I have a pair of mk2 SBL and over the last few months I have been toying with a few ideas , the first is to sell and find another speaker altogether , the second ,is to replace the tweeters and buy some replacement grilles ,
so upon scouring a well known auction site it seems the SBL prices are all over the place, anything from 250-1400 pounds , I don't understand why . I have a pair of 1996 mk2 in walnut , in beautiful condition no dings or marks at all , I sometimes find the sound a little harsh dependant on which cd I am playing ,powered by , hicap,72,250 , meridian 206 front end , on the whole I like them a lot but I have never tried anything else on my system , hence thinking about a different speaker , I also read about deterioration of the tweeter , now I can buy a brand new pair of tweeters for a reasonable price , £130 for the pair , these are the original scanspeak units , whether this is my problem or not I don't know , but my old tweeters are fully working so they could be sold and that would reduce my outlay for new units , I have spoken to Naim about the crossovers and servicing and was advised that they are very robust and should not require replacing or anything like that , the next option was to try something completely different , maybe some Linn or epos , but I don't want to make this decision if the harshness from my SBL speakers is down to just old tweeters , also the SBL don't seem to be worth much , or so I thought , as of late they seem to be selling for quite a lot compared to this time last year , are they finally appreciating in value or are the current higher prices just a bit of a blip , I always thought mine were worth about £400 , a lot of speaker for the money but they just never seem to realise their value on the second hand market ,
i have now decided that new tweeters are going to be my first port of call as this is the easiest hassle free option ,
Posted on: 18 February 2017 by Christopher_M
Hi Jamesie, I've a pair of late 90s Mk2 SBLs too. Never found them harsh. My cdp is a Naim CDS3.
Hope you can resolve the issue.
Chris
Posted on: 18 February 2017 by naim_nymph
Keep the SBLs.
Sell the Meridian 206 and buy a CDS2 or CDS3 : )
Also, if you really really must get another pair of speakers, don't part with your SBLs until you have another pair of speakers in situ working in a way you're happy with.
But if it was my system, the Meridian would go. [Although i believe the Meridian transport mech is good to use for ripping CDs if you ever want to go down that route?].
Debs
Posted on: 18 February 2017 by Jamesie
Id better start saving , my budget won't stretch to a cds2 at the moment , would I need a power supply with that or will it work on its own .
i won't sell the SBLs until I am certain they are at fault . But from what I have read they probably are not ,
Posted on: 18 February 2017 by Jamesie
Hi Jamesie, I've a pair of late 90s Mk2 SBLs too. Never found them harsh. My cdp is a Naim CDS3.
Hope you can resolve the issue.
Chris
Funny thing is it's not CDs , maybe I should try some oth CD players , the problem could be there , although the meridian has always been fine on other systems I have had , I do have an old mission pcm II CD player that I may try on it over the next few weeks , see if there is any improvement there.
Posted on: 19 February 2017 by Stephen Tate
Hi,
It might be worth detaching the crossovers and taking them to your local dealer and asking them to re-solder the sockets - or at least look for any fractured joints.
You never know they may well spring back to life!!
Posted on: 19 February 2017 by LFCJohn
A mint pair of mk 2s should go for 800to1200 depending on overall condition. They will deliver on a lot of upgrades. I run mine ( bought 2000) through an active set up with nds,555dr and 552 front end. They are still outstanding. I would think very seriously about keeping them.The 72 and 250 work well together but the front end is the weak link. I used to run a CDX2 and it worked very well.
Posted on: 19 February 2017 by Jamesie
Thanks all for the advice , I don't think I am going to get rid of the sbls, after listening to all of your advice , my first port of call is a service for my hicap and 72 , my nat02 doesn't drift and sounds fine so I think I will leave that alone , the 250 was serviced at the factory 3 months ago , so I know that's all good , the whole lot is 1996 and I bought it all from the original owner , but none had ever been serviced , so I think that's where I'll start , to be honest for what I paid for the whole system is less than the cost of servicing the 250 72 and hicap , so investing some more money in it what I am going to do ,
Posted on: 19 February 2017 by BigH47
Maybe get a spare set of tweeters form NAIM HQ, as they won't be around forever. Remember NAIN did some work on them so not standard Scanpeak(?)
Crossovers go "off" too, only SL2 version still available, although that seems to change depending who you talk to.
Posted on: 20 February 2017 by living in lancs yearning for yorks
I can highly recommend going from Meridian 206 (with 263 DAC) to CDS2 with XPS2 (and later 555), which is what I did actually before getting my SBLs. (have gone to ND5XS in place of CDS2 en route to NDS) At demo, the CDX2 was an improvement over 206 but the CDS2 was a massive further step up
Posted on: 20 February 2017 by stuart.ashen
Hi Jon,
I understand your point. However, I think my passive SBL 300 is better than the only active system I have heard, Sibbles with two 250s. JV always thought to have the best source and pre before going active. How much do you think the goalposts have changed over the last 15 years or so re going active?
I dont want to hijack the thread so keep it to SBLs for the OP?
Stu
Posted on: 20 February 2017 by Mike Kent
As mentioned above, the Meridian should go, and the CDS3 would work wonders. I ran one with SBLs for some years and was always delighted with it. Very different from earlier Naim players which could tend to be a little harsh on some discs.
