Interconnect Lengths

Not sure what they would say that as they make half metre lengths themselves or at least did. 

I don’t believe it.

Surely the wires that join the pre-amp to the power side in an integrated amp are only an inch or two long!

Also what about something like the DAC V1 where the DAC signal amplified by the pre-amp section is adjacent and hard wired to pre-amplifier part.

No this is marketing nonsense! 

I bet Flashback would make cables of whatever length you asked for.

ATB from George

What exactly are you planning to connect with this lead?

I will be connecting my FC xs to my Nait xs 2.   Chord say they do not make half metre lengths.

Why don't you use the standard Snaic leads - they work well ?

If I had known that I would not have bought the Chord.  Needless to say I will not be buying any more.  I think I will be paying Witchhat a visit for interconnects.  Mine are 16-18 years old and I want to modernise a couple.

Ah ok 

As far as I am aware, the chord lead is an interconnect, for connecting a source to a preamp. As a consequence, it has its five pins in a 180 degree semicircle. The 5 pin Snaic, which is what you want, has its pins in a 240 degree shape. As a consequence the chord lead will not fit. 

We did advise you what to buy in the other thread - i.e. proper Naim snaics, but you seem determined to ignore advice for some reason. 

I have two snaics connecting the FC to the  amp.  The Chord is to allow my rega TT from a stageline into the FC.

To do this I need an interconnect hence the chord.

I always thought the Stageline needs a 5 pin Snaic and a 4 pin to 5 pin interconnect. Is it the latter that you have ordered from Chord. Sorry, I'm getting confused!

Sounds like you want the Naim 4-5 Interconnect - the ideal solution for taking Stageline signal from the Fclatcap 2 to your NAIT xs.

Staffy,

Interconnects are more than just the wires, they include the terminations or the connectors at each end.

My understanding is that signals passing along the cables are "reflected" by the terminations at each end. On really short cables, these reflections (and their subsequent re-reflections etc) can cause interference. Longer interconnects suffer less from these reflections and re-reflections. Different terminations cause different amounts of reflections, with the traditional RCA type connections amongst the worst offenders.

This might be the reason that Chord (and others) limit the minimum length of their cables.

Quite separately, it is perfectly acceptable on this forum to seek advice, receive that advice and then subsequently move in a different direction, without having to explain yourself, or appologise for your decisions.

Going back to dealer....he has 45 years in trade and knows people at naim and Chord by names. He was on phone to chord for 10 mins explaining things re the IC.

Don Atkinson posted:

Staffy,

Interconnects are more than just the wires, they include the terminations or the connectors at each end.

My understanding is that signals passing along the cables are "reflected" by the terminations at each end. On really short cables, these reflections (and their subsequent re-reflections etc) can cause interference. Longer interconnects suffer less from these reflections and re-reflections. Different terminations cause different amounts of reflections, with the traditional RCA type connections amongst the worst offenders.

This might be the reason that Chord (and others) limit the minimum length of their cables.

Quite separately, it is perfectly acceptable on this forum to seek advice, receive that advice and then subsequently move in a different direction, without having to explain yourself, or appologise for your decisions.

Thanks Don...the advice so far has saved me a lot of cash. Will be speaking at length with dealer.

Chord basically reiterated what you have just stayed.  Thanks for confirming.

It's definitely to do with signal reflections in the cable...  isn't this what all the array tuning is about, trying to minimise this effect?  I do hope so because I have a £2,000 pair of din to XLR leads on dem at the moment, and I'm not hearing much reflection at all. In fact I'm hearing lots of music, and all this through a NAC202 preamp.  So my advice to Staffy (OP) is to go with the best interconnect you can afford, and that's probably going to be a Chord or a Naim (although others on here will advocate other brands).

Aim for interconnects being around 10% of the amplifier/preamp cost, that would be my stick in the ground   

...but this probably doesn't help you right now, and I'm guessing this would be because you haven't yet had the opportunity to hear what a difference an interconnect actually does make to your music.  Open your mind to the improbable, and maybe even the impossible... they both occur quite often in this game / hobby / pastime / search-for-perfection that most of us are pursuing. 

Mike,

My recollections about "reflections" as set out above are somewhat vague, so I anticipate that your understanding is more accurate.

Just as important (probably more important) is the OP is now getting advice from his retailer/manufacturer and appreciates that he is at liberty to seek initial advice here without (too much) criticism !

Thanks Don.  Proper gent

staffy posted:

Thanks Don.  Proper gent

no worries (as I think they would say Down Under) !

Don Atkinson posted:

Mike,

My recollections about "reflections" as set out above are somewhat vague, so I anticipate that your understanding is more accurate. And i'm pretty sure that Staffy and others will also appreciate your guidance. Many thanks.

Just as important (probably more important) is the OP is now getting advice from his retailer/manufacturer and appreciates that he is at liberty to seek initial advice here without (too much) criticism !

Somehow, I failed to copy this part from my initial draft - apologies.

Not required Don, it's what the forum is all about.  I'm not too sure about any audible effects of this problem, especially with differences between 1m & 1.2m. I suspect that if he can hear something that he sleeps during the day hanging from rafters by his toes.

It will be nice if Staffy lets us know how it turns out

Mike, typical engineer, obsessed with neatness to the point of OCD! 
It does look good though.

My understanding is that because the wavelength of the audio signal in the cable is so long, the 'reflections' are irrelevant at these frequencies, and only become significant at RF.  Shorter audio cables won't necessarily sound better or worse, but they may be different as they'll affect the tuning of the RFI rejection of the system.