I think naim are in another planet,i enquired what the cost of a replacement gaskit for the SBL and was informed that the price is £39.19+vat,this is the lowest price that i have found some dealers are chargeing double for this

I've just been to halfords and bought a tube of Loctite Superflex for about £4.

Hurrah for me.

Regards

Mike

you do need the gaskit for the seal to work

What is the gasket like?

Could you not buy some gasket material and make your own? I've done it for cars and motorbikes plenty of times and saved a fortune on OEM prices

The gasket with SBLs is usually in good nick, especially if it was smeared with washing-up liquid prior to having sealent applied.

M

Can someone identify the foam please, the foam will be available from Parafix Conversions in Sussex, it'll be easy to cut your own and cost next to nothing.

My kit cost £16 a little while back and I thought that was excessive. In light of the latest Naim price hike, we have no other option than to group together a list of suppliers and form the Pink Fish SBL kit.

Sealant - already sourced ~ £4-6
Gasket - source required
Aluminium Pads - source required
Staples - err relatively easy.
Instruction - search PFM

That's it I think. Off we go, just need to beat £46.05 (is that plus or incl delivery?)

Does this look about right for the pads?

AliDamp (http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/steel_damp/steel_damp.htm)

Woahhhhhhhhh.

Great site there. Cheers Ricdil.

I'll be stripping down the SBLs in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned for some SBL demolition porn (if I can get the website to work)

Fu

The ally pads can be re-used many times by just moving them along so the spikes hit a different spot. Don't forget the filler in the holes if the spikes have penetrated into the cabinet wood.

Originally posted by artist
I think naim are in another planet,i enquired what the cost of a replacement gaskit for the SBL and was informed that the price is £39.19+vat,this is the lowest price that i have found some dealers are chargeing double for this

Complain to naim ffs and stop whingeing here.

Mouse Mats! You can cut the gasket out of mouse mats!

Ok where's my prize? Tee Hee

Whilst it would be fitting that a Pink Fish mouse mat should make the ultimate sacrifice... the real gasket feels a little more "rubbery" and less "foamy" than the mouse mats I have to hand.

In reality I suppose any closed cell foam should do the trick, assuming that that the mating surfaces can be made air tight?

Yes indeed, the previous owner of my pair has used so much mastic that i'm not sure if there is a gasket in there! I got the speakers home upright and they are so solid they didn't need re-doing, that was some 7 years ago.

I don't have a gasket kit to hand, but it sounds like it might be made from Poron or some such, maybe any good neoprene will do.

RS have the sealant on their website for £5.87 (+VAT?) for the 80gm tube.


http://rswww.com

part number is 423-6758

I was thinking of neoprean provided you could get it thick enough?

Has anyone actually found a suitable gasket substitute yet?

Anyone using mouse mats?

Hc

Anyone know where to buy new foam speaker grilles for the SBL's?

wilmslow audio do a 10mm foam grill material
https://secure.wilmslow-audio.co.uk/catalog/index.php/cPath/26_45?osCsid=2a57eeb1a9fdc0176d35d6418ca24d25

see the other thread on the gaskets

Anyone know where to buy new foam speaker grilles for the SBL's?

HERE (http://www.tomtomaudioshop.com/speaker_access.html)

I imagine that they would be a bugger to "sculpture" correctly so a new OEM purchase will probably be the best way to go.

Many thanks for the info on where to buy foam grilles for SBL.

Am I correct in my reading the Tom Tom SBL grilles that it is GBP23 for the top box and GBP28 for the bottom box and that is for one box only ..... E.g just over GBP100 to do the two speakers??

OUCH

"NAIM" troosas doon:D

The grills will be sold in small numbers and must be a bit of a beast to make
( = sculpture ) .

The Foam Grille material sold by Wilmslow Audio looks good.
Does anyone on the Forum how to cut it to get neat edges??

Many thanks

The foam is also sculpted on the back if you see what I mean. Looks like a real pain to get right, so probably more trouble than it's worth.:rolleyes:

Someone mentioned once that an aluminium beverage can could be cut up to provide the material for the aluminium pads. Scrape the paint off though.

For the staples, a B&Q staple gun does the job (vicious things though :o) but don't use the thickest staples. The MDF of the cabinet is as hard as nails so there's no guarantee that the staple will go all the way in. Try to tap them down flat with a hammer, although it's very easy to just buckle them.

Dig the old staples out with a flat blade, a pen knife blade is ideal.

My dealer told me to push the spikes through the aluminium pads just by gently thumping the speaker on top with your fist. I can't think of an analogy for how hard it is I'm afraid.

I found it quite hard to get the sealant the same width all the way around, especially the back was quite awkward where I have my SBLs because of a lack of space around them. Have a good few practice runs.

Other than that, it's dead easy :)

The foam is sculpted inside and out, with weird angles so it looks flat on the angled baffle.

The pads do not want to be peirced, just 'indented' so you can find the right position once they are gunked up.