Naim NBL

NBL's are a definite step up in terms of bottom end from SL2's. Their nested box design gives them excellent mid and high frequency response. Image very well too. The SL2 may have a very slight edge on treble refinement with the suspended tweeter but the NBL is up there with it and in my opinion other high end modern speakers with added musicality.

Not the best news with respect to parts, no mids left and bass nested box would have to go back to factory if any thing went wrong any way. On the plus side, drive units take a hammering and if a little care is taken not to play stupidly loud, they will lasts for zonks if they are still in good order.

Never seen the cracking, but have a friend with a pair that were knocked over during a party and I'm told that they cracked, but you would expect major damage if any heavy speaker was knocked over. He had a French polisher repair the cabinets and I cannot tell where the cracking was, neither can he!

Just make sure you don't put any thing in between them or at least too close to them as the side firing woofers won't sound as good. They are fantastic speakers that still show modern speakers how to play music.

Mario.

The dealer will know this, but these super rare speakers will be ruined if the transportation bolts are not very carefully used.

I love NBLs, can't afford them, but love them!

This is a good point, transit bolts are an absolute must as both nested boxes ( hi/mid and bass) need to have their transit bolts and cardboard spacer cards in place before shipping. I have even heard of a pair with transit bolts in place being damaged beyond repair after a very heavy drop. The mid range cut out will snap if such an event takes place. All worth the effort though, truly a special design that naim got perfectly right. A classic that was worth more than they were selling for.

Bear in mind the the NBL is larger than it looks in pictures. They are about 45cm deep and according to Naim need about 15cm behind them. This means the fronts will be 60cm from the wall. I've only seen them once but have never heard them. You need to make sure that the cracking on top is something you can live with long term, or that it can be polished or repaired. In the uk they sell for about £3,000, which is amazing value for what you get. 

Well, in spite of trying on a number of occasions, I've never quite fallen in love with NBLs.  Given the choice, I would go either SL2s or DBLs.  While compared to SL2s, NBLs can give a bigger kick and greater sense of scale, they don't have the superb mid-top end and the sheer seamlessness of SL2s.  And against DBLs, well...

One interesting facet of NBLs is how you can tune the lower end through careful placement and through experimenting with toe-in.

One problem is that the internal pins and suspension could be shot, necessitating a return to the factory for replacement.  Beware a nested top box sitting slightly askew or off-square.

Whatever you do, make sure they have been treated with kid gloves and have all the transit bolts.  More than any other Naim speaker, they don't like being shipped about too often.

Re. the veneer on top, cracking can happen.  It will spend on environment and humidity I guess.  AFAIK the factory cannot get this re-veneered anymore.

I guess, like everything else, it's down to personal taste and how well set up they are, but I really like NBLs, they're a superb design and I was intending to buy a pair to replace my SBLs, but by then Naim had stopped making them. I also learned, as Mr Halibut's pointed out, they're very deep, too deep in fact for where they'd need to go in my room and surprisingly some 5 cm deeper than my DBLs.

Is that true, no mid units as Mario has stated?

And no bass drivers either. I was informed that we had the last pair earlier this year to repair a customer's active NBL rig when one of his NAP250's failed and DC flatlined in one channel, taking both bass drive units with it. Thankfully all back up and running, but a real challenge getting the speaker dismantled to access the bass driver cabinet.

Great sounding loudspeaker all the same, but they do need careful setup.

Tony

My NBLs were a major upgrade from Klipsch Cornwalls, PSB gold status, and PSB platinum T-6 in a Naim system. I thought they were comparable to newer B&W, Neat, and Proac for sound quality. Running them active now and definite synergy in all Naim system.SLs and DBLs rare in the US so I never listened but very happy with my NBLs.

No bass drivers and no mids (are these the same as IBL bass and DBL mids?) and I had Naim's last crossover, there's only the tweeters left! Does the performance compensate for the lack of component support? I'll certainly be keeping mine until the bitter end.

Nope, IBL bass is not the same as NBL DBL mid as it has a longer voice coil to handle longer excursion of bass frequencies. Can't use Axess or Axcent mid bass also for same reason.

Really don't understand why naim don't just re-cone damaged drivers for SBL, SL2 NBL and DBL, the driver basket and magnet can be reused endlessly, sometimes the cone can be also. All naim would need to stock is three or 4 different voice coils and some rubber surrounds. After all service is the one thing that makes naim so different to everybody else. Also gives them a resale value for their products that no other manufacturer can beat. People love these speaker designs for good reason, they do music, not just sound. Naim should continue to support their speaker designs, they do so with pretty much every thing else. (Just look at the lengths they go to with laser mechs)

Mario.

Can Richard Dane or someone else from Naim officially comment on

1.Will they remanufacture mid and bass drivers for people that have NBL, DBL, SL2? Or are they SOL and have a wood pile if these drivers break.

No support for parts on speakers would put a drastic stop to my interest in acquiring these fine speakers as not an Ovator fan.

Timoth,

I can't help you here.  Best address your question to someone at Naim.  I would suggest an e-mail to Naim's customer service manager, Steve Hopkins - info@naimaudio.com.

Timoth,

Not an official statement, but there will come a point in any product's life when spare parts are no longer available. Speaker drive units, CD mechanisms, etc. are all examples of where Naim and other manufacturers have found themselves unable to continue support for older models (try finding a replacement mid/bass drive unit for a customer's Linn Kabers - we are actively trying to find one, but no point asking Linn).

And we have at least three or four older Naim CD players in our stock room that cannot be repaired for the lack of a CD mech!!! And I know there are other component parts for many other older Naim products that are now no longer available from what I've been told.

It it is a case for asking the question "Where do you draw the line?".

Cheers

Tony

Have confirmed with Steve Hopkins, no spare parts for NBL at Naim factory!