SBL Grills

Oh Debs, to live so unencumbered and free! And without grilles!

C.

Those are, for me the nicest SBLs I've ever seen, really like the grain and colour.

naim_nymph posted:

Christopher_M posted:

But FOC Debs, Naim say at the bottom of their SBL assembly instruction sheet: "The SBL is designed to be used with its foam grilles in place, both frequency and phase response will be adversely affected when used without them."Chris

 

Yeah, i've been laughing at that for donkeys years, wot it should say is: The SBL is designed to be used with its foam grilles in place, both frequency and phase response will sound minutely affected when used without them if you have the hearing of a long eared fruit bat."

 

Debs

This genuinely made me laugh! So true. I like them both with and without grills and they sound just fine either way. They can sound shrill on occasion anyway which varies between source / recording quality / room acoustics, which lets face it, are by no means perfect in most houses. 

I I like the aesthetics with the grills but I still can't decide haha...

sbls are are a gorgeous speaker. Ugly and beautiful at the same time. Timeless beauties. I love mine, and they are extremely practical as you can place them against walls and therefore do not intrude on your living space too much. 

While le we are whoring pics of our lovely SBL's:

[img]http://i56.photobucket.com/alb...7295_zpsjwahqwiz.jpg[/img]

Lewis posted:

naim_nymph posted:

Christopher_M posted:

But FOC Debs, Naim say at the bottom of their SBL assembly instruction sheet: "The SBL is designed to be used with its foam grilles in place, both frequency and phase response will be adversely affected when used without them."Chris

 

Yeah, i've been laughing at that for donkeys years, wot it should say is: The SBL is designed to be used with its foam grilles in place, both frequency and phase response will sound minutely affected when used without them if you have the hearing of a long eared fruit bat."

 

Debs

This genuinely made me laugh! So true. I like them both with and without grills and they sound just fine either way. They can sound shrill on occasion anyway which varies between source / recording quality / room acoustics, which lets face it, are by no means perfect in most houses. 

 

I I like the aesthetics with the grills but I still can't decide haha...

 

sbls are are a gorgeous speaker. Ugly and beautiful at the same time. Timeless beauties. I love mine, and they are extremely practical as you can place them against walls and therefore do not intrude on your living space too much. 

 

While le we are whoring pics of our lovely SBL's:

 

Lewis,

nice cherry veneer you have if i'm not mistaken, and in superb condition : )

To answer your question; imo the Puresound grilles are adequate and do the job for sensible money. The Tom Tom grille set have the original shaped look edge to them which is a very nice touch, but they are priced strictly for perfectionists.

I'm not sure if the Puresound ones also come with the rear recesses for driver clearance, you better check on this, i know they didn't at first but think they may do so now.

Debs

I loved my SBLs. Truly exceptional product. But the call of the DBL was too much to ignore. If you like SBL, then DBL will blow you sideways. Everything the SBL does, and then more. More of everything -- loudness, dynamics, speed, clarity, bass extension, with no downsides other than physical volume

I've heard (and seen) DBLs just once, August 22nd, 2008: I was visiting Naim and in a dept I remember as a sort of carpenter's lab, a pair was being tested with a Nait2. I don't remember anything special safe their important looks and a sort of disquieting transparence that made them seem a very big, bold man unexpectedly reading Shakespeare with the voice of a mannered tenor. I think that the minute I had the space for them, I'd look for a pair.

naim_nymph posted:

I'm enjoying my SBLs with these wonderful Invisibigrills™

... And they're wireless!

jon honeyball posted:

I loved my SBLs. Truly exceptional product. But the call of the DBL was too much to ignore. If you like SBL, then DBL will blow you sideways. Everything the SBL does, and then more. More of everything -- loudness, dynamics, speed, clarity, bass extension, with no downsides other than physical volume

I well remember listening to your DBLs for the first time Jon. My immediate reaction was one of amazement, rapidly followed by the awareness of how much like SBLs they sounded, a "House" sound if you like, but as you post, better at everything. SWMBO still blames you for my pair! (She loves you really...)

It's worth pointing out that DBLs, although formidably large and intimidating from the front, sit close to the wall and are only 7cm deeper than SL2s.

I loved my SBLs too, which is why I kept them for over fifteen years.

So long as SWMBO is happy, then I am safe... :-)

Apart from a slight amount of dust (I'm sure I could have vacuumed it off), my SBL grilles remained in perfect condition for 15 years.  In fact until we got a cat and she decided she liked chewing them.  I'd walk into the lounge and find small speckles of foam on the carpet.

Thank goodness that S600s have metal grilles.  Also the sloping tops mean she's never tried to jump on top of them.  Still waiting for her to try that with the S1.

naim_nymph posted:

I'm enjoying my SBLs with these wonderful Invisibigrills™

It's not easy to see their finer points but i'm assured they are designed to produce more transparency.

If anyone would like a set, mail me 50 quid and i'll email you the download code 

Debs

thats probably the nicest looking pair of SBLs i have seen for a long time -- IMV of course :-)

enjoy

ken

jon honeyball posted:

I loved my SBLs. Truly exceptional product. But the call of the DBL was too much to ignore. If you like SBL, then DBL will blow you sideways. Everything the SBL does, and then more. More of everything -- loudness, dynamics, speed, clarity, bass extension, with no downsides other than physical volume

I would have traded up from my (beautiful walnut) SBLs for DBLs if sound were the only concern. They really are awesome, but for two factors: size and price. As you and Tony say though, their provenance to the SBL is clear. I elected to change my SBLs for NBLs because they too gave a much bigger sound, similar but bigger (although not coming even close to the DBLs, of course). That said, I think they share less with the SBLs than the DBLs do, aside from just the shape. 

Actually all the XBLs were rather special. As with the call for more Aros, maybe we should be petitioning Naim Audio to reintroduce these classic speakers. I wonder how the production volumes of the XBLs compare with the Ovators. 

tonym posted:

It's worth pointing out that DBLs, although formidably large and intimidating from the front, sit close to the wall and are only 7cm deeper than SL2s.

To put this in perspective, DBLs are as about as wide as a Mu-so.

Martin M posted:

tonym posted:

It's worth pointing out that DBLs, although formidably large and intimidating from the front, sit close to the wall and are only 7cm deeper than SL2s.

To put this in perspective, DBLs are as about as wide as a Mu-so.

But slightly less portable

Martin M posted:

tonym posted:

It's worth pointing out that DBLs, although formidably large and intimidating from the front, sit close to the wall and are only 7cm deeper than SL2s.

To put this in perspective, DBLs are as about as wide as a Mu-so.

But doesn't that make them "rather wide"?  How wide are they?  I need to have speakers against the back wall - have been watching the Shahinian etc thread with interest but see that they are quite a bit out from the wall (that would bring them in front of the woodburner perhaps too much) - the room isn't particularly small but behind the listening sofa is a desk that cannot be moved.  My SBLs (cherry) fit the space nicely but I doubt anything much bigger would look right  - I could get away with SL2s quite happily I suspect but DBLs would probably be de trop!

65cm wide. Not wide for me. Much narrower than the vast majority of tvs. In any case, you get used to the size. I used to own SBLs. I saw a pair about a year ago and thought they were tiny. Still, if SBLs fit 'just so', I would take them active in preference to a divorce.

While we are discussing DBL's, what sort of money do these go for nowadays?  I suspect they are expensive!

There are a couple for sale at the moment in Germany for 6-7k euros.  Judging from sold/expired listings that I can find, over the past year or so they've typically gone for £4-7.5k-ish, mostly outside the UK.  I'd guess that if you're in the market for that sort of thing, that makes them pretty good VFM.

Wow so a fair whack then! They look awesome but I think my wife would have a mental if she came home and saw those monsters in our modest living room! they are akin to club speakers almost. I do like the design of them though, very cool. 

PS: I am still deciding on grills but I'll update this thread and keep you guys in the loop once I've procured a set

@ Lewis and Ian Stafford: I have left a link in reply to your posts on my wall. I hope I have posted in correctly.

Hope it helps!

Best,

Max