NBL's and hissing

Posted by: Norman Clature on 31 August 2003

I have just taken ownership of some new NBL's. They are now in the process of running in and sounding just great. However, I have noticed that when you stand within a couple of feet of them with no music playing (and the volume control at zero) I become aware of a low level hissing sound. Putting my head next to the speaker cones in the upper part of the cabinet I note a noise that sounds like air leaking from some kind of pressure hose. With my SBL's I only got that effect if the volume control had inadvertantly been on full with no music playing.

Is this par for the course with NBL's ?

NBL owners let me know please.

And if it bears any relevance they are attached to a NAP500.

Posted on: 31 August 2003 by Chris Murphy

Norman,

The NBL's are a more efficient loudspeaker. This means for a given input signal they will give a louder sound output than your previous SBL's. Naim amps output a level of hiss which comes out of the preamp (regardless of volume control level) and is quiet normal. It's currently noticable due to the change to the NBL's. How are they sounding anyway?

Chris.

Posted on: 31 August 2003 by Norman Clature

Thanks Chris.

They are sounding really very good. There's been a bit of an up and down scenario over the last few days (run-in fun) but even on the down moments they are better in every respect to the SBL's.

Small jazz combo's and things like Jane Monheit start to sound like the personnel are standing in your living room. Which is what I recalled about them a few years ago in the demo with 135's.

I can hear where they are a bit off the mark respective to their own standards but that I am sure is a matter of time. That being said they still sound very very good indeed.

I still have not wound up the volume knob in a big way as I always proceed with caution in the early days on new gear but even at moderate volume they display a presence and authority which is well past anything the SBL's could offer. However, I remain very fond of me old SBL's as they delivered the goods to a very large degree without missing a beat for a few years there. But the NBL's are another league.

Is the up and down nature of the run in more to do with the passive crossovers than the speaker units themselves ?

Norman

Posted on: 31 August 2003 by Chris Murphy

I think it is the drive units waking up and stretching. They will go up and down for sure. The SL2's I have took a genuine six months of sounding average, then one day it was oh my god! Now they are run in! The NBL's take all of that... the rewards being even greater. Give them a blast. They'll thank you for it.

Chris.

Posted on: 31 August 2003 by Norman Clature

I shall duly prepare to blast off !!!

Norman

Posted on: 01 September 2003 by garyi

Norman, goto to around 10.30, I know they go that far, make sure there is no one next door though!

You have a supurb combi, I am well jelous.