Naim Audio DBL

Without doubt the best speaker I have ever heard and owned - although they are incredibly revealing and require careful matching and top flight amplification and source.

Best partnered with Naim equipment and not suitable for confined spaces. They are absolutely enormous!

To be heard to be believed and must be run fully active!

Having run these as both passive and active speakers, there's no doubt that the active setup is the way they should be heard. I've had them for around 13 years, most of the time active and am still astounded at the way they sound. Crank the volume up and they just get louder, no audible stress or nasties in there. If you have the room, amplification and source to do these speakers credit, I'd recommend them over almost anything else you can purchase. They're not made any more and second hand sets are cheap.

I have owned and listened to the Naim Audio DBLs for the good part of 7 months now and would like to report the following:-

-The DBLs need to be set-up properly if it is expected to sound good.

-A good quality amplifier of at least 70 watts per channel is mandatory. The NAP250, NAP135 or better still the NAP500 is recommended. I am using a FM Acoustics F-10B power amplifier (80 watts per channel into 8 ohms) and it works wonders.

-Initially the DBLs sounded bass light and very bright because it was brand new out of the box. After about 2 months of constant running-in with different music programme, it's sound began to settle in and the brightness soon disappeared however the bass was still on the lean side.

-About 5-6 months after running-in the bass starts to have more oomph and is deeper in octave.

-This loudspeaker and I must stress the word LOUD is highly recommended for those who like to listen to hard driving rock/pop/dance music at really loud volumes. Please do not buy this loudspeaker if you have family members with a heart condition or neighbours with sensitive hearing because if you do you will have to make frequent trips to the hospital and your local police will be making frequent visits to your place.

The most accurate speakers you can get, bar none, and they fit (just) in the average room.

Buy now, but make sure the rest of the system is up to it!

the best £11,000 you'll ever spend!