Feeling Ripped Off

Posted by: Stuart M on 12 November 2002

Well you may have read about taking a SNAIC apart however when I took my cheap (yeah right at 39.99 for a metre) cable, I found that that once I unscrewed the phono's the cable just fell off (Good joints, unlike the BIG fight to remove the DIN) and althought the marketing said "The original C***** interconnect. An industry standard. Featuring four copper conductors and polyethylene insulation. Available with RCA and DIN plugs. ensuring compatibility with any system". Legally this is true, what they don't tell you that only 1 of the four cores is wired. So you have a shielded 4 core cable with only 1 core to +ve and the other 3 not used in any way what so ever. I was expecting (swayed by the marketing) 4 cores to go to +Ve on a phono, wrong! So took the time and did my own tests, all I can say this cable is a rip off as it does not do (morally) what it says on the packet.

BIG request to Naim, please make available interconects with phono plugs. I've heard the difference between a black and a gray SNAIC (HUGE). There are occasions where (Say IDTV) no din connection exists, offering a phono to din connection would help me and from connecting to a 140 from my DSP-800 with a bit of soldering I know the snaic works better than a home made lead.

To err is human; to really foul it up requires a computer.
Posted on: 12 November 2002 by Steve Toy
I hope this product didn't come from another Salisbury manufacturer. If you want DIN-phono, use Chord Company stuff also from Salisbury. Their Chrysalis inteconnect is a dead-ringer for the standard Naim i/c. Not sure about SNAICs though.

Regards,

Steve.

It's just a pleasure to hear music as it was intended to be heard.
Posted on: 13 November 2002 by Andrew L. Weekes
I recently dismantled the same cable, and was amazed to find the braid is unsoldered, relying on a compression joint to make connection.

The green version of the cable (no names, no pack drill) does feature a soldered connection, despite only a modest extra cost.

Purposeful performance degradation I wonder? Long term it's very bad indeed. I was fitting some Bullet plugs, hence the dismantling, and they are now nicely soldered on.

As for the cores, they are all used when a tape deck style lead is used, I don't get your anger at only two of the cores being used on a standard interconnect.

Andy.
Posted on: 13 November 2002 by Stuart M
2 phono leads.
Each gray lead made from wire with 4 cores and a screen. Only one of the cores was connected to the +Ve of the phono. And surprise a compresion joint for the braided screen.

Would have expected either 1 core or 4 cores and all connected. Or am I missing something here ?

To err is human; to really foul it up requires a computer.
Posted on: 13 November 2002 by Andrew L. Weekes
quote:
Or am I missing something here ?


The cable you have is only available in one form, a 4 core screened variant.

The number of cores actually used depends upon the configuration (phono-phono, din-phono etc.).

If a single core cable were used, instead of 1 core of 4, the cable would have different dimensions, different electrical charcteristics, and in all likelihood sound different.

Using the same cable throughout the configurations keeps consistency of performance.

I agree about the braid termination though, it's poor, and likely to degrade with time. Probably has something to do with the solderability of the silver plated plugs used, since the next cable up the range is not much more expensive, but is soldered. It uses gold-plated conenctor parts.

Andy.

P.S. Why don't you drop the company an email, and find their response?
Posted on: 13 November 2002 by JohanR
Quote

"I recently dismantled the same cable, and was amazed to find the braid is unsoldered, relying on a compression joint to make connection."

If I remember correctly, when I converted from Linn amps to Naim, the dealer put BNC connectors on the tone arm cable and they where not soldered. Some kind crimp tool was used. Thats 10 years ago!

JohanR