Bargain of the century or caveat emptor
Posted by: GregWPGibbs on 17 January 2018
A friend of mine recently informed me of a local-ish ad for a pair of SBLs, which was described as “excellent condition but sold as seen” as (apparently) the seller had no way of testing them. I thought I’d take a gander (on the basis that I could always lug my Unity Star round to test them out if they looked OK). Anyway, arrangements were made and I duly arrived at the sellers rather swanky apartment (at least by Norwich standards). I was led through to the sitting room and was shocked to find that the speakers were in fact SL2s (the very speakers I’ve been searching for for years).
Cosmetically they were in pretty good condition - the veneer was clean and free from any serious dings, but more importantly, the upper cabinet was sitting correctly on the lower and the tweeter assembly was perfectly aligned. They looked rock solid.
The seller then said that another potential buyer was due in about an hour, so I took a bit of a gamble and bought them on the spot (without listening to them). I should point out that they were really cheap!
As soon as I got the speakers home I hooked them up and switched on my Star with great anticipation. I selected my favourite album on the local music server and presses play. Almost immediately I noticed something was not quite right. There was a low level ‘warble’ emanating from the left speaker - inaudible at high levels but very off-putting when the volume was turned down. Suspecting that the fault may be in the crossover, I swapped them over and my diagnosis proved correct.
So, does anyone know if Naim (or anyone else) services passive crossovers - as I guess the chance of finding a used pair in good condition is quite slim (I’m assuming replacing the faulty one only would be a bad idea)???
stuart.ashen posted:I do enjoy a Naim ‘speaker love in!
Indeed! It would be rude of me not to give a polite nod in the direction of nibbles!
Peter