A Night in Beckenham – The Silence of the Lambs

For those that saw our previous report ‘A Night out in Tunbridge Wells 2’, you may remember some debate between Nick Lees, Dave J and myself as to whether Tom Alves’ SBLs really did bass.

Firstly Tom has decided to tip the balance his way by upgrading from passive NAP180 to active NAP250s. That’s the effect that these evenings can have.

Secondly, we all came to the conclusion that we needed to hear what a pair of Naim’s ultimate loudspeaker, the DBLs could do in a well set up system, rather than a show environment. Fortunately for us, John Sheridan and Gizmogirl came to the rescue and very kindly allowed four strangers into their house for an evening of music. Out of the window went the tasteful music – we (OK I’m speaking for myself now) wanted to hear what DBLs were really capable of. I’m not sure relations with the neighbours will be quite so cordial from now on……

The Sheridan/Gizmogirl system consists of 52/NAP500/DBLs – being fed by LP12/ARO/Armageddon/Dynavector Cartridge and CDX.

The first thing that catches your eye when you enter the room is the sheer physical presence of the DBLs. They are BIG – I’ve seen comments about them discretely sitting at the edges of room - I can’t quite imagine it myself. Having said that, I think they look great. Just like my preference for the old style design, I’m probably in a minority – and I’m sure the days of the DBL are numbered as and when Naim develops a sleeker, curvier and pricier replacement.

Just as previous, prior to listening to any music, we all scrupulously checked system environment and set-up.

Room – Probably on the near limits of what DBLs can work in – I’d guess about 18ft by 12ft, firing down the smaller dimension. The walls were fairly bare, but John/Gizmo had a sneaky room tuning trick up their sleeve. Around the room were somewhere between 20-30 strategically placed cuddly sheep and lambs of various sizes, as well as a cuddly Pingu and Gizmo (just to confuse matters). Gizmo also mentioned some dealings with Peter Belt, so I’d assume that all the cuddly toys have been blessed, or had their toe-nails painted red or something.

Rack – Having gone to foreign lands outside Tunbridge Wells we had left Hutter county. 52 and CDX on Naim Fraim, the rest on Target stands.

Electrics – System uses Naim’s Australian mains cables going into an Aussie mains adaptor. Why? Because Australian mains cables don’t have fuses in and sound better. I’m sure Mr Dales has some explanation for this anomaly based on the direction of the earth’s gravitational field or the rotation of water down his bath plughole. We wait in anticipation.

Warm-up – this time we went for a range of opinions based on alcohol consumption, ranging from sober (Mr Lees, Dave J), slightly tipsy (Mr Sheridan, Gizmo), getting there (me) to Tom who went off the measurable scale.

Anyway we spent the next 5 hours throwing an even broader range of music than usual at the system. Mr Lees will provide the complete list of music played, so I will avoid comment on the music and how the DBLs played it until then. When the neighbours complained at 10.00pm (how unreasonable is that), the surprise package was that pairs of IBLs and SBLs were also brought out for comparison.

So to the system – I was expecting DBLs to do scale – on this they certainly deliver – in fact it’s fair to say on this they are absolutely awesome. What I had doubt about ahead of the demo was would they also do depth – I was surprised that yes they do indeed do depth very convincingly. Do they image – frankly not hugely, although, I think the answer may have been different if the room was twice as big. Driven by the 500 they are also as fast as SBLs, but these beasts really move air. No doubts here about whether they do bass or not – this bass is very physical. Was there a down side (there always has to be)? Well for me, yes a minor one. It was something that I wasn’t expecting, but the DBL is a surprisingly refined loudspeaker, and sometimes I wanted just a bit more grunt. I have a feeling this may have been more down to the restrictions of the room – of course I’m highly susceptible to any offers of demos to prove me wrong on this. Anyway, could I live with this speaker – err yes please – if only I had the space. Also, the pair we listened to was bought second hand at a ridiculously cheap price, so it certainly made them astounding value for the lucky owners. Also a revelation for me was the IBLs driven by the NAP500 – personally I preferred these to the SBLs, although I guess the SBLs require more careful set-up. Anyway, a good pair of IBLs has to be one of the best second hand bargains around if you have the right room for them.

So, many thanks to John and Gizmo for the hospitality – it’s a pleasure to be able to remember the whole evening, unlike last time. I’ll write some more on the music when Nick provides the track listing.

David

[This message was edited by David Hobbs-Mallyon on TUESDAY 08 October 2002 at 14:10.]