Speaker cable...

Dan.S posted:

Went from a "good enough" qed79 to a5 than back to the "slightly better" qed79. Got rid of the stiffness nightmare too. 

QED79 is fine and great for such little money but if it outperforms your NACA5 then there's something wrong somewhere.  I'd check the terminations and soldering on the NACA5 pronto.

Like anything else it depends upon your system and taste, and also on how much you are willing to spend and how accomodating your house and family are.  I've used a few Chords including Oddyssey and they were fine but TQ Black for me was much better and is an excellent cable. See if you can find a friendly dealer who will lend you a few options to try at home with your system and have fun listening and making up your own mind.

Finkfan posted:

Hi Adam. I just wonder if the SuperLumina cables had better highs due to the silver in the cables? I realise that they are at a similar price level, just wondered if you've try any of TQ silver range also? Would be great to hear your thoughts! 

Possibly, but I don't even know what those cables are made of I stopped obsessing about that a long time ago.

One thing that I have also learned is that irrespective of what we believe (which amps / cables / speakers sound better on their own), the system synergy in our particular domestic environment is the most important. Speaker cables are a vital part of that puzzle. But the puzzle only works well when it has been put together as one coherent whole.

Adam

PS. Haven't tried the TQ Silver range yet.

Richard Dane posted:

Dan.S posted:

Went from a "good enough" qed79 to a5 than back to the "slightly better" qed79. Got rid of the stiffness nightmare too. 

QED79 is fine and great for such little money but if it outperforms your NACA5 then there's something wrong somewhere.  I'd check the terminations and soldering on the NACA5 pronto.

Richar: a quick quesition if I may:

Swapping and playing with my speaker cables (as you do) I noticed that my NACA5 has been terminated (on a speaker end) by my dealer with Chord banana plugs (gold plated).
Terminals on the Ovator S-400 are made of different materials. Should I have those Chords changed? If so, to what?

Thanks,

Adam

If you don't fancy the cost of the TQBlack, Atlas Hyper 2 outperforforms A5 to these ears. It happens to be less expensive than even A5 but that had zero to do with the decision. Atlas use a lot of Naim gear in designing their cables too.

Adam, as you have Ovators then I would strongly advise you use the Ovator speaker connectors on your NACA5.  Mis-matching connector plug to socket material makes a significant and audible difference for the worse in my experience.

Thank you Richard.

Frank F posted:

I am back to NACA 5 and it performs faultlessly IME

FF

So your experiment with Vertere was just an experiment...

;-)

M

TQB  speaker cables made my classic naim system with PMC fact 8's sound awful, an immediate switch back to naca5 made it all sound right again.... I am curiuos about the Naim's SL speaker cable but cost puts me off..... maybe one day.

Gary

fathings cat posted:

TQB  speaker cables made my classic naim system with PMC fact 8's sound awful, an immediate switch back to naca5 made it all sound right again.... I am curiuos about the Naim's SL speaker cable but cost puts me off..... maybe one day.

Gary

That's interesting, as it worked very well with twenty.23s when I had them. 

fathings cat posted:

TQB  speaker cables made my classic naim system with PMC fact 8's sound awful, an immediate switch back to naca5 made it all sound right again.... I am curiuos about the Naim's SL speaker cable but cost puts me off..... maybe one day.

Gary

Gary

The best way to describe SL is like a slightly cleaner, more polished NACA5. 

 But nobody ever said that a slightly scruffy is not charming

So I wouldn't loose sleep over it - I'm now using my NDS /252/250 and S-400s for a change with NACA5 - sounds fun SuperLumina made it sound shockingly good too, so one day I may revert to it. But not for now.

Adam 

Hungryhalibut posted:

fathings cat posted:

TQB  speaker cables made my classic naim system with PMC fact 8's sound awful, an immediate switch back to naca5 made it all sound right again.... I am curiuos about the Naim's SL speaker cable but cost puts me off..... maybe one day.

Gary

That's interesting, as it worked very well with twenty.23s when I had them. 

TQB Still working great with my PMC 23s .

Strange our different experiences, can't tell you why but my whole system turned to mud with TQB while other members, whose Opponions I value reported improvements.

I guess my lesson was stick to Naim and trust their expertise as my system now fully serviced and DR'd is right on song, maybe SL in the furniture but not just yet. 

Cheers 

Gary

fathings cat posted:

TQB  speaker cables made my classic naim system with PMC fact 8's sound awful, an immediate switch back to naca5 made it all sound right again.... I am curiuos about the Naim's SL speaker cable but cost puts me off..... maybe one day.

Gary

Where they run in Gary because they are pretty awful until they do and the interconnects are even worse?

fathings cat posted:

Strange our different experiences, can't tell you why but my whole system turned to mud with TQB while other members, whose Opponions I value reported improvements.

I guess my lesson was stick to Naim and trust their expertise as my system now fully serviced and DR'd is right on song, maybe SL in the furniture but not just yet. 

Cheers 

Gary

I have never tried my SL speaker cables in the furniture. Must give it a go!

Sorry that was unnecessary and I ma prbaboly as giulty sa moist of teh od typo.

dayjay posted:

fathings cat posted:

TQB  speaker cables made my classic naim system with PMC fact 8's sound awful, an immediate switch back to naca5 made it all sound right again.... I am curiuos about the Naim's SL speaker cable but cost puts me off..... maybe one day.

Gary

Where they run in Gary because they are pretty awful until they do and the interconnects are even worse?

The bang on the head has done all sorts of things to my memory, but I think I'm right that Gary bought my leads, in which case they were very, very well run in, because I bought them from James. I may be wrong of course!

Sorry too many typos.....

Indeed your memory serves you right Nigel,  I kept them in place for 2 weeks and then sold them on.   Each to their own but I just didn't get on with them

Gary

Thanks Gary, that's cheered me up. It's one of the exercises the trauma nurse has given me - trying to remember things from the past.