NACA5 - adding a metre extension?

The new place must be pretty big if you need wires that long. Can't you just put the system a metre closer to the speakers?

My thought ...

Sadly not...

Combination of power sockets and large bookshelf having to go in one location...

Well, you already know that it's a suboptimal (or crap, depending on your point of view) idea. It's whether you accept the compromise. I'd try and move the bookcase....

I can't. 

In that case the easiest thing to do is to get two 1m leads made up and see if the sound gets worse. It may well be that having an extra chunk soldered on would be better, as it would avoid the extra connection, which can't be good for the sound. 

Plan is to put 2x Isoblue racks next to my LP12 Audiotech table. The bookshelf HAS to go where it is, due to having two wall lights either side of it, and lack of clear wallspace elsewhere.

TV will be in the approx area it is now. Window wall doesn't have enough sockets. Wall to RHS of TV is a *possibility* but the kit would be very close to my speakers ( in temporary storage at a mates place) which would likely affect the sound...

Just take the opportunity to upgrade to SL speaker cables, you know it makes sense.

Get a few friends around to help stretch the cables out : )

Hungryhalibut posted:

In that case the easiest thing to do is to get two 1m leads made up and see if the sound gets worse. It may well be that having an extra chunk soldered on would be better, as it would avoid the extra connection, which can't be good for the sound. 

Just solder the extra lengths on. Done properly, you won't hear anything bad.

Move the wall.

Short (sorry) of buying longer cables, next best thing would be soldering on extra length.  It's not ideal, not by a long way, but it sure sounds better than cables that are too short...

I'm struggling to understand your room layout a bit. The speakers appear to be behind your sofa, is that how you will use them?

There must be a gap behind the bookshelf, as I can see skirting board on the wall. Can't you run it behind them?

Tarquin Maynard-Portly posted:

 Window wall doesn't have enough sockets.

Surely you can get more sockets installed, it's got to be cheaper than long speaker cables? Failing that, just solder the extra lengths on.

ChrisSU posted:

I'm struggling to understand your room layout a bit. The speakers appear to be behind your sofa, is that how you will use them?

There must be a gap behind the bookshelf, as I can see skirting board on the wall. Can't you run it behind them?

Tarquin Maynard-Portly posted:

 Window wall doesn't have enough sockets.

Surely you can get more sockets installed, it's got to be cheaper than long speaker cables? Failing that, just solder the extra lengths on.

 

ChrisSu, my SBLs will be by the wall that has the TV next to it. The speakers you can see are TV surround speakers. 

I rent, so not in a position to put in new sockets!

Funnily enough, I use NACA5 cable extenders for the centre and rear channels of my AV system in the study.

This is because since moving from Naim AV2 to Arcam AVR850, I now use the Arcam's rear and centre power amps and no longer own the NAP200 and NAP145 previously in use.  Alas, it is impossible to fit 3 Naim banana plugs next to each other on the back of the Arcam.  My soldering skills are non-existent, and the cables are buried in trunking, so difficult to remove

My solution?  Extension lengths of NACA5 with standard banana plugs (soldered) on each end, and 6 'couplers' (female at each end) to connect the extensions to the original Naim plugs.  Possibly not sonically the best, but does have the virtue of minimal faff factor, and for movie use, seems perfectly OK to me.  I got 3.5 metre lengths, to allow for possible alternative use at a later date!

Along with my currently on order new hifi racks, I have asked Cymbiosis to make me up much shorter extensions to replace these.

You can install extra outlets even if you're renting. I can't figure out how you're going to route the speaker cables.

Would a decent mains extension block give you the extra meter at the source end?

Me - I'd add the required extra length of NACA5 with a single solder joint on each cable (shrink-wrapped and tidy as possible), reuse your plugs on the extension, and get on with life.

Now the question becomes do I solder the extensions on the amp end or the speaker end for optimal results. Again, I'd simply get on with life.

I'm with those who say just solder the extra one metre lengths onto the old leads. I doubt it matters which end, but somehow I think I would put them at the speaker end of the cables.

best

David

Tarquin Maynard-Portly posted:

Plan is to put 2x Isoblue racks next to my LP12 Audiotech table. The bookshelf HAS to go where it is, due to having two wall lights either side of it, and lack of clear wallspace elsewhere.

TV will be in the approx area it is now. Window wall doesn't have enough sockets. Wall to RHS of TV is a *possibility* but the kit would be very close to my speakers ( in temporary storage at a mates place) which would likely affect the sound...

Why do you assume that the wall to the RHS of TV would affect sound so much.

Solid state electronic components and cartridges are most affected by mechanical movement transmitted through their environment and your floor looks to be solid; in terms of air transmission they show more microphony from air movement than air pressure.

If you're worried about bass transmitted through the air, then the least problem in the corners of the room and proximity to the speakers is irrelevant as the bass output drives the whole room, not just certain parts of it.  Higher frequencies are more complicated.  However unless you're going to install appropriate acoustic room treatment you'll be getting worse problems from resonance and reflection that you will from speaker cables and equipment positioning!

So, the wall to the RHS of TV may still be worth trying.

Other wise the soldered extension is the other preferred solution.  Don't forget that you'll be getting a very slight loss of SQ here as well, not just from the soldered joint, but also because 15m cables are slightly sub-optimal.

Mike, if you do go for extending the cables, add a couple of metres rather than just 1m.

Joints in cables tend to produce "reflections" and I seem to recall that anything less than about 1.2m (call it 4' in old money) is a no-no.

Having said that of course, most speakers have short lengths of internal wiring and quite a few joints therein, so I doubt whether adding a couple of external metres and an extra joint will make any significant difference.

If you wind up getting paranoid, I think my cables are 15m long. You know the layout I have, so you could always borrow them for a week or so for comparison, if your new extensions leave you wondering about their sound quality.

I had your exact problem a few years ago and bought a short length of NACA5 cable.

I tried 2 solutions

1. soldered a banana socket and plug  to "plug in" the extra 1 metre

2. soldered the extra metre directly to the original bare cable and put heat shrink over the joints.  Before soldering I interwove about 1 cm of the cable to increase the surface area of the joint.

Resulting sound?  Soldering was no different to original cable length.  Plugs possibly very slightly worse.  I could move the cable across the middle of the room rather than round the edge for comparison of the different lengths.  

winkyincanada posted:

You can install extra outlets even if you're renting. I can't figure out how you're going to route the speaker cables.

Its early days - I'd rather not ask at the moment. Even with extra outlets the possible locations for the kit are very limited... See below...

Routing around the walls, above the skirting board. The NACA is white. 

@Huge - my concern is more to do with proximity to a speaker, rather than the room being excited by bass.  Not so much of an issue for the CDX2.2, more for the LP12. 

@Don - thank you.

I've been mulling this one over and it might be simplet just to place the kit on the wall on the right of this picture. Obvs my NACA5 will be far too long but I can either zigzag it, or buy some more. Annoyingly I sold two lots of "spare" NACA some months ago...

Don't worry Groovers, thats not my main rig in the pic- its a Sony two box jobbie that sounds a lot better than it should...