Audio42

Replacing the SBL, the SL2 has inherited many of the it's unique characteristics.

The complete isolation of the drive units has been retained and refined with a complex mounting assembly for the tweeter.

The use of an acoustic window underneath the bass is maintained allowing both speed and depth in the bass.

The drive units are the almost the same. A change has been made to the tweeter, with the Scanspeak D2010 replacing the 2008, they are effectively identical units. The significant difference being the new four screw mounting visible on the tweeter front plate.

Perhaps the SL2's biggest advantage over the SBL is the extra 9cms of height the drivers have in the cabinet. This seems to give a slightly better presentation of the sound, and maybe one reason the Mana or Russ Andrews Torlyte Plats stands worked so well under the SBL.

With so much similar it is no surprise the crossover has similar component values and circuit design to the SBL, albeit in slightly differently shaped plastic box.

As with the SBL there are two areas for improvement

1) Component quality. There is a marginal improvement over the SBL in some of the Capacitors specified. Naim have included some of the popular ICW range, used in speakers such as the Quad 11L. The eddy inducing ferrite inductors remain, as the do the ceramic resistors. An obvious area for improvement.

2) Component values. These are similar to the SBL crossover, which was designed in the days before the widespread application of computer modelling software. The component values are 10% adrift of mathematical optimums. We have spent a year refining these values to produce a much more integrated sound.

Unsurprisingly then, a sizeable performance gain is available for the SL2, offering a viable alternative upgrade route to the traditional active solutions particularly for those using the brilliant new NAP500/300 family and the new NAP250.2.

These fantastic amplifiers really exploit the potential of the Audio42 crossovers raising the performance of this highly effective, yet idiosyncratic, speaker to a significantly higher level.