Room for NBLs

Posted by: Ian P on 28 August 2001

Hi,

Just thought I'd pop by the forum to ask this one :

What's the smallest size room anyone's got NBLs working well in ?

I'm converting my garage, and in the process will end up with a dedicated music room (at last) which will be about 10'6'' by 12' (for you young'uns that's about 3.25m by 3.75m), but with a small alcove in one corner (about 3' (1m) square) in which I plan to put the equipment rack.

So anyone got any real world idea of whether this will work ?

Thanks,
Ian

Posted on: 28 August 2001 by Michael
I am running a pair in a room 17x12 and they are on the shorter wall .... I listen about 13 feet away so..a little larger than your proposed room.

The NBLs sound superb.. very very musical and excellent imaging.

Bet you can't wait to get it all up and running!

Posted on: 28 August 2001 by Tristram
Michael;

I posed a question on the NBL's a couple of days ago. The question: what is the run in time, and assuming they run on a 250, do you have any comments on relative performance. tw

Posted on: 28 August 2001 by Michael
This is difficult for me assess as I have been waiting about 8 weeks for a pair to arrive from Naim on order...

...the pair I am using are on loan from my dealer so were "run in" before installation here.

When we were on the factory tour I was told that Naim were waiting delivery of the cabinets from Scandinavia.

It will be interesting to hear how the run in period develops when I receive my own pair from new.

I am running them on a pair of 135's with CDS2 and 52 by the way.

Posted on: 28 August 2001 by garyi
At 11 o'clock

are you f***king deaf? It hurts at 8 oclock!

Posted on: 28 August 2001 by Martin Payne
Michael,

hope you'll still have the nicely run-in demo pair when John & I pop over!

Looking forward to hearing them.

cheers, Martin

Posted on: 28 August 2001 by Michael
Well ...yes and no!!!

Be nice to get my own pair though!!

Posted on: 29 August 2001 by John Boon
"Naim were waiting delivery of the cabinets from Scandinavia." - I've been waiting since early June for a Rosewood pair but had a very nice email from Naim explaining that they are waiting on the cabinet maker in Denmark. Apparently though, they were expecting a shipment of non-Rosewood cabinets in around now.

Maybe the cabinet-maker is growing the trees to order :-)

I'm sure they're worth waiting for.

Cheers

John

Posted on: 29 August 2001 by Michael
Thanks for that information, John.

Oh yes, I am certain that they will be worth the wait.

Michael

Posted on: 29 August 2001 by Dev B
sorry to be controversial, but I think your room is way to small for NBL's (unless you have really high ceilings). you won't hear any deep bass and will play the system really loud to recreate a realistic sense of dynamics. and what about the bass - well you won't get much that much in such a small space.

you will get row A presentation big time, and will end up spending thousands on boxes to try and recreate a decent sense of space and scale.

forget it, get a pair of sbls/allaes or whatever and better amps.

cheers

dev

Posted on: 29 August 2001 by Mike Hanson
quote:
you won't hear any deep bass

I'm getting deeper bass in my little 8x12 foot room than I ever did in my 19x19 foot apartment. Perhaps it's so small that it's being energized, just like my ear canals with headphones. Beyond that, I'm not sure why it works as well as it does.

I do have a problem with resonance at a couple of frequencies. I need to find time to fiddle with that a bit. It happens only with certain recordings, though, played at higher volumes.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Posted on: 29 August 2001 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by Dev B on the wheels of steel:
sorry to be controversial, but I think your room is way to small for NBL's (unless you have really high ceilings). you won't hear any deep bass ...


Dev,

I have found using Isobariks in a small room (11'x12') that the bass can pressurise the room and still achieve deep bass. In fact it's the best bass I've ever had out of my system, including in a 13'x19' room.

With the rest of his system he might well get away with it.

DEFINATELY needs a home demo, though!!!

cheers, Martin

Posted on: 04 September 2001 by Ian P
quote:
Originally posted by Martin Payne:
Quote: "Originally posted by Dev B on the wheels of steel:
sorry to be controversial, but I think your room is way to small for NBL's (unless you have really high ceilings). you won't hear any deep bass ..."


Dev,

I have found using Isobariks in a small room (11'x12') that the bass can pressurise the room and still achieve deep bass. In fact it's the best bass I've ever had out of my system, including in a 13'x19' room.

With the rest of his system he might well get away with it.

_DEFINATELY_ needs a home demo, though!!!

cheers, Martin


Hmm. Thanks for the input chaps. As I already have the NBLs (they're moving from the lounge to this new, yet to be created room, which is part of a garage conversion) I guess I'll have to give them a try and see.

If they don't do the business I guess I'll be trading back down to SBLs, or the SBL replacement if there is one. Hope that doesn't have to happen though ...

Posted on: 04 September 2001 by Simon Matthews
The only problem I have with NBL bass in my 12 by 15 foot room is the worry that not all my immediate neighbours are fans of sly and robbie!