the top edge of a record cabinet. I've rotated the cabinet about 10 degrees away from the wall at one end so the treble misses my ears. Simple as that, problem solved.

When I got SBLs (and I bought the pair from hell) I did not know the above fact and I spent £1000s trying to get rid of the problem, including amp upgrades and going active

Garyi has (or had) a nice step-by-step set up guide for SBLs. However, he didn't buy Satan's pair like I did so I suspect that I have more experience with bringing SBLs back from near death.

Somewhere I've got a copy of the original set-up instructions that Naim issued to dealers for SBLs. I can dig that out if you like, although it doesn't cover how you fix a pair that's been stored in a damp garage

Drop me a message if you need any help. And you will need help There's a reason why SBLs are so cheap and SL2s are so expensive still, and it's not just the rarity.

 

[nobeone]

Could be wrong but I do believe not designed by the same person.

I believe you are wrong, both Roy George.
In many ways they are similar in concept with the SL2 a "no compromise" version ... I never liked the SL2s I heard but then I only heard them on the end of Classic Naim systems which are also not my cup of tea, so ...

 

[pooster]

After 2 sets of SBl's, driven active with 135s, I found a pair of SL2s, which seem rare as hen's teeth. Sound is very similar to SBL, they like to rock, but the treble seems much more revealing and subtle. (How does one describe sound?) Less fatiguing maybe? Anyways, to me they sound similar, SL2 just a bit more refined. Kept the SBLs for spare drivers should I blow any in the SL2s. Those SBLs should sound excellent in OP's room, they are a lot of speaker for not much money these days......All in my opinion of course.

 

[2ManyBoxes]

I seem to have frightened off the OP Shame really as the sound is truly exceptional but there's no getting away from the Heath Robinson design.

They relied absolutely on dealer installation when they were new, no-one in their right mind would put up with the rigmarole if they'd just paid £lots for them.

 

[Eoin]

I quite like the look of them. Perhaps one where you need to hear a set installed

 

[tiggers]

After 2 sets of SBl's, driven active with 135s, I found a pair of SL2s, which seem rare as hen's teeth. Sound is very similar to SBL, they like to rock, but the treble seems much more revealing and subtle. (How does one describe sound?) Less fatiguing maybe? Anyways, to me they sound similar, SL2 just a bit more refined. Kept the SBLs for spare drivers should I blow any in the SL2s. Those SBLs should sound excellent in OP's room, they are a lot of speaker for not much money these days......All in my opinion of course.

I've had both, but my experiences are solely using both of them in an active system. The SBLs are astonishingly good when set up properly in the right room. The SL2s are a step up, but not a massive one in my opinion. Like pooster I found he treble more revealing and the sound a bit smoother, but the SBLs are no slouches. At the prices SBLs are going for today they are a bargain, invest a bit of time in setting them up properly and they will give a heck of a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[S_J]

They both sound kind of OK with the basic Naim PAXO, but nothing special - they are both massively improved with a passive crossover using decent quality parts though. Spend a few hundred on components and get a pair of speakers that will destroy even an active pair (the Naim NAXO/SNAXO circuit is relatively crap as well - using a different active crossover might be a different matter though)