Are SBL`s Bass LIght?

however, you should know that speaker performance is very room dependent. its therefore dangerous to simply extrapolate from someone else's experience. this explains partly the disparity of opinions on the sbl's (and of course, on other speakers).

ideally, you should demo a few at home and tell us what you think.

enjoy

ken

You should get a home demo.

many speakers outdo the SBLs for quantity, few outdo them in overall quality, hardly any i've heard outdo them in bass speed.

LF alignment in time to upper range frequencies in the SBL, especially in Active mode, is startling. Very very coherent.

If you cant do Active, look at the Allae instead.

vikk

Very satisfied,
Jun

SBLs 6 foot apart as in old room - very heavy in the bass, moving away from the wall killed the PRAT. 8 foot apart resolved this but bass is still heavier in the new room and any further apart and a hole appears in the soundstage

Still sounds superb and in no way bass light

If you like REAL bass (not that very(politically) 'correct' very tight respectable polite Bass that Naim speakers do) then you don't want SBLs

They do lower bass quite nicely, fast, well integrated and controlled.

However, I feel that they are a bit missing out in upper bass / lowest midrange. To illustrate: Male voices and pianos feel too "thin", lacking some natural warmth.

For me, this is the weakest point of these otherwise fine speakers.

Claus

My Sybilles are certainly not shy in the Bass dept either. I wouldn't want more bass than they can produce (unless I moved to a larger house)

I agree with Woodface on Jason Hectors ridiculous statement too. SBLs cost £2k - NBLs - £6k and DBLs £10k!! Might this possibly be the reason they have a tad more hardware onboard?

Time to cancel the HiFiplus subscription methinks!

P.

You could give the Shahinian range a listen.

I like listening to live music aswell and these were definately the best at reproducing that feeling.
The Obelisks would be in your price range.

For many rooms, they will be "baby bear's porridge" - just right!

Andrew

P.S. for £4000, the other louspeakers to try are the Living Voice OBX-R.

Andrew Randle
2B || !2B;
4 ^ = ?;

[This message was edited by Andrew Randle on FRIDAY 23 November 2001 at 12:18.]

You should listen to some Arcs if you want bass.

pete

You should listen to some Arcs if you want bass.

pete

This really is going to depend on the size of your room and your opinion of what constitues 'light bass'. In my opinion its far more important to get the bass *right* rather than get it in large quantities. I could sit you in front of a pair of Kans that are oh-so right in the bass they do that you'll be so happy listening to the music you'll forget all about not being able to hear that last octive or so.

If its any help, I'm only about 20 miles or so away from you, you could listen to SBLs over here where I think you'll find no perceived lack of bass in my 14ft x 11ft room. Okay, it doesn't have that chest-crushing deep bass that DBLs have, and I've tried DBLs here, but I don't really miss that. It's all down to personal preferences really.

If youre going to be using 52/135s and appropriate sources then you really don't want to be looking at Shahinians, certainly not at the level of Arcs or Compass' anyway. IMO the Shahinians are an extreme bottleneck to anything above about a mid-range Naim system. They are more suited to a mullet-type system where their bloaty-bass and smeared detail mask some of the deficiencies of the upstream components that more expensive equipment quite-rightly corrects.

Allan

Have you heard the Shahinian Obelisks as apposed to Arcs?

So my speakers are crap then!!! can't say I agree with you. Mine just sound better and better and reveal any changes that I do with non of that bloaty-bass and smeared detail.

pete

fwiw, i don't find that my Kans are bass light at all.

enjoy

ken

Personally, my 2 Lp's worth about SBL's is that they're not bass light and give a great accurate hifi bass, that when sets up well feels and sounds great. The bass 'fits' in balance with the rest of the speaker, but I do personally want for slightly more extension in bass and midrange. I do love their open and transparent presentation though. Room and contents are so important to achieving the overall sound you hear.

I agree and disagree with Mr Probin that with 52/135 you can't use Shahinian Compass, Arc is a minimum, and the higher ranges sound good with them, but to say

"They are more suited to a mullet-type system where their bloaty-bass and smeared detail mask some of the deficiencies of the upstream components that more expensive equipment quite-rightly corrects." is NOT true IMHO. ( I detect infuriation!)

IMO I have never heard other speakers retrieve decaying symbals so finely without that artificial edge/glare that is 'heard' or 'seen' as true/natural decay in worse speakers/ancilliaries..

I think Allan has heard Obelisks...Strangely I never got on with these at first...

True I own Shahinians, ( so I am slightly biased) but I have tried all of them in loads of Naim Combo's and they sound great. I do understand the love or hate them though! I'll stick to my natural 3-D live sound anyway :-)

have fun all

Goose

Yeah right! If you like your bass nice and polite, with your pipe and slippers and your tinkly jazz, then SBLs are just what you need.

Some people happen to like to listen to Reggae and Dance, where this 'correct' style of bass doesn't work as well as bass that hits you in the chest.

Well maybe that's not 'correct' in some people's view, and SBL owners will come up with words like Bloat and Flabby, but to other people, that's just what they're looking for, and to those people SBLs just don't cut the mustard in the bass department.

Big Ears orginal post asked for 'Bass that i will be able to feel'. SBLs just won't do that - unless you stand right up against them and your a terribly sensitive little soul. (Yes - I know, SBL owners are just that and you all really feel that bass ... or at least feel that it is correct)

Cheers
Ade

Regards

Stephen

quote:

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Being nearly floored by the bass from my Intro IIs on a track from the last Moby CD

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Being a delicate little flower living in a paper house this is no doubt quite literally true in this case, but for most normal people speakers that really move some air are required before you can really feel the bass ... and even with DBLs you don't really get the feeling that you're in danger of being knocked over.

The Naim bass presentation can be a bit clinical for some lovers of reggae and dance, where a bit more resonance can make a big difference. You can certainly feel the bass on DBLs, but even they don't really play reggae and dance as well as some other speakers (BW801 or ATC150 for instance)

Bass isn't everything - not even in Reggae.

Regards

stephen

quote:

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sounded dire for most other types of recording (especially heavy metal)

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I read comments like that every once in a while here. Never listened to much heavy metal to begin with, but ever since I've had a decent hifi system if find it's actually that type of music that sounds dire. Let's face it: heavy metal is produced mainly for 20-year old testomonsters with subwoofers under the front seats of their car. I recently gave away Van Halen's 1984 (which is an excellent album if you forget about "Jump") because I found it unlistenably thin. Don't wish to sound condescending, but if straight-out rock and metal is your thing, an accurate speaker like the SBL probably won't float your boat - because of the poor engineering and mastering with this type of music (I realize there will be plenty of exceptions). The danger I see is that you go out and get components or speakers (warm and wooly) that make up for the lousy production, and if you then play decent recordings it just doesn't work.

Steve C., just read your "pipe and slippers" rant - did make me laugh, and yes, SBLs won't cut the mustard if you want big, scary gut-pounding bass for dance and reggae. But how could they? They're stand-mounts in disguise.

Thomas

[This message was edited by Thomas K on FRIDAY 23 November 2001 at 16:41.]