SBL...still a loved speaker?

I couldn’t not share this moment of happiness with you all …

yesterday afternoon the SBLs finally arrived … I mounted them and let the sealant dry.

this morning the big surprise! they are absolutely exceptional !!!

I was amazed and the more I listened to them, the more the smile grew on my face!

I had rega r5, qacoustic, S400, allae and nsats but none was able to give me the satisfaction of the SBLs.

the best upgrade ever! seems to have a new system !!!

thanks to all of you for the advice that led me to buy a piece of Naim history !!!

8 Likes

Congratulations, Angelodipa. They are special indeed.

Now you can spend all your savings on the source …

Top stuff, enjoy.

Hi Angelopida,

I got a pair of MkI SBL a few days ago and spent a couple of hours setting them up, and I heartily agree with you, damn fine speakers.

1 Like

The problem isn’t with the SBLs

Now that I am a happy owner of SBL, and I am more and more satisfied with, what could be the next step to enhance them more?

I am aware that the ideal would be to switch to the active crossover but at the moment it would cost me too much.

In the meantime I had thought of these solutions:

  • Mana Acoustics Sound Base. I read something on the old forum and it seems that there are conflicting opinions on their performances. Do you have any suggestions ??

  • Forfeit my NAP 200 (not DR) with a NAP 250.2 (NOT DR). Would switching to the 250 be an improvement that the SBL would take well? Would it be a good value for money?

Thank you

282/250 would be good, and you can’t really go wrong with this. My caveat would be that I remain a source first advocate and would make sure that is as good as possible first.

If you have a solid floor and wall I wouldn’t go for Mana or other slab/support. I hope you have a long and positive relationship with your Sibbles, they just get better as you improve your system.

Stu

1 Like

yes … I am lucky to have a solid floor (I also live on the ground floor) and a solid wall behind them …

There are a pair at the moment on the Bay, but I am enjoying the sound quality so much, even on my trampoline that I call a suspended wood floor, that I am pretty ambivalent.

wanting to follow instead the path suggested by many, that is to point to an upgrade of the source, would it make sense to sell the dac v1 and buy an NDX (version 24/192 of course)?

my budget at the moment does not allow me more …

I have read several times that the two solutions are similar but I would like to know if the NDX has a warmer and more analigical presentation than the dac V1 …

some experience in this regard especially with sbl?

Thx

In my humble opinion, the optimal value of the Dac V1 is when it is driving a Nap directly.

When I bought my SBLs, they were connected to a 82/hi/180 and fronted by a NDX. It sounded very, very well. I bought the SBLs - and they are now setup better than in the situation where I auditioned them.

Personally, I won’t get an NDX but I would either buy an nDac or Chord Hugo and feed these with my Allo Digione - but that’s me. I’m quite confident with computers etc … so I don’t worry sorting out things.

Have you tried how it is when you feed the Nap directly from the Dac V1?

2 Likes

I could do the test … but the 282 anyway I need for the phono stage and the front part (av input) of the home theater part …

Couple of interesting threads on the old forum:

Setup
https://forums.naimaudio.com/topic.php?p=1&oid=1566878606554549&coid=159503632588889

Mana
https://forums.naimaudio.com/topic.php?oid=1566878604479889&coid=159503632588889

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.