Running cables the wrong way round
Posted by: Steve Toy on 22 December 2002
I recently tried Townsend Isolda in my sistem, and it added a bit more detail at the top end which I liked.
Unfortunately, I began to notice how boxy my big Regas were sounding, and so I thought about upgrading my speakers for a nice pair of Ruark Prologues. The Isolda wasn't the night-versus-day improvement that I'd heard at my dealer, so I concluded that my speakers were simply not revealing enough to allow the Isolda to show its worth.
I put the Naca5 back into place, and the boxy colorations disappeared.
Hang on, the sistem sounds even better than it did before when the Naca5 was in, but why?
I thought that maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, and psychologically I was perhaps falling into the trap of believing that any change was an improvement, even an A-B-A change. However, the cables lie flat on the floor better than before rather than trying to coil up.
I have never heard so much definition, separation, tunefulness, and lack of harshness in my own sistem.
Then I noticed that the Naca5 cables arrows were pointing towards the amp and not the speakers on both channels. I had accidentally installed them against their indicated directionality but on both sides! I wondered if Naim had printed the directionality the wrong way round on this particular cable, and that I'd effectively been running them the wrong way round for the last two and a half years.
Then it occured to me doing a bit of rotation in my brain - a bit like reading a map upside down to navigate in a southerly direction, but in 3D (I still haven't got my head around that one
) that by reversing the directionality, I may have flattened out the cable by making it lie contrary to its natural coiling tendency from when it was first pulled and cut from the roll, and that the benefits of doing this may outweight the possible disadvantages of running the cable against its prescribed directionality.
For the record, the red banana plugs are still inserted into the red sockets on both the speakers and the back of the power amp, and the same applying (of course) to the black plugs.
Is this totally weird, and/or have I finally tipped over into insanity? bigtime!
Perhaps I should take my Naca5 to the hairdressers to have its perm straightened out?
To clarify things a bit, my cables are short @ 2.5m a side as my electronics are sited between the speakers.
Regards,
Steve.
Unfortunately, I began to notice how boxy my big Regas were sounding, and so I thought about upgrading my speakers for a nice pair of Ruark Prologues. The Isolda wasn't the night-versus-day improvement that I'd heard at my dealer, so I concluded that my speakers were simply not revealing enough to allow the Isolda to show its worth.
I put the Naca5 back into place, and the boxy colorations disappeared.
Hang on, the sistem sounds even better than it did before when the Naca5 was in, but why?
I thought that maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, and psychologically I was perhaps falling into the trap of believing that any change was an improvement, even an A-B-A change. However, the cables lie flat on the floor better than before rather than trying to coil up.
I have never heard so much definition, separation, tunefulness, and lack of harshness in my own sistem.
Then I noticed that the Naca5 cables arrows were pointing towards the amp and not the speakers on both channels. I had accidentally installed them against their indicated directionality but on both sides! I wondered if Naim had printed the directionality the wrong way round on this particular cable, and that I'd effectively been running them the wrong way round for the last two and a half years.
Then it occured to me doing a bit of rotation in my brain - a bit like reading a map upside down to navigate in a southerly direction, but in 3D (I still haven't got my head around that one
) that by reversing the directionality, I may have flattened out the cable by making it lie contrary to its natural coiling tendency from when it was first pulled and cut from the roll, and that the benefits of doing this may outweight the possible disadvantages of running the cable against its prescribed directionality.For the record, the red banana plugs are still inserted into the red sockets on both the speakers and the back of the power amp, and the same applying (of course) to the black plugs.
Is this totally weird, and/or have I finally tipped over into insanity?
bigtime!Perhaps I should take my Naca5 to the hairdressers to have its perm straightened out?
To clarify things a bit, my cables are short @ 2.5m a side as my electronics are sited between the speakers.
Regards,
Steve.
I noticed a big improvement with ISOLDA in my dealers dem room, which is why I bothered to take it home. You still haven't got over the money you wasted on those Anthem interconnects, have you? 
Regards,
Steve.
Regards,
Steve.
Directionality actually does seem to make a difference within the wire itself. I have heard this with the Chord Chrysalis interconnect which has identical terminations at both ends.
Most wires for hi-fi have an indicated directionality marked upon them, not just Naim i/cs and cables. Sometimes, though, the directionality can be incorrectly labelled.
Such a discovery of incorrect directionality labelling would indeed confirm the existence of the phenomenon, even if the evidence was only apparent through subjective listening along the lines of the fact that it didn't sound right for some reason, and that this conclusion may only be reached following several days' listening as the problem slowly dawned on you.
Reversing the direction of the cable for me has more than once returned (long-term) listening satisfaction.
My sistem has regained its musical "rightness" in the form of PR&T, tune, flow, and lyricism. Music once again makes sense on an emotional level - (and some more) after my recent power amp upgrade which initially gave me a somewhat mixed improvement.
Now I have everything I had before plus better dynamics, attack, and bass control/tune in the bass.
For a while I had more hi-fi.
Now I have Music!
ALL upgrades should be subject to borrowing the new piece of kit at home in your sistem for a few days, or otherwise the initial "impressiveness" of a quick-fire dem may ultimately leave you crying in your beer, and losing the will to live.
I am sure that the ISOLDA cable makes a real musical difference into certain types of speaker, in certain given environments such as that of my dealer's dem room using those baby Ruarks, and the Sugden Bijou system.
However, in my own set-up, it took me a few days to realise that any perceived improvements were initially not all that significant, and later that an actual degradation of overall musicality had occured which manifested itself as an overall dissatifaction with my musical experience.
I was also playing music less often during those few days during which I borrowed the cables, and I was then looking elsewhere for fixes, such as a possible speaker upgrade.
I now think that an additional pair of Mana Sound Bases may now be the key to giving me more of what I am already enjoying with my music, as they may help to reduce microphony between the speakers throug the floor, and into the cables and back ito the electronics.
Naca5 is an unwieldly bugger of a cable whose coiling tendency even over short runs is often its undoing, but get it well-dressd, and it sings like no other cable in certain set-ups such as my own.
Regards,
Steve.
Most wires for hi-fi have an indicated directionality marked upon them, not just Naim i/cs and cables. Sometimes, though, the directionality can be incorrectly labelled.
Such a discovery of incorrect directionality labelling would indeed confirm the existence of the phenomenon, even if the evidence was only apparent through subjective listening along the lines of the fact that it didn't sound right for some reason, and that this conclusion may only be reached following several days' listening as the problem slowly dawned on you.
Reversing the direction of the cable for me has more than once returned (long-term) listening satisfaction.
My sistem has regained its musical "rightness" in the form of PR&T, tune, flow, and lyricism. Music once again makes sense on an emotional level - (and some more) after my recent power amp upgrade which initially gave me a somewhat mixed improvement.
Now I have everything I had before plus better dynamics, attack, and bass control/tune in the bass.
For a while I had more hi-fi.
Now I have Music!
ALL upgrades should be subject to borrowing the new piece of kit at home in your sistem for a few days, or otherwise the initial "impressiveness" of a quick-fire dem may ultimately leave you crying in your beer, and losing the will to live.
I am sure that the ISOLDA cable makes a real musical difference into certain types of speaker, in certain given environments such as that of my dealer's dem room using those baby Ruarks, and the Sugden Bijou system.
However, in my own set-up, it took me a few days to realise that any perceived improvements were initially not all that significant, and later that an actual degradation of overall musicality had occured which manifested itself as an overall dissatifaction with my musical experience.
I was also playing music less often during those few days during which I borrowed the cables, and I was then looking elsewhere for fixes, such as a possible speaker upgrade.
I now think that an additional pair of Mana Sound Bases may now be the key to giving me more of what I am already enjoying with my music, as they may help to reduce microphony between the speakers throug the floor, and into the cables and back ito the electronics.
Naca5 is an unwieldly bugger of a cable whose coiling tendency even over short runs is often its undoing, but get it well-dressd, and it sings like no other cable in certain set-ups such as my own.
Regards,
Steve.
I'm just so glad that my sistem rediscovered musicality after the power amp upgrade without me having to spend any money on a new CD player, new cables, new speakers, or fancy mains conditioners, although I have heard all of the above to make a significant no-brainer improvement elswhere.
I may just buy an additional pair of Mana Sound Bases to give me a bit more of what I already have.
Regards,
Steve.
I may just buy an additional pair of Mana Sound Bases to give me a bit more of what I already have.
Regards,
Steve.