Going Active

Paul
Bur Naim give the message that using a 52's Scap to power a Snaxo degrades the sound of the 52. Are they wrong?

malcolm

Difficult cable routing for spurs

I had a 15mm2 SWA cabled wrapped around the outside of the house taking a seperate lead to a consumer unit in the room where the equipment is - this involved only two holes in the walls of the house.

The cable is about 1 inch diameter and is black and is quite discrete. ie no complaints received from neighbours or local busybodies

Derek

no complaints received from neighbours or local busybodies

Derek[/QUOTE]

Blimey! You know where I live then. They squint critically at my FM aerial every time they walk past my house. Anything as common as "wires" on the outside and they'd throw me out for sure.

malcolm

Malcom - Don't know where you live <g> but
the cable was able to be fitted on a suraface style interface ie where the brick clad lower elevation meets the tile clad upper elevation of the walls
so it almost disappears in to the appearance of the house.

There is one point wehere the cable vertically descends the brick clad part but eventually plants will hide that away from "Ms Whitehouse and her followers"

Apart from the that, I live in an area of outstanding unnatural ugliness much reverred by the local councillors on the planning committee

DErek

Rock-Doc,
The experiment I always suggest is this; get a seperate breaker, wire, and socket, then connect it temporarily to your hi-fi. It will probably require laying it across the floor, up the stairs, etc. It wil be safe, especially if just temporary.

However, it will allow you to audition standard wiring vs. a seperate spur. (during this time, it's a good idea to find the directionality of the mains wire). If you decide not to permanently do it, you can return the wire and it will cost you nothing. I maintain that in an active system, probably because the amps are operating at higher efficiency, a seperate mains is a requirement. When you hear the improvement, you will find the cost to do it good VFM.

I am a handyman by trade and I can drill vertical holes up walls easily and I often have found clever ways of solving "impossible" problems. BTW, I've never had to resort to outside wiring.

The more challenging the problem, the more challenging the solution!

Ron The Mon,
Needle-Freak

Ron,

Any way to easily determine directionality of AC line (wire) short of listening ? (mine's in the wall now :-(

thanks,

dave

Have a decent hi-fi mains setup: one dedicated, 50 amp AC line wired to a seperate (from house) breaker box (no main breaker in this dedicated box-only the one 50 amp breaker), it's hard-wired direct to a Wiremold strip.

[This message was edited by dave simpson on TUESDAY 24 December 2002 at 05:37.]

Dave,
My electric set-up is similar to yours except I use a 30 amp breaker and wire. Also since I use many video sources, I have a second run (or "spur") to the sistem for just the video. It is on the opposite phase. The circuit breaker box I use only accepts two breakers, one for each phase.

I have found multiple spurs sound worse in an all Naim sistem but my satelite box in particular (which has a built-in hard-drive recorder) spews nastiness into the mains which makes the other sources, and probably amps, sound worse.

Concerning your question, I assume it's rhetorical but you could actually take a section of that cable and "listen" to it as a make-shift extension cord. I know it's bothering you, so well worth trying for the piece of mind!! Most wire companies print their logo and specs when sheathing so every run by a company should be in the same direction. Just remember that the act of screwing and un-screwing the terminals "cleans" the connections, so try and be as methodical and consistant when reversing.

BTW, how do you have your strip "hardwired"? Is it screwed or soldered? My decision not to use 50-amp wiring and breakers was because I felt the plug the Wiremold terminates to was insufficient. Perhaps you've found a safer way around this?

Ron The Mon

Ron The Mon,
Needle-Freak

To try to answer your question from my experience.

I had active 140x2 IXO with 102/Hi/Credo and Meridian 506 (later CDX) front end. This helped some of the limitations of Credos and was a better sound than a single 140 (as you would hope). It made seemed to alter the 'ends' with a better resolved bass and more delicate treble, it seemed a bit more lively too especially at lower volumes in my smallish room.

I have tried CDX/XPS 102/HI 140 x2 IXO and SBL and found it truly grim. Switching to SNAXO/Hi was far better and vs a single 250 I again preferred the active set up but would say it was a change in character rather than a huge leap.

Finally, improving the chain with a 52/Supercap and once again hearing active 2x 140 vs a single 250 I'd say it is no contest.

So a conclusion from my experimentation, of sorts, is that going active lower down the scale may still be worthwhile but needs a careful audition. When the source and pre/amp are improved the whole thing really flies.

Bruce

My room is very small, so the boxes have to be stacked. Initially I had a stack with the two 250s on the bottom, and Scap&CDPS on top. Unfortunately the lower 250 was overheating.

Now the 250s are on top of the power supplies. No overheating but it doesn't sound as good. It has lost a little of that magic "active" sound, with less space and separation of the instruments.

malcolm

Hi Ron,

Thanks for the suggestion --using a short piece of the wire as an extension for testing (great idea)!

I agree with you completely that more than one spur degrades the music. I tried a second line (just for my 250 last night) and it lasted for about 60 seconds as the music died a bit...back to one line. (Years ago I ran 4 separate 20 amp lines 'til CK told me to try only 1 of them--my jaw dropped. 1 line ever since...)

I've snipped the Wiremold's plug and soldered the line cord direct to the 6 guage wire.(Actually I first did this with a Wiremold about 5 years ago when uprating the breaker to 30 amp). BTW, 30 to 50 is the same leap again as 20 to 30 is! Huge-ass wire nuts and many wraps of electrical tape cover each connection though it all fits into a standard sized junction box. I reamed out a larger hole (to accomodate the Wiremold's AC line) thru the junction box's outlet plate and the whole thing looks "normal"...no body ever notices the Wiremold's AC line doesn't terminate in a standard plug-into-outlet.

I know CK experimented with 100 amps at one point.....one of these days;-)


regards,

dave

Have the Snaxos been upgraded to use the new components?

If not how would old snaxos 'limit' a system with new amps?

With lots of second hand old model amps coming on the market going active certainly seems attractive.

However if the snaxos will limit the system once we upgrade to new series amps then it maybe better to start saving for a new 250 or 300.

Gus

The "old" stuff still is fantastic. Don't be afraid the old Snaxo would limit a new 300 in an active setup! - Me is afraid indeed to listen to the new series, because I might get the urge to purchase 552/3x500 which definitely would exceed my financial resources.

Actually my active NBLs with 6x135s does not deserve to be "destroyed" by the new line stuff...!

- Jun

Also I would stick with my existing gear if my girlfriend would say "Oh how nice all these green lights in the dark"...

- Jun