SBL & Allae interior foam
Posted by: tonyi on 21 October 2018
For SBL and perhaps Allae owners who have removed the Bass/mid speaker unit from their box and found the interior foam disintegrated, the correct spec is now available at Puresound of Tavistock near Plymouth. There is a drawing needed for the SBL unit which can be found under the post, headed "ALLAES", which has been put there by Richard Dane, otherwise I have one and Guy at Puresound has one.
Sounds like this could / should be useful info. Can I suggest you amend the thread title to make it more helpful?
Tony , thanks, it's useful info for anyone using SBLs and Allaes long-term. I have amended the thread title slightly to make it easier to find in a search.
Richard Dane posted:Tony , thanks, it's useful info for anyone using SBLs and Allaes long-term. I have amended the thread title slightly to make it easier to find in a search.
Richard,
Thank you
My NAIM ALLAE interior foam damping pads disintegrated upon touch !!
After the mild panic i found the thread and contacted Guy at Puresound who sorted me out 6 new pads in quick time.
You can purchase these pads via a certain auction site for £75
Great service and highly recommended
I presume that the only way to tell is to remove the bass/mid drivers. Which I am reluctant to do
What is the effect on sound quality?
Mike
???? An advice,...
When you have removed the bass/mid drivers,do not forget that these items should be ”Torque Draw” when they are put back.
◾This for the best soundquality,.Important.!
I'm not at home so I can't check in my book,but if I remember correctly,the bass/mid drivers for Allae will be ”Torque Draw” with 3.8 Nm.
But check with Naim,..or your dealer for safety's sake.
/Peder ????
i was told by Naim that its 3.6 Nm.
It was a fairly easy job, easier than connecting lots of black boxes on Fraim !!!
iiyama posted:i was told by Naim that its 3.6 Nm.
???? Iiyama,..Top,then I had pretty good memory ????????.
/Peder ????
mike_g posted:I presume that the only way to tell is to remove the bass/mid drivers. Which I am reluctant to do
What is the effect on sound quality?
Mike
I should think it will be a very noticeable improvement when done ... But as the foam deteriorated slowly over time ...a lot harder to spot unless you have a perfect pair to compare against ( highly unlikely)
So for the money involved .. probably best just to do it if you plan on keeping for any length of time
iiyama posted:My NAIM ALLAE interior foam damping pads disintegrated upon touch !!
After the mild panic i found the thread and contacted Guy at Puresound who sorted me out 6 new pads in quick time.
You can purchase these pads via a certain auction site for £75
Great service and highly recommended
Glad to see someone has used Guy as he was talking about using them for something else. Did they fit very well as they are cut for the SBL. and they used two pieces for each speaker. I'm not sure where he got the idea for a total of six pieces.
It would seem that 3 are needed per each Allae whereas only 2 are needed per each SBL.
When i removed the pads from the Allaes they both had x 3 pads in them, i purchased them from new.
When I retorqued the bass drivers on my Allaes I found the black foam in perfect shape. No disintegration whatsoever. Looks as if there are Allaes around that don't suffer from this...
Interestingly only one of the speakers had this issue although the other was starting to breakdown.
How do you remove the mid/bass driver without damaging anything? Had a quick try this morning after removing the bolts but the driver seems stuck solid
No need to remove any bolts - in fact I'd refrain from even trying. All you need to do is unplug the mid/bass cabinet and lift it from the remaining speaker cabinet. Inside it you'll find the black foam (or its remains).
You need to be careful here as the sealant can stick the driver solidly to the cabinet. Make sure you are in a warm room. It's worth using a slightly oversized bolt to "grab" the thread of the bolt holes in the basket. If in doubt, get it done by someone who knows what they're doing - try your Naim dealer - as it's otherwise easy to damage the cabinets and or the veneer.
Richard, are you referring to SBLs only or is removing the bass/mid drivers necessary on Allaes too if one wants to change the black foam pads? Thanks for the clarification (I'm thinking about replacing the black foam pads before they eventually deteriorate).
Paiste, I'm referring to removal of the drive units from the cabinet - refers to any Naim speaker.
As to what is required regarding foam replacement, I would defer to Naim's recommendation, and get it done by someone who knows. I've never done it myself, so couldn't advise here.