What to put SL2s on?

But better on hard floor, or not very thick carpet. Don’t you think so ?

Or is it better that they "float " a bit especially if carpet is on a suspended floor. Truthfully, I’m completely confused about coupling with the underlying wood floor or decoupling with Silent Mount
Gaia type devices on carpet.

Don’t you want to try? It’s easy to return such products.

As a matter of both theoretical and practical interest, how does the presence of furniture/TV effect the performance of SL2s?

So in what patterns does sound emanate from the 2 drivers towards the listeners ears?

I am under the impression that the high frequency sound waves project in a cone forwards from the tweeter, but I’m not sure how wide splayed the cone is? Would it miss the TV and TV stand in my pics above on first projection?

As regards low frequency waves, do they project in all (or most) directions from the woofer, reflecting back into the brick wall as well as forwards and sideways into the neighboring hifi racks and TV and TV stand?

And does the height of both drivers at the top of the speakers maker this less of problem than it would be if the drivers were lower?

And is the lower cabinet of the SL2s designed to vibrate/resonate with certain lower frequencies of sound waves that can pass through the holes between the 2 boxes?

And while I’m asking, can anyone explain how the leaf springs actually work and if possible show a picture or diagram of what they look like?

Thanks
Jim

More there is space between the speakers, and around ( in most cases), more the speakers will breathe and the soundstage becomes more open and airy.
We are a lot to have experimented that.

But of course, it’s not always possible and we don’t live in acoustic studio rooms, and alone.

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Yes but not under the sl2 unless you have a concrete floor base and short carpet, even then it’s really hard to get them set right with the movement of the carpet. They need to be firmly planted to ground. You really don’t want any movement at all. If you use other brand “chips” it changes the sound.
Seriously if you want them to sound the way naim designed them follow their instructions. While I’m “angry Johns” biggest fan I don’t rate mana sound bases under them. Mana sound bases work very well with budget speakers which are possibly filled with coloration, remember sl2 speakers have been designed to defeat that very issue, If something like mana sound bases improve your expensive speakers something’s gone wrong with the set up and room speaker location (just like the OP). Ambulance at the bottom of the cliff you could say.
I get having a play is fun but imo you will end up going to the specified set up at the end of the day. I can see why they only made around 350, it seems the world was not ready for them and apparently the worlds still not ready. Plug and play generation eh.

Jim, I haven’t got all day to answer your questions.
But a search should answer most of them. What I have time for Is, it’s common knowledge not have “things” in the sound stage. I’m surprised you do not know that.

oh thanks for taking the trouble to tell me that, mate
can i find information by doing a search
really?
cheers

Ok then, from what understand the crossovers Have been designed in mind of near wall positioning. The speaker cabinet uses the rear wall . I’ve never herd the sl2 away from a wall but I guess the bottom end and sound stage will fall away, which is generally the opposite to most speaker designs. So a solid rear wall is a must. If you search “sl2 set up” you can see how do it correctly. It was written up by Richard who is “almost” the world biggest sl2 fan (that’s me btw) Or maybe HH?? Anyway very clear and easy instructions.
The other thing that’s got me, your 150x amp. I honestly can’t see that running them very well sorry. They need some current to get them going.
Well at the end of the day when setup correctly you will know that’s for sure, takes time like about One dozen times when I first started out, when correctly done wow the top end is a deep three-dimensional blanket🤤. Gives the atmosphere of the recording in my case particularly live (Olives) speed/timing is to die for and the bottom end is hard and fast.
Never need to replace them imo they just have kept on giving with every naim and mana upgrade I’ve done.

Jim, one of the main factors that can have an effect on bass response is the distance from the bass driver centre to room boundary walls. The SL2 is designed to be used with the back of the cabinet and crossover very close to a solid wall. This way it works with the room, but it does mean that the room then becomes more of a factor in itself. The distance of the bass driver from the floor is also a factor. This is often why putting a speaker on an additional plinth can have such a marked effect. And of course, the tweeter itself is then also moved higher too. In my room, I actually think I get the best sound when I’m sitting just a bit higher up than I am. It would mean building a raised plinth, and frankly it’s a non-starter really but interesting all the same. The sound is certainly good enough sat where I am.

The lower box of the SL2 is decoupled from the main driver box. This main driver box is kept small to reduce cabinet colourations and overhang effects, however, thanks to the PAR filter and interface (which being so closely defined actually acts like a seal between the boxes) it acts like a much larger box but without the drawbacks. Pretty cool really. And the rear springs act at a low frequency, so the tweeter is held in space by the arm, and the vibrations that are caused by the mis/bas driver are dealt with by the spring and the tweeter is unaffected.

All in all, an amazing design.

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Have you tried IBLs in the same spot? Their tweeters are tilted less and therefore they image better when the listener is in a normal listening position. Well, thats what I found compared to SBLs.

Interesting I always thought cabinets with tweeters sitting further back is a time alignment correction.

Thank you, Richard.
That is very helpful.
The speakers do sound very good as they are right now.
But, yes, they sound even better when I’m one or two foot higher.
But I hadn’t connected that with the effect of raising the SL2s on any kind of plinth or shelf.
Best wishes
Jim

Adam, thank you for posting that. That has me very interested. I do wonder why they never entered production, the only reasons why I could imagine would be possibly the cost, or they just did not make the grade or a copyright issue. I guess In part they could of help the profit margin on the speaker as well. Anyway I would imagine they would be very handy when used on a wooden sprung floor. So my question seems how they look just like a Fraim level do you think you would use naim chips under them? I understand one must try, my only concern is the height. I (hope to) will be doing some renovations to our listening room this June and I have been thinking about my wooden sprung floor and how I can improve things. I’ve tried mana sound bases on my old credos and found in this room it improved the bottom end but took a good amount of sound stage away, I’m unsure why other than the tweeter position.
Any thoughts. Thanks :pray:

My guess is that Naim just weren’t selling enough speakers to make such accessories worth bringing to the market, but we’ll probably never know.

I think the first consideration for anyone with a suspended timber floor is the condition of the floor itself, which can often be improved. Old houses often have loose floorboards that need to be re-fixed to stop any movement. If you’re in a position to lift the boards, have a look underneath, there might be all sorts of debris, loose pipes and cables, which can rattle away in time to the music. Cleaning out the rubbish (electricians and plumbers use these voids as rubbish bins) and using pipe supports and cable clips can help.
It’s also best, if possible, to have the speakers and rack against the wall into which the joists are fixed. This is likely to be more solid, with less bounce than the floor beneath the adjacent walls.

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Mana Sound Base Works!!

You: My guess is that Naim just weren’t selling enough speakers to make such accessories worth bringing to the market, but we’ll probably never know.


I feel I have to agree with you on that^^

When you say renovations I guess it depends how far you’re going with them but when I was having this place renovated I marked out my speaker and Sub positions then had the builders cut away a section of board, build up a column of bricks from the building foundations up then had concrete poured in so the speakers would have solid base to sit on. Worked a treat and my only regret is not doing for the 2 Fraim stacks too.

Cheers, Rack. :+1:t5:

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Or… it was perhaps a way to try to make setting up easier. That way more might be demonstrated and sold. But maybe it just didn’t sound quite good? I never heard or tried them so I couldn’t say either way.

That’s dedication :+1::+1:

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