NAC A5 speaker cable or?

Naca5 is the best speaker cable naim makes

resolder the plugs every few years for best performance. 

Hi,

I also agree with others here,

Stick with the NACA 5, put some new properly soldered SA8 plugs on at both ends and forget about speaker cables altogether. This is what I did over twenty years ago - Saw the light that is and just enjoy the music.

Hi Huge,

thank you for info. I visited DNM pages and the cable  price is nice. Why did you select Deltron plugs instead o DNM plugs ? And one more question, please. Are Naim amp end plugs really better/more suitable than the others ?

jon honeyball posted:

Naca5 is the best speaker cable naim makes

resolder the plugs every few years for best performance. 

Very interesting comment. My Naca5 is many years old and just about the right length.  How much do I pair back the cable.  Are the plugs replaced at the same time.  At the speaker end I have gold plugs because the speaker sockets are gold so they need to be resoldered? 

Any advice?

Thanks 

   Paul

Paul, take the cables to the local NAim dealer and get them to do it. Also get their advice re the correct termination on your cable for the gold speake rsockets as I think Naim is not enamoured of gold plugs on the end of their cables.

Paul Quigley ie posted:

jon honeyball posted:

Naca5 is the best speaker cable naim makes

resolder the plugs every few years for best performance. 

Very interesting comment. My Naca5 is many years old and just about the right length.  How much do I pair back the cable.  Are the plugs replaced at the same time.  At the speaker end I have gold plugs because the speaker sockets are gold so they need to be resoldered?

Have a look at the FAQ about soldering NACA5, including the photo examples of good and bad solder joints. It's not rocket science, but it takes a little bit of understanding and practice to get it right. If that all sounds like too much hassle, get a dealer to do it. The only problem with this is that it is extremely expensive, as they will probably do it for free, whilst tricking you into listening to some mysterious black boxes that you just have to have  

Crofta posted:

Hi Huge,

thank you for info. I visited DNM pages and the cable  price is nice. Why did you select Deltron plugs instead o DNM plugs ? And one more question, please. Are Naim amp end plugs really better/more suitable than the others ?

On the speakers I use the terminals are screw-down binding posts cross drilled for 4mm plugs.  The Deltron plugs are more robust than the DNM ones and so are more suitable for my speakers.

The Naim plugs at the amp end are more suitable as the contact plating is the same as that used in the sockets of the Naim amps, so they don't create problems through electro-chemical reactions.  In addition the way they are soldered ensures a good connection provided the soldering is done properly  (it's not too difficult, see the FAQ section on the forum:  https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...-andamp-f-connection).

Sorry, there was an implicit assumption on my behalf that you would have a decent soldering iron.

I mean doesnt everyone? ;-) ;-)

This is absolutely a dealer thing -- they have all been trained in how to do NACA5 termination and plug soldering. And should charge you a mere pittance because it is a few minutes work. 

And, as mentioned above, it is an *ideal* opportunity to sit you down in their listening room, armed with a proper cup of bean-to-cup coffee from their own machine, for you listen to some shiny new expensive items that you dont really need, but oh my goodness is that what it sounds like, I'll have to take that home with me too...

Bean to cup? You are lucky to get an instant at my dealer. 

upgrade your dealer

keano posted:

I will buy a Uniti Nova soon and also some new speaker cable. I have the NAC A5 cable now connected to SuperUniti/Dynaudio 34 but the cable is very old and I think it is time to change it. Is NAC A5 still the best choice or? And the length must be at least 3,5 m?

I seem to remember that sometime ago there the rumors of a new speaker cable?

 

 

If you already have the Naca5, there isn't any need to look at speaker cables anymore. The Naca5 is one of the best (if not the best) cable for Naim equipment. No doubt there may be differences between cables, though the differences are marginal at best. You may obtain a better sound with another cable but you can also do much worse with an inferior cable.

I have the Chord Epic and compared it (extensively) to the Naca5. The differences are subtle, not day and night. I can live with both.

My advice is to just concentrate on the gear - Uniti Nova and use the existing cable in the Naca5, unless you don't have any cables really need to get some new wires to connect your gear.

providing your naca5 has clean terminations, it doesnt get "old" or "tired". You dont get fresher electrons in new cable

If you use bare wire, then trim back the cable ends and chop off the tarnished bits and use shiny clean newly exposed cable

If you use soldered plugs, then reflow the solder

as always, get a grownup to help if you are not proficient using knifes and soldering irons

jon honeyball posted:

providing your naca5 has clean terminations, it doesnt get "old" or "tired". You dont get fresher electrons in new cable

If you use bare wire, then trim back the cable ends and chop off the tarnished bits and use shiny clean newly exposed cable

If you use soldered plugs, then reflow the solder

as always, get a grownup to help if you are not proficient using knifes and soldering irons

 

Just be aware that if you are using a basic soldering iron to solder NAC-A5 to Naim pins then you'll be waiting for ages to get enough heat into the pin and cable to properly flow solder and you'll probably find that you start melting back the insulation ... a good 200w Weller iron dumps heat into them quickly without bleeding too much heat down the cable.

Also many dealers have a handy little jig for holding the pins and clamping down the cable whilst they're being soldered which makes life much easier.

Phil

On the subject of soldering speaker plugs I wonder how the Super Lumina stands up. What if you want gold plugs to fit gold speaker terminals? Do Naim have view or a service. Can dealers provide a termination service? How long between re-termination if any?

sheffieldgraham posted:

On the subject of soldering speaker plugs I wonder how the Super Lumina stands up. What if you want gold plugs to fit gold speaker terminals? Do Naim have view or a service. Can dealers provide a termination service? How long between re-termination if any?

Hi,

We don't recommend reterminating SL and we've not authorized any dealers to do so.

Phil

jon honeyball posted:

... You dont get fresher electrons in new cable

... 

No indeed: Almost all of them are about 14 billion years old, so they're all just as tired now after running around the universe for that length of time.

Phil Harris posted:

jon honeyball posted:

providing your naca5 has clean terminations, it doesnt get "old" or "tired". You dont get fresher electrons in new cable

If you use bare wire, then trim back the cable ends and chop off the tarnished bits and use shiny clean newly exposed cable

If you use soldered plugs, then reflow the solder

as always, get a grownup to help if you are not proficient using knifes and soldering irons

 

Just be aware that if you are using a basic soldering iron to solder NAC-A5 to Naim pins then you'll be waiting for ages to get enough heat into the pin and cable to properly flow solder and you'll probably find that you start melting back the insulation ... a good 200w Weller iron dumps heat into them quickly without bleeding too much heat down the cable.

Also many dealers have a handy little jig for holding the pins and clamping down the cable whilst they're being soldered which makes life much easier.

Phil

A basic soldering iron? Me? Moi? :-)

I prefer something butch and manly and able to cause thermonuclear meltdown at ten paces. Not a wimpo "couldnt warm my cup of tea" soldering iron that some people use, more suitable for fixing Ics onto multilayer boards.

Yes the jig is handy. I have a block of wood with holes drilled in it. 

sheffieldgraham posted:

On the subject of soldering speaker plugs I wonder how the Super Lumina stands up. What if you want gold plugs to fit gold speaker terminals? Do Naim have view or a service. Can dealers provide a termination service? How long between re-termination if any?

even the factory wont chop and reterminate SL -- the question was asked hereabouts some months ago, and got a firm "no" from service department. 

jon honeyball posted:

Phil Harris posted:

jon honeyball posted:

providing your naca5 has clean terminations, it doesnt get "old" or "tired". You dont get fresher electrons in new cable

If you use bare wire, then trim back the cable ends and chop off the tarnished bits and use shiny clean newly exposed cable

If you use soldered plugs, then reflow the solder

as always, get a grownup to help if you are not proficient using knifes and soldering irons

 

Just be aware that if you are using a basic soldering iron to solder NAC-A5 to Naim pins then you'll be waiting for ages to get enough heat into the pin and cable to properly flow solder and you'll probably find that you start melting back the insulation ... a good 200w Weller iron dumps heat into them quickly without bleeding too much heat down the cable.

Also many dealers have a handy little jig for holding the pins and clamping down the cable whilst they're being soldered which makes life much easier.

Phil

A basic soldering iron? Me? Moi? :-)

I prefer something butch and manly and able to cause thermonuclear meltdown at ten paces. Not a wimpo "couldnt warm my cup of tea" soldering iron that some people use, more suitable for fixing Ics onto multilayer boards.

Yes the jig is handy. I have a block of wood with holes drilled in it. 

A bit of wood, with two 4mm holes drilled at the same spacing as the pins in a Naim plug works for me. Makes it easier to get everything in line so the plastic box fits back on.

jon honeyball posted:

Phil Harris posted:

jon honeyball posted:

providing your naca5 has clean terminations, it doesnt get "old" or "tired". You dont get fresher electrons in new cable

If you use bare wire, then trim back the cable ends and chop off the tarnished bits and use shiny clean newly exposed cable

If you use soldered plugs, then reflow the solder

as always, get a grownup to help if you are not proficient using knifes and soldering irons

 

Just be aware that if you are using a basic soldering iron to solder NAC-A5 to Naim pins then you'll be waiting for ages to get enough heat into the pin and cable to properly flow solder and you'll probably find that you start melting back the insulation ... a good 200w Weller iron dumps heat into them quickly without bleeding too much heat down the cable.

Also many dealers have a handy little jig for holding the pins and clamping down the cable whilst they're being soldered which makes life much easier.

Phil

A basic soldering iron? Me? Moi? :-)

I prefer something butch and manly and able to cause thermonuclear meltdown at ten paces. Not a wimpo "couldnt warm my cup of tea" soldering iron that some people use, more suitable for fixing Ics onto multilayer boards.

Yes the jig is handy. I have a block of wood with holes drilled in it. 

Jon, i'm with you on that one my old Wolf soldering iron doubles up as a garage heater !

Phil Harris posted:

sheffieldgraham posted:

On the subject of soldering speaker plugs I wonder how the Super Lumina stands up. What if you want gold plugs to fit gold speaker terminals? Do Naim have view or a service. Can dealers provide a termination service? How long between re-termination if any?

Hi,

We don't recommend reterminating SL and we've not authorized any dealers to do so.

 

Phil on the product web site, quote :"Each Super Lumina cable is hand-assembled at Naim Audio in Salisbury to the customer’s specification of length and termination."

Do Naim provide gold terminations on speaker cable as opposed to the "silver" coloured ones illustrated?

Don't need them myself; already have them with 4m.m. standard plugs. Just posing the question for those who have gold speaker terminals.

sheffieldgraham posted:

Phil Harris posted:

sheffieldgraham posted:

On the subject of soldering speaker plugs I wonder how the Super Lumina stands up. What if you want gold plugs to fit gold speaker terminals? Do Naim have view or a service. Can dealers provide a termination service? How long between re-termination if any?

Hi,

We don't recommend reterminating SL and we've not authorized any dealers to do so.

 

Phil on the product web site, quote :"Each Super Lumina cable is hand-assembled at Naim Audio in Salisbury to the customer’s specification of length and termination."

Do Naim provide gold terminations on speaker cable as opposed to the "silver" coloured ones illustrated?

Don't need them myself; already have them with 4m.m. standard plugs. Just posing the question for those who have gold speaker terminals.

Hi,

The termination choices are 4mm pins or spades - we don't do a "gold" option.

Cheers

Phil

soldering A5.

Buy a cheap and nasty iron from your local bargain store. (probably cost about £3)

Remove the tip from the iron, insert the speaker plug, switch on and preheat the plug prior to soldering.

I can remember a soldering iron that was a lump of copper you put in the fire or over the gas stove, you dipped it in flux before soldering. One of those should get heat in quick enough, you might need to make a chissel tip on it.

Hi,

If one dumps too much heat into the pin for a prolonged time it can blister the plating, rendering the pin or pins 'useless' IME.

Best to use a powerful iron so the soldering can be done quickly and efficiently.