New speakers to replace DBLs, suggestions please

Ok, keep two bolts loosely in place, one upper and one lower and then cut the silicone rim with a stanley knife around the whole circumference. Once you got the blade inside at one place, it’s fairly easy to slice around. You need the bolts so that the driver doesn’t fall and damage the wooden edge of the cabinet when the silicone rim is cut. It’s really heavy. Then remove the bolts one by one and make sure you hold on to the driver. You could also do the whole process with the cabinet laid on the back, so the driver can’t fall. If you have somebody to help, it might be easier.

I have had WB ACT One Evo on home dem with 500 series kit: very good indeed and quite astonishing for their diminutive size. Would imagine smaller models in range similarly good just smaller in scale.

if only there was a company that could replicate the DBL decoupled cabinets, one could use the ATC scm150 drivers as improved dbl drivers. The dome midrange is up there with the best there is, the tweeter is a soft dome, probably better than the scanspeak and the bass driver is probably better than the dbl with the SL technology. Presto, dbl mk 2, may as well chuck in the SL2 decoupled tweeter mount and we would have a new reference loudspeaker. Not hard for a company like naim. oh and maybe a better suspension like the BMR for the mid.
I know, dream on Mario.

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+1 on the ProAc K series. I have the K6, not the Signature. I know of a demo pair of K8’s if you are interested. Stateside however. I have heard both. They have a big and highly resolved sound.

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Hi billyrubin

How are you finding the Act One Evos? Can I ask what size room you have and whether they are fussy with placement ? Do they need to be well away from the wall ?

I only thought about the smaller Vectors because of placement. As you know I have the DBL right now. Although they may be big speakers they are remarkably easy to place as they like being near a wall. Also they are quite room friendly. I used to have some Neat MFS standmounts and they interacted with the room too much - I presume because of their isobaric bass loading.

I was drawn to the idea of Wilson Benesch because of their supposed focus on detail and resolution, though it is a long time since I have heard any.

I see the manufacturer now offers home trials direct. How do they work exactly? Do you get to keep them for a few days?

Karl

@Richard.Dane

Can you pass my email address to Karl so that he can contact me directly for me to answer his questions in detail?

Hi Charlie

Many thanks for your help, much appreciated as ever. Yes I managed to get one of the bass drivers out using a stanley knife.

Yes you were right on the foams - feeling crumbly - so I have contacted customfoams, as you suggested . By the way, did you open the treble/midrange box and replace the foams there too ?

When it comes to resoldering the refurbished bass units did you use any special solder with known Naim fairy dust qualities ? :grin:

In future, what happens if/when the treble, midrange units die? Are there replacements for them or is that it for Naim DBLs - speaker cemetery…

Karl - Richard will be passing my contact details to you. Feel free to ping me.

My pleasure Karl :wink:
Yes, I changed the foaming in the midrange cabinet too. No foam in the tweeter box.
To desolder just crank the temp to 400 dead Celsius, it may take some time to come off. Then for resoldering I’ll give you specifics of the solder I Used according to atc.

The tweeters are still available from scan speak.
The mids remain the enigma but I am working on that to find a solution :wink: definitely no speaker cemetery :smiley:
Cheers, enjoy the ride

Have Naim run out of matched pairs of tweeters now? My NBLs have only one working one between them following the move to France. I emailed Naim last week to ask but they haven’t got back to me yet. I also tried via the local dealer but he’s not answered either. I suspect Covid measures are getting in the way so I’m not too surprised.

I recall reading somewhere on here of someone who’d received matched tweeters direct from Scan Speak, although I seem to recall the author questioning if the matching was as thorough as might have been the case had it been performed by Naim Audio. It might have been Willy, who is also a DBL owner.

AFAIK, only Naim had the facility (and specific equipment) to select and then match up the drivers to their specific required parameters - now sadly gone due to space constraints. Of course, others may be able to do their own selection and matching but whether it would be the same as Naim’s is impossible to say.

Indeed. We are going to re decorate the livingroom and thinking about dbls has become quite obsessive.

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I got a pair of tweeters from willys-hifi .com and they are labelled up as from the same match group. As Richard, and others, have speculated possibly not to the same parameters as Naim did.

Willy.

Its really nice that naim used to do this, shows their attention to detail but if your over 40 and can hear the difference between a matched pair of tweeters and a standard new set installed in a pair of speakers, your not human, your a machine. I’m just happy the exact tweeter is still manufactured to the same spec as it was all those years ago. Whish I could say the same for the midrange.

I Have some vectors for a home demo shortly as possible replacments for my Arcs. WB offer either a home install or will ship via courier and talk you through set up etc.
They actively encourage a long demo to give them time to settle in before serious listening, i asked to 7 days but they said keep them longer. You do have to pay a 10% holding fee initially which is either refunded or goes towards your deposit if you order.

Deeg

That is a nice tidbit of info, my Peak Consult speakers also use tweeters from Scan-speak.:+1:t6:

Active ATCs are superior to the passive (also fantastic) versions.

I recommend parting with the 500 and using the funds towards ATC SCM50ASL or depending on room size, the 100’s

The NAC 552 will be excellent with the active ATCs with their dedicated built in amps matching the speaker drive units perfectly.

No need for expensive esoteric speaker cables either :grinning:

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Actually it was Willy, who got them from willy’s hifi, which he’s confirmed five posts above.

Mr. Frog

Yes I think ATC SCM 50s should definitely be on the shortlist.

Have you actually heard the direct comparison between passive 500 with SCM 50 vs the active SCM 50? Definitely a demo worth doing for me.

Given the second hand value of the non DR 500 and the extra cost of the active ATC scm 50 there won’t be much difference financially.

Karl