Getting the most from your Ninkas
Posted by: Bob Shedlock on 24 July 2002
I bought Ninkas because I heard a great potential in them despite their less than optimum set-up at a dealer.
I'd read good things (mostly) about the tweeter, and I happen to be a believer in the acoustic suspension approach to bass implementation. I also appreciate the near boundary set-up even though I have lots of room to place speakers.
My listening room fires across the width of my house (30 ft) and one side of the room is the stairway down, essentially making the acoustical dimensions of the room larger than the living space. The room is carpeted with a berber and an extra thick pad beneath it.
The speakers are placed on the front wall over the foundation cantilever, which is quite solid. Indeed, one can get up and jump around without disturbing the tt in the least.
What follows is applicable only to owners with the polymer bases, the stock ones being only so much packaging in my opinion.
Breaking them in took months. I'll spare you the boring details and leave it at they take forever to loosen up and then, after more running, stabilize. During the months I experimented with various distances from the wall behind them and have finally landed them five and one half inches off the back wall. (They've been farther out than that.)
Things were singing along quite well, but I still felt they were the slightest bit lacking in upper mid range clarity. Low level decays, last notes and reverberations didn't match the performance of the overall extremes.
First I checked the bolts that hold the bases to the speakers, and they'd loosened up. These should, in my experience, be as tight as you dare make them. To prevent future loosening, I put a single wrap of teflon tape,(or plumbers tape as some call it), on the bolts and seated them snuggly plus almost one half turn. Then I listened for a few days. Improved, but not resolved.
Next I went about adjusting the floor spikes. I used a circular spirt level, a screw driver and the supplied wrench. After a lot of fiddling around I was able to dial in extremely good focus and resolution by leveling the speakers AS LOW AS POSSIBLE. This was a tedious and onerous task! You want the bases as low as possible while just contacting the carpet, and level to boot! An assistant (a patient one at that), is helpful so you don't topple the speaker over while messing with the bolts. Because the drivers are placed above the center of gravity, small increments in the height made a big difference in clarity and focus.
Attacking one side at a time for height and stability requires leaning the speaker far enough to topple them, so be careful. After going around and lowering them to just carpet contacting height, they should be leveled and firmly coupled to the floor with absolutely no movement whatsoever!! You should be able to place a hand firmly on top of the speaker, and while pressing straight down with good pressure be virtually unable to induce any movement in the speaker. Much easier said than done, but well worth the effort. Stop after you've done only one side and give a listen, I heard immediate improvements which spurred me on to finish the task.
When I was finished I'd banished the lack of low level detail demon, achieved soundstage to the outside of the speakers, and ended up with an accurate, tuneful bass response.
For me, this points to the need for a heavier, wider footprint base than even the polymers. Should I ever have more cash than curiosity, I may check out a set of custom made Sound Anchors.
One other trick I tried was making an "F" connector and using the passive biwire inputs as opposed to the single wire ones. I didn't hear any difference and in the end thought it was a wasted soldering effort. I'd be interested to know if anyone has had improvements following this route.
So, tighten your bottom bolts, lower and level those speakers. It's well worth the time on your investment.
82/hi/250/CD5/FC2/Stageline(K) - also ran 112/hi/150 with same sources.
I'd read good things (mostly) about the tweeter, and I happen to be a believer in the acoustic suspension approach to bass implementation. I also appreciate the near boundary set-up even though I have lots of room to place speakers.
My listening room fires across the width of my house (30 ft) and one side of the room is the stairway down, essentially making the acoustical dimensions of the room larger than the living space. The room is carpeted with a berber and an extra thick pad beneath it.
The speakers are placed on the front wall over the foundation cantilever, which is quite solid. Indeed, one can get up and jump around without disturbing the tt in the least.
What follows is applicable only to owners with the polymer bases, the stock ones being only so much packaging in my opinion.
Breaking them in took months. I'll spare you the boring details and leave it at they take forever to loosen up and then, after more running, stabilize. During the months I experimented with various distances from the wall behind them and have finally landed them five and one half inches off the back wall. (They've been farther out than that.)
Things were singing along quite well, but I still felt they were the slightest bit lacking in upper mid range clarity. Low level decays, last notes and reverberations didn't match the performance of the overall extremes.
First I checked the bolts that hold the bases to the speakers, and they'd loosened up. These should, in my experience, be as tight as you dare make them. To prevent future loosening, I put a single wrap of teflon tape,(or plumbers tape as some call it), on the bolts and seated them snuggly plus almost one half turn. Then I listened for a few days. Improved, but not resolved.
Next I went about adjusting the floor spikes. I used a circular spirt level, a screw driver and the supplied wrench. After a lot of fiddling around I was able to dial in extremely good focus and resolution by leveling the speakers AS LOW AS POSSIBLE. This was a tedious and onerous task! You want the bases as low as possible while just contacting the carpet, and level to boot! An assistant (a patient one at that), is helpful so you don't topple the speaker over while messing with the bolts. Because the drivers are placed above the center of gravity, small increments in the height made a big difference in clarity and focus.
Attacking one side at a time for height and stability requires leaning the speaker far enough to topple them, so be careful. After going around and lowering them to just carpet contacting height, they should be leveled and firmly coupled to the floor with absolutely no movement whatsoever!! You should be able to place a hand firmly on top of the speaker, and while pressing straight down with good pressure be virtually unable to induce any movement in the speaker. Much easier said than done, but well worth the effort. Stop after you've done only one side and give a listen, I heard immediate improvements which spurred me on to finish the task.
When I was finished I'd banished the lack of low level detail demon, achieved soundstage to the outside of the speakers, and ended up with an accurate, tuneful bass response.
For me, this points to the need for a heavier, wider footprint base than even the polymers. Should I ever have more cash than curiosity, I may check out a set of custom made Sound Anchors.
One other trick I tried was making an "F" connector and using the passive biwire inputs as opposed to the single wire ones. I didn't hear any difference and in the end thought it was a wasted soldering effort. I'd be interested to know if anyone has had improvements following this route.
So, tighten your bottom bolts, lower and level those speakers. It's well worth the time on your investment.
82/hi/250/CD5/FC2/Stageline(K) - also ran 112/hi/150 with same sources.
If you had to guess, what would you say is the minimum you could get away with, as far as driving the Ninkas? Would a Nait5/HiCap be up to the job? It would be a in a small room.
And have you had any experience with Linn's small powered cube subwoofer, whose name escapes me at the moment? (I think the name has a 'k' in it
)
And have you had any experience with Linn's small powered cube subwoofer, whose name escapes me at the moment? (I think the name has a 'k' in it
)