Questions from a new Naim user

You really should leave the CD3/Nait3 switched on all the time. I have the same system and mine stays powered up 24/7. I would only consider powering it down if I'm leaving the house for long periods of time (min 2-3 weeks). The reason is that the kit performs best when at a stable working temperature. If it's switched off, it can take several hours to get back to optimal working temperature again and simply will not perform at its best. With Nain kit the difference is quite noticeable. Also electronic equipment is more reliable when left powered up as its not going through the switch-on power surge and heating/cooling cycles which place stress on the components. As for the safety issues, you really shouldn't worry too much about this as the equipment is designed to be left on. Hope this helps you.

David

Mapem

A couple of simple answers.

Sound quality is best when the equipment is warmed up, and so leaving it turned on keeps it warmed up and ready to go. Turning the stuff on and off will do no damage, but it will take time to warm up and get to the point where it sounds best. It's your choice - better sound quality vs. other considerations.

When turning the kit on, the amp should be last to avoid 'turn-on thumps' through the speakers which could possibly damage them.

Whatever you choose to do, enjoy your new system.

Gavin

Thank you for your answers!

Another question: If they are left on they get reasonably warm. I guess this makes it not good to put them in a cabinet or a shelf, and maybe not stacked either. Does anyone have an opinion of this?

Maybe we will have to rearrange the furniture in our living-room...

"If they are left on they get reasonably warm. I guess this makes it not good to put them in a cabinet or a shelf, and maybe not stacked either. Does anyone have an opinion of this?"

You really are new here aren't you

What equipment sits upon has been the subject of many flame wars (both here and elsewhere). The common denominator would seem to be that your hi-fi performs at its best when sitting on dedicated supports/racks/stands or what ever.

These can range from various home brew set ups through simple lightweight tables (e.g. the IKEA Lack table) to speciallist hi-fi stands. The usual suspects are Ash Designs, Fraim, Hutter, Mana, Quadraspire, Sound Organisation and others too numerous to remember. These vary greatly in price, performance and presentation. Stands do affect the sound.

Stacking kit directly one on top of the other is not a good idea for electro-magnetic reasons as well as heat.

No recommendations from me, it depends on whether you want to spend more money on your hi-fi or not.

Then, of course, there is the question of mains spurs...

quote:

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Stacking kit directly one on top of the other is not a good idea for electro-magnetic reasons as well as heat.

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Plus it can also cause unwanted feedback between components because of the microphonic effects.

Take note of the wise-bird and get the kit set up on some decent racking to eliminate these problems - you will be very surprised how much better it will sound

David

"Beauty is in the eye of the Beer-holder"

Not sure about the "wise-bird" bit. Seagulls are more renowned for making loads of noise and s***ing everywhere.

Oh yes, and following trawlers according to M. Cantona.

Yes I´m new at this forum.

But to be honest my questions are a little bit more silly then myself (I hope anyway). Sometimes it is a useful method to put silly questions to get honest answers.

You always have to compromise between the ideal set-up for the best sound performance and other demands that has to do with the visual apperance of a room and its equipment. I´m sure many of you are familiar with the problem. The problem is that our living-room is extremly difficult to furnish in a reasonable way. So we have to compromise.

My Naim-owning friends say I must leave it on power always, put all different machines on their own stands, use only naim cables and so on. And they are probably right. But I wanted to test these statements on this forum, to get a second opinion, as I am sceptical by nature.

BTW: the IKEA Lack table was a must among hi-fi freaks here in Sweden some ten-fifteen years ago. The more expensive and exclusive equipment on this very cheap and simple table, the better!

Mapen.
Congratulations to the new sistem! I believe your kit should not be to warm put in a cabinet or shelf but it's good to try to keep them apart if possible. Do keep them powered up all time though, it will sound a lot better and the powerconsumption is absolutely minimal with your Naim gear. It also actually puts less stress on the components.

mapem,

As you've been told, the Naim kit performs better when it is left on all the time. Naim amps run in pure class B. This means that when there is no signal, they only draw just enough power to keep the circuit operational - this is typically under 10w for a Nait3. If you use a single cooker ring for 10 minutes, you have used the same power as a Nait would use in a day! Alternatively, if you switch on a typical light bulb, you will be using 6 times more power than a Nait running on idle. If you went for a different make of amplifier which is running in class A or AB, you would be using approximately 10 - 20 times more power, even if there was no signal going through it. A typical 20 w/ch class A amp uses 400 watts, whether there is a signal or not, so in fact the Naim is the green option.

This also means that the Naim will get just about warm to the touch. It should not get hot unless you're playing a lot of loud music. If it does get hot when the volume is only on 10 o'clock, then make sure there is no problem with the speaker cable or the speakers. The amp will only get hot if a lot of current is being drawn from it and that usually means there's a short circuit or very difficult load on the end of it. So generally, the amp should simply be warm to the touch, that's all. This means it should not matter if you stack the items on top of each other (amp on top preferably), even though there will be an obvious sonic impact.

You should also know that the Naim kit is all earthed to a common point. When you connect naim kit together they're also earthed to the same common point via the interconnects. This is not the case for most other kit. The amp does not have buffered outputs and so it makes a thump when you switch it on, but the thump is softer if you have already switched on your CD3! Therefore, it's preferable to do a staged switch-on.

Again, due to the lack of buffering, the Naim cable was designed to provide the correct load to the amplifier. If you use a different cable the thump can be worse or better depending on its characteristics. The reason Naim do notput buffers in is because they significantly affect sound quality. Other manufacturers put them in because they are a simple answer to maintaining amp stability. Naim amps are stable unless you have very silly loads (< 2ohm or very high capacitance) on the end of them.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Frank,

Very useful information indeed! About the stability, I was a little worried how the Nait would be able to drive my Infinity Kappa 5 speakers, as Kappas are said to be mean to amps. I don´t know how low the impedance dips, but there seems to be no problem with them. They sound great now, with the NAC A5 cable as well as with my old Supra cables (which are much more flexible).

Björne,

I try to keep them in the big beautiful cupboard we have, separating them as much as possible and we´ll see how warm they get when not used.

Try an experiment:
(a) Switch the kit off in the morning and switch it on in the evening when you get home. Listen.
(b) Leave the kit switched on all week. Listen.
(c) Repeat (a).
I'll bet you a packet of Spunk chewing gum that you'll find (c) cold and analytical.

Always switch on the amp last. That way you'll avoid nasty Pops etc. coming through your speakers.......

Also, in nearly 20 years of using Naim, I have NEVER experienced a fire!!!!

I leave it on at all times. Only if I go away for a few months (has happened) do I consider switching it off.

The power consumtion is really negligible....

Computers are supposed to work on 1's and 0's - in other words "Yes" or "No" - why does mine frequently say "Maybe"?......