I do consider myself incredibly lucky to own a pair. It was one of those ‘right place, right time’ moments. I have two friends that both own S800’s, and whilst I think the midrange and high frequency of the 800’s is almost ‘electrostatic’ in it’s seamless quality, and far better than the DBL’s I do find the bass on 800’s can sound a little odd on some tracks that I’m very familiar with. Like it’s not quite as integrated as I hear on the DBL’s. Sure, it goes way way lower but it’s not quite right. Obviously you’d never notice this if you’d only owned S800’s and never compared them to DBL’s but DBL’s are such a transparent window on the music they’re a very hard act to beat!
I do hanker after a pair of 800’s as they do look quite striking and not too shabby sounding!
The Ovator speaker range never really excited me like the older Naim designs.
DBLs are bold in both their appearance and from what I’ve read -their sound.
SBLs are probably the best looking speakers Naim ever designed IMHO
I briefly heard the SBLs for the first time yesterday while I was picking up some Q acoustic speakers that I bought for somebody as a gift.
The system used was NAC 62/HICAP/NAP 250 Olive. Dare I say it but they sounded more fun than what I remember my SL2s sounding like on 252/135s or was it 552/135s. I can’t be sure but either way I was surprised at how good they sounded.
here’s another question for you guys. DBLs are pretty sensitive at 92db. So why do they require heaps of power to get the best out of them? Surely this shouldn’t be the case or am I missing something.
Fair play and I’m completely with you on small standmount speakers. They are limited in bass output but they excel in imaging and musicality. I will still boldly say they often sound far more engaging than larger speakers. Time and time again I’ve been into a dealership, heard 20k, 50k heck even 100k giant speakers and the moment a smaller speaker is plugged in, thought ahhh that’s much more fun.
Yes larger speakers move more air and shake the walls but they lose something that is more important to me. They’re always more diffuse. And before somebody says it I completely understand that live music isn’t absolute pinpoint accurate. It IS diffuse. Even so standmount speakers are just so much fun. Not all but plenty on the market.
I wouldn’t say DBL require heaps of power, rather they enjoy heaps of quality. When I had them, if my NAP500 was offline for any reason I could still get away with using my spare NAP90 on the end of CD555 - 552. Probably wouldn’t find it listed under Naim suggested systems but it was music for sure.
I’ve run my DBL’s on an old Nait before now but on the end of a 500 or in an active system they are one of the few speakers that can get close to the real life dynamics of a drum kit.
My experience as well. It may be that the small speaker isn’t even trying to pretend that the band is in the room with you and, with that possibility off the table, what remains is the musical message.
I often think about how I can be entirely captivated by music from my 50 year old single speaker transistor radio, or my crappy car system, and wonder about the musical benefits of full bandwidth speakers (notwithstanding their undoubted strengths e.g. their ability to move air).
I’m so gutted. I received the NAC 12S and NAP 160 but the items were packaged soo poorly there are dents to both devices and the boards had become loose inside the NAC12S.
not to mention I bought from a dealer that couldn’t even be bothered to give the equipment a wipe down. It’s such a shame that such important bit of hifi gear is treated so poorly. I will unfortunately have to return them unless the dealer is willing to give me a considerable discount.
I managed to give both components a good clean and put the boards in place. The foam inside the NAC12s had also crumbled all inside the chassis. Crazy but it seems as though nobody has touched this device in many years.
plugged everything and and OMFG!!! what a great bit of kit. Definitely an improvement on the Nait 1. More energy and more bounce to the music. It’s a shame I’ll likely have to return them
Wow!!! Just wow. You’re not wrong. I keep banging on about a fun system. NAC 12S, NAP 160 bolt down into Linn Kans. The grin on my face is beginning to hurt. Just to temper expectations I’ll say a criticism could be it’s a little peaky but I don’t care whatsoever. Soooo much fun. So engaging. So exciting!!!
Absolutely. So gutted. Its a shame that people exist in this world who don’t value things. I know I’ve lived with people like that and I cannot understand why so many people are like that. Not us guys though, so there is still hope for humanity
Yep. The old naim packaging didnt offer much margin, especially if the polystyrene was tired.I had an olive 250 that returned from Salisbury with dent like yours. Pi$$ed off for a long time.
I’d have liked polystyrene in this package. It would’ve done something. Both units were packed on top of one another in one box wrapped in bubble wrap. Just a flimsy cardboard separating them. I’m surprised the damage was limited to the casing. So poor.
It’s a positive that I was able to plug in and listen to the amplifiers. What an experience. I think I prefer the vintage Naim sound - however flawed some may consider it to be. It gets to the heart and soul of the music. Fantastic gear.
anyway as it turns out I’m back in the market for a very good condition NAC 12S and NAP 160 Bolt down versions. lol. I’ll also try to source NAP 350s for home demo.
question. The NAP 120S/160 combo in this setup sounds even more livelier than my memory of the 52/SC/135 setup. Not more powerful or as warm or revealing in the midrange but just super exciting. Am I getting carried away or does this seem about right.
I can’t justify or even make sense of what I’m about to write but I’ve just landed a pair of Naim DBLs.
No I don’t even have a room I can place them in now but I just had to do it. We only live once right.
thank you @CrazyRiver . Had you not suggested a pair were available I would never have even tried to source a pair. I should mention it wasn’t the particular pair you’d informed me of.
Boy oh boy now I will begin the painstaking pursuit of an active system.
Fantastic! Well played! Before you get in too deep I should interject that my single 500 passive beat my active 6-pack of 135’s .. always go for best amp you can .. of course if you’re considering 6 x Statement I take it all back
The 160 in particular is still in very good condition (for its age) despite the recent damage. Can you not get a discount and carry on using them? It could be a couple of years before you find a better 160.
I prefer Kans with vintage Naim amps and LP12 of the same period. Best sound balance has been CB 32-5/HICAP/250. Best musicality has been 12/BD160. I would defo try CB 135s though / never heard them myself.
. If my room had been more on the bass side I would never had changed.