New owner of SL3s

[deanym]

Hi to all,

I will be a new owner of some SL3s from this weekend!

No doubt I'll be asking lots of questions regarding support, maintenance and postioning etc of these new beast.

Be gentle

Thanks,

Dean

 

[TomD]

Welcome Dean

Wow - SL3s! Bet its going to be a long week

 

[churchill]

Welcome to the club Dean!

 

[Bimotarich]

welcome to the club!

I also own the same speakers. But I am afraid one of mine now has a fried panel and so they are just sitting... the panels are too expensive to replace here in Japan... at least for now... I sure miss em! Great sounding speakers!

 

[guido]

Welcome from another SL3 owner.

One suggestion: don't necessarily try only the ML recommended toe-in (1/3 from the inner edge when viewed with the "flashlight test"). For example, I discovered that in my room the best combination of soundstaging and tonal balance is when the axes of the speakers cross about 1 foot in front of the listening position. It actually leaves the SL3s at about 1/3 from the outer edge.

Guido F.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Dean,

For starters, see my post in the "tweaks" section. Fifth down from the top.

A few of other suggestions regarding positioning:

1) Try setting the rake (vertical) angle of the panel so that it is perpendicular or 90 degrees from the floor. Regardless of whatever rake angle you end up with, make sure it is exactly the same for both speakers.

2) Same applies to toe in and distance from back wall.

3) Try to get four to five feet of distance from the panel to the back wall. If this is impractical, maximize as much as possible. A minimum of two feet is desirable from the outside edge of the speaker to the adjacent side wall. Also, minimize placing objects (TV, cabinets, furniture, etc) between your speakers and the back wall.

4) Be patient and experiment. The SL3's are great speakers and will reward you if optimize their placement and address any room issues with proper acoustic treatment.

GG

 

[deanym]

Thank you for the very warm welcome, it is much appreciated.

The speakers are now installed and I'm tweaking a little bit each day as I'm getting used to the sound.

The point about the front face being perpendicular to the floor - this was my first action as soon as I realised my seating position was a little lower than the sketch in the manual.

I've currently got the inner 6th of the speakers toed in but even a movement of 1 foot of my head totally changes the sound. I will keep experimenting!!

The speakers are 3ft from the rear wall and unfortunately has some kit in between but the soundstage is still complete, there are no gaps or blind (deaf) spots when I'm in the sweet zone.

I'm using an Arcam Alpha 9 integrated which does 150watts into 4 ohms so seems to have quite a good grip on the bass. I've bi-wired and will be looking to bi-amp as I reckon it wouldn't hurt.

Are SL3s fussy with cables? I've got pretty thick Silver Anniversary on them at the moment and I'm happy with the balance of the tone.

 

[Gordon Gray]

Dean,

Try more toe in to widen the center "sweet spot".

Go in small increments, say 1/8" at a time.

GG

 

[MOON]

Hi Dean,

Welcome and congradulations on the SL 3's. There is a toe in method that you use a flashlight for getting the final toe in which is the method quite a few of us use.

Cheers, Greg

 

[guido]

Are SL3s fussy with cables? I've got pretty thick Silver Anniversary on them at the moment and I'm happy with the balance of the tone.

My SL3s are bi-wired with (gasp!) Home Depot outdoor orange & gray heavy duty extension cord and DIY terminations. Sound fine to me, but then I'm cheap.

 

[deanym]

Hmmm my next experiment - twin and earth speaker cable

Toe'd in a bit more and the soundstage is a little narrower but the sweet spot a tad wider.

I'm really getting used to the sound now and love the upper frequencies by their lack of "me, me, me".

Many people have commented on a lack of bass, but I think my room must suit these SL3s as it goes tight and deep.

 

[guido]

Many people have commented on a lack of bass, but I think my room must suit these SL3s as it goes tight and deep.

I listened to my SL3s for several years before I felt the need to augment the bass. But last year I added a REL T1 subwoofer and it has made all the difference to the overall tonal balance (with a DSpeaker Antimode 8033 equalizer in line with the sub-bass).

By themselves, the SL3s tend toward the lean, but it's amazing how little bass augmentation they actually need to fully sing.