SBL Setup Query

[Ardbeg10y]

@Graeme

people will have to make their own minds up.

This is it.

I auditioned my sbls at the previous owners place - a lovely German gentleman - and the SBLs were setup completely incorrect. Despite that, the quality of them was obvious and I bought them. One of my Best Buy’s ever. I did set them up at my place as good as possible and no doubt a good dealer can do it better.

What really matters is the closed seal and the solid wall. That will make them brilliant.

Some attention for detail. No magic, just attention for detail.

[suzywong]

So what does your “as signed by God” version say.

“pierce” or “not to pierce”

[Murmur]

What happened to the Julian/Roy reference?

Would be good to have an answer to suzywong’s question - I assume ‘not pierced’ but I’m also not 100% clear…

EDIT: decided to look back at his old posts and found this…

@julian vereker

The important issue is to ensure that the mid box does not rock, if the pads are pierced a little bit this will not affect the performance.

If all the pads are fully pierced on first assembly, it is likely that they will need fixing next time the SBLs are assembled.

@julian vereker

I have found that with some care 5 or 6 moves are possible without any remedial action to the pads.

@julian vereker

There is some misunderstanding here . . . the bass box should be pressed onto the spikes such that the box does not rock, end of story. - The aluminium pads were an afterthought solely to make the setup easier and more repeatable.

The connection between the bass box and the spikes is part of the design - it is not one of isolation, but defined contact.

@julian vereker

When the speaker is first assembled, the woofer box is pressed onto the spikes to make indentations in the aluminium pads to make it easier to locate the woofer box after the silicone has been applied. The woofer box is then pressed down firmly after the silicone has been applied to ensure that any excess is spread out and is not pushing the woofer box up.

After the assembly has been done a number of times, the holes may become enlarged in the spike protectors which in itself doesn’t matter as long as the seal is remade, but it is important to check that the foam gasket does not touch the underside of the woofer box when it is placed on the spikes (i.e. there must be a gap for the silicone).

If you have any doubts, read the manual or check with your dealer.

This is a very important part of the correct operation of the SBL, and if the woofer box is not firmly on the spikes, the sound quality IS SERIOUSLY degraded.

[Debs]

@julian vereker

There is some misunderstanding here . . . the bass box should be pressed onto the spikes such that the box does not rock, end of story.

At least that sounds sort of logical; if the only reason one would need to pierce the spikes though the pads is if the woofer box is rocking, and; if it sits on the spikes firmly without any rocking then there is no need to pierce.

However, i do wonder why the woofer box would be rocking, and suspect either an aluminium pad or more not stapled on correctly, or the spikes not aligned.
I have never had any need to adjust the spikes, they were presumably set correct at the factory.

The first time i set my SBLs up [ 2005 ] one of the woofer boxes was slightly out of line, so i corrected it by firmly applying pressure to re-dimple the pads in alignment. This worked with pushing down very firmly but i remember applying virtually all my bodyweight on the woofer box. At this time i wasn’t sure if i’d pierced the pads or not…

It wasn’t until the second time i set the SBLs up [ 2010 ] that i saw the 8 pads were all okay to re-use, none of them were pierced and the dimples matched up perfectly with box alignment.

[Christopher_M]

@Murmur One week in, how do you like them?

[Murmur]

In many ways, they are the best speaker I’ve ever owned. However, I’ve had to face the fact that I always miss the tunefulness of some Linn 80s/90s speakers and there’s no point fighting it or looking at other brands. Not quite ready to part with the SBLs though. I will probably try them again sometime.

Sorry, that’s probably not what you wanted to hear and a bit of a let down.

[Christopher_M]

Not a let down at all even though I love mine.

I know you are a massive exponent of the Kan, which I have barely heard, so I think we are probably coming to SBLs from different places.

[stuart.ashen]

Ok Murmer, you are clearly deaf and your ears need de waxing or retraining!

Only kidding. You like what you like. End of story. Enjoy your Kans.