Super Lumina in da house....

Posted by: hungryhalibut on 11 January 2016

There have been a few threads about Naim's hugely expensive new cables, which perhaps inevitably considered their use in the context of Statement and 500 series systems. Well, shortly before Christmas I got myself some SL speaker cables, and last week bought the Din to XLR cable. That means that, owning 'only' a 272 and 250 DR, it's now 'full loom', as people seem to call it.

With a few days for the Din to XLR to settle down, these swanky wires have transformed the system totally. It's like a veneer of artificiality has been cleared away, leaving a far clearer image of the music. It's hugely more involving and the sound now completely transcends the speakers. I had no idea that wires could do this. Putting it in context, the cables together cost about the same as an XPS DR, yet I'd say that the incremental difference is a lot bigger - though of course they are building on a system with the power supply already in place.

The point of this little post is simply to say that midrange electronics - or mine at least - benefit massively from the cables. Those who want more from their setup but who don't want to change boxes would do well to check them out.

Posted on: 19 January 2016 by hungryhalibut

MDS posted:
Dan43 posted:
Off to Pompey v Ipswich tomorrow FA Cup, win and we play Bournemouth next round.
......
That would be great but I fear Ipswich won't under-estimate us again. Anyway, that topic's for another thread.
Hope you enjoy your visit to HH's.

Pompey 2, Ipswich 1. PUP, PPU.

Posted on: 19 January 2016 by MDS

Hungryhalibut posted:
MDS posted:
Dan43 posted:
Off to Pompey v Ipswich tomorrow FA Cup, win and we play Bournemouth next round.
......
That would be great but I fear Ipswich won't under-estimate us again. Anyway, that topic's for another thread.
Hope you enjoy your visit to HH's.
Pompey 2, Ipswich 1. PUP, PPU.

So pleased to be wrong. McCarthy made eleven changes from the side that played on Saturday.

Posted on: 19 January 2016 by ken c

perhaps cables should be treated, perhaps in some loose sense, like a "source"? i get the impression, and its been suggested, that for quite a few systems it would be better to upgrade cables to SL before any black box upgrade. of course one has to be specific about what the base system is to start with. i havent tested this approach -- but its an interesting possibility nevertheless. hope i am not hijacking this great thread...

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 19 January 2016 by nigelb

ken c posted:
perhaps cables should be treated, perhaps in some loose sense, like a "source"? i get the impression, and its been suggested, that for quite a few systems it would be better to upgrade cables to SL before any black box upgrade. of course one has to be specific about what the base system is to start with. i havent tested this approach -- but its an interesting possibility nevertheless. hope i am not hijacking this great thread...
enjoy
ken

I would agree with you here Ken.

I was amazed at the improvement the SL speaker cables brought to my mid classic system. Like others I was also dubious about the ratio of cost between the SL speaker cables and speakers/power amp. That is until you hear what the introduction of these mere bit of wire can do even for a 'modest' system like mine.

I think we might have to reappraise the proportion of budget we allow for cables now and indeed question the 'traditional' upgrade route. Where the next logical upgrade step might have been the next black box up in the hierarchy, I think sometimes it could be cables next to produce the same scale of improvement as a black box and also allow your system to reap the full benefits of future upgrades. At some point in the upgrade process, traditional cables will be the block, it is just a case of understanding at what point this is.

For sometime I think we have underestimated what a drag cables actually have had on reaching the full potential of our black boxes. It took the advent of SL cables (and to some extent Sarum Aray cables) for me to come to this conclusion.