DBL rebuild - picture special
Posted by: Martin Payne on 22 January 2002
I recently went through the full rebuild process for my DBLs.
If you're interested, here are some pics of the process. Apologies for the quality of some of them. I was snatching a pic here-and-there, whenever I remembered.
This really is a back-breaking task, involving lots of heavy lifting, and I ached all over by the time I'd finished! Not only are the sections heavy, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't scratch the black ash paint-work, so having to be careful, too.
Doing it for the first time, and with lots of checking back to the manual, it took me about 20 hours. I like to do a thorough job, and I had to learn how to remove the old silicone, for instance - a nasty job that took ages.
I reckon I could now re-do it in an evening, although I might still want to leave wood filler to dry for 24 hours before resting spikes onto it.
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by garyi
I am concerned by the casual throwing around of CDs every where, I hope they are Celine Dion.
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Dev B
Respect mate!
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Mike Sae
Excellent!
Did you have a spare pair of speakers so you could listen to music during this re-build?
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by ebirah
Martin - youve been found out! I recognise the Fairport Convention live Cropredy album! Thats me in the front row! Get yer fiddles out.
Steve
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Martin M
Ah, I remember the long evenings of building DBLs......
PS Are the tweeter isolation plates nice and square?
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Timbo
for sharing - I found the process really fascinating.
Tim 
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by ken c
martin,
very interesting sequence of photos!!
thank you.
enjoy
ken
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by jcc
Martin,
great job mate! Thouroghly enjoyed!
Now that it's done..how about a listening report.
Cheers,
jim
ps: how's the back?
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by P
Nice one Martin. Excellent restoration job you seem to have done there! Great piccies too. Many thanks for bothering, I've never seen a DBL in bits before. Great stuff.
Is that wool or horse hair you have inside there?
Looks very much like the stuff inside my Sybilles.
P
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Adrian F.
I remember well the DBL-setup-evening from last week. Glad the dealer helped me, but my muscles ached the day after lifting the stuff from the underground garage to the first floor...
Gaskets were fine with mine, but the velcro sticked with the foam grilles, not with the box! So I'm listening to stripped DBL's until the new velcro arrives.
happy listening
Adrian
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by ken c
martin, forgot to ask, did you do the rebuild on your own?? i.e. is it possible for one person to do it or do you need 2 pairs of hands, i.e. "hold this while i screw this in..." etc
enjoy
ken
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by P:
Many thanks for bothering, I've never seen a DBL in bits before. Great stuff.
When I first saw them in bits I realised I hadn't either, so I decided you lot might be interested.
quote:
Is that wool or horse hair you have inside there?
From the manual:-
quote:
Looking through the oblong port in the stand top plate, push down the wool until it is 75-100 mm lower than the top plate
quote:
Looks very much like the stuff inside my Sybilles.
I really had no idea before I started that they are basically just a three-way SBL which is about twice as big in every dimension. They just seem bigger.
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by garyi:
I am concerned by the casual throwing around of CDs every where, I hope they are Celine Dion.
Worse - AOL CDs mostly!
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by ebirah:
Martin - youve been found out! I recognise the Fairport Convention live Cropredy album! Thats me in the front row! Get yer fiddles out.
Ah, those were the days - too many members gone to re-create that fantastic atmosphere nowadays, but still great in their way.
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by ken c:
martin, forgot to ask, did you do the rebuild on your own?? i.e. is it possible for one person to do it or do you need 2 pairs of hands, i.e. "hold this while i screw this in..." etc
Did 'em all on my lonesome. Just occaisional breaks for "haven't you finished yet???" 
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by Martin M:
PS Are the tweeter isolation plates nice and square?
Martin,
hmm, I'm not sure.
What do you think?
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 22 January 2002 by Martin M
Martin, they look OK to me, just. Do the tweeters 'bounce' if you gently tap the plates? If so, they are fine.
Posted on: 24 January 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by Jauhar Eryzad:
Are those DBLs the ones advertised for 2950 quids at Creative Audio?
Yes, they are.
For info, they do not have passive crossovers. This would would increase the price substantially for anyone not endowed with at least three NAPs.
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 25 January 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by Martin M:
Martin, they look OK to me, just. Do the tweeters 'bounce' if you gently tap the plates? If so, they are fine.
Yeah, they seem to.
Bit difficult to know without something to compare them to.
They seem similar to my dealer's NBLs.
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 08 February 2002 by Adrian F.
From the weight of the tweeters, the bearing plate seems to bend to the back on top and to the front on the bottom.
So the tweeter only bounces on the bottom, the top lies down on the back of the front...
Do I need new mounting plates? Or can I take them off, and mount them 180 degrees the other way round (top to bottom) to correct that??
Any help apprechiated!
happy listening
Adrian
Posted on: 09 February 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by Adrian Frauchiger:
From the weight of the tweeters, the bearing plate seems to bend to the back on top and to the front on the bottom.
So the tweeter only bounces on the bottom, the top lies down on the back of the front...Do I need new mounting plates? Or can I take them off, and mount them 180 degrees the other way round (top to bottom) to correct that??
Adrian,
this is from the Loudspeaker manual. (Hope this is OK, Paul!)
Note, I haven't tried any of this myself!
cheers, Martin
Posted on: 09 February 2002 by Martin Payne
First figure:-
Posted on: 09 February 2002 by Martin Payne
Second figure:-
Posted on: 11 February 2002 by Adrian F.
Very kind of you scanning the manual. Naim has no PDF on the web for the DBLs, but the former owner has found the manual now, I will have to go and fetch it.
After one day without response, I did a separate thread, because I wanted to fix it last weekend (without doing more damage).
http://forums.naim-audio.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=67019385&f=48019385&m=3631947593
Sometimes I can get a little impatient 
but everything works fine now.
Good service!g
happy listening
Adrian
Posted on: 11 February 2002 by Martin Payne
quote:
Originally posted by Adrian Frauchiger:
Very kind of you scanning the manual. Naim has no PDF on the web for the DBLs, but the former owner has found the manual now, I will have to go and fetch it.
Adrian,
no worries. Paul hasn't complained yet, so maybe it was OK?
I, too, found it strange that the speaker manual wasn't on the site. It would have been incredibly useful when I was planning to pick mine up late last year. Ah, well.
quote:
After one day without response, I did a separate thread, because I wanted to fix it last weekend (without doing more damage).
Yeah, I know the feeling. Sometimes it can be ages before you'll get another chance.
cheers, Martin
