Like the copper-gold phase plug… compact is always a plus.
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I have some of these as well, in a room 4.5m by 3.6m, firing across, and they are brilliant. I’m not sure they’d be my choice in a room the size of yours but some of ProAc’s larger speakers may work. A lot of current speakers are very much boom and tizz. ProAc’s strapline is ‘perfectly natural’ and that certainly sums up the Tablette 10 Signature. For under £1,500 they are an absolute bargain, and a great match with more modest stuff like mine all the way up to Graeme’s lovely 555 and 552. I listen to all sorts, jazz, chamber music, folk, African and noisy post punk stuff and they take it all in their stride. If you go for stand mounts, choose your stands carefully.
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Classics which I loved, and could still rock. There was a limit to how far the 8 inchers would go on the mark IIs but they still went low enough. Maybe about 35hz depending on room and set up.
The DBLs on bass and rock - still haven’t heard a contender to match their visceral punch and hence are still a reference in my mind for sheer latching on to attack and the “fullness of physicality” whenever the lower registers came on. Its speed and immediacy would just grip like a vice, with infectious PRT second to none in a good room driven by suitable amps. Foot-tapping was norm with these. I seldom found the highs shrill on those I heard - they were smooth, delicate and so tangible. I realised, with these transducers of music, for them to sound magical, their set-up was key but we could say that of almost any other speaker. Those that did sound somewhat shrill at higher volumes was, neutrally, due to everything else in the set-up but the speaker, particularly with cable dressing and power spurs for the olive 135s and 250s that drove them. Under a 52-500 passive at that time, decades back, even non-DR… the DBLs really became quite another animal… I wish I could hear a 552DR-500DR on passive DBLs one day… whatever the Naim source. Can’t imagine them with the Statement… in which case the bottleneck would be the DBL’s passive crossovers.
If only Roy George could be coaxed out of retirement for a modern day DBL… ha ha - using today’s drivers, they’d be so different from the Focal range.
The DBLs were only ever meant to be placed against a solid wall, so the owner of these had other plans… without wall enhancement, the mids and bass become more diffused- which is kinda strange because a DBL owner would naturally want to optimise what the speaker was originally voiced for.
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Thank you HungryHalibut… lovely oak. Musicality reigns for good small speakers… I’m gonna listen to these… perhaps for a second system. They seem a little diminutive for a main system.
Cheers
G
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Another vote for Ovators S-600.
I listen to a broad range of music including rock and the Ovators have tons of punch.
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I have been into all this stuff for ever. Linn, Grace, Supex with Naim amps etc back in the day. I have tried many speakers - even horns and electrostatics. My last speakers were DBL’s. Sounded cool, however with a pretty small foot print and against the real wall, they still just looked like wardrobes! I now have Kef Reference 3’s. These are truly remarkable transducers. With the addition of a ND555 and a 500 power amp I can’t ask for anything more. I’m enjoying the music and that’s what its all about!
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I have to add my voice to the chorus of DBL worshippers here! Heard them a few times at shows and in an old forum member’s home and they always made a dramatic impression! The speakers which embody the modern ‘spirit of DBL’ best in my view are ATC’s. Same whipcrack fast transient attack, nimbleness, transparency and yet sense of unlimited bandwidth and power.
Jonathan
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These are the ones I have (ebony finish). Very happy with them.
Gold.
I love gold whenever I find it.
Enjoy your escapades, CMP!
Cheers
Phil P
naimniac for life
Thanks G, much appreciated. Will certainly look for them here and have a good listen.
My rgds
Phil P
Couldn’t have expressed it more reflectively or succinctly. 
Dramatic’s the word but they could also cajole my ears ever so gently these fiendishly beautiful brutes.
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Hi Jonathan curious which ones you heard convey such an …… untameable combination….? I couldn’t get past the “boxy” size of the 100SE Towers though they had a remarkable tank build, and finish. Heard only the active 50T. Already so good.
Cheers
Phil P
Corry… waiting with abated breath as I hardly see them in this lovely finish. Very happy for you anyway!
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Charlie…. this is a surreptitious call out to you, Sir. Lol
With warm rgds
Phil P
Not sure if they have been mentioned but Dynaudio have some excellent speakers both old and new I have to say though what you are about to embark upon is without a doubt the most difficult thing to get right but also if you get it right the most rewarding.
As has been mentioned your room is both an enemy and a friend and with a room your size I’d go with a floor stander unfortunately because of the room aspect dealer demos like peoples opinions aren’t a massive help your going to need home demos.
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PMC are great…or try JBL L100…a classic rocker…that loves to party party + there are some sexy rossover upgrades available…
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Phil P,
I currently run passive SCM40’s at home with Naim amplification and while they lack some of the scale of the DBL’s they have many similar sonic attributes and are more effective than the NBL imho. I’ve heard the SCM 50’s and SCM100 and of course they bring a more ‘DBL-like’ scale to the proceedings.
My conclusion is that there is a peculiar synergy between naim electronics and ATC speakers and it’s certainly the case that an increasing number of people on these forums are coming to similar conclusions.
Jonathan
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Hi Jonathan
I’m not surprised.
ATCs are excellent speakers.
Love their seriousness, sound quality and build.
SE looks are softer.
Have someone here running a 500DR happily into the SCM SL50A and heard he runs rock sorties happily and loudly ……haven’t heard that combo - perhaps one day - but i heard from a reliable source, the owner is grinning from ear to ear….
I’m honestly not convinced about the active XO and amp circuitry resonating without abandon within the ATC cabinets at high play volumes and much prefer a separate Naim pre-power on Fraims……
Enjoy your music system! I am still mulling on a new set up and prefer something which can scale effortlessly and not look like a boxy coffin all the same.
Cheers
Phil P
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