NAC A5 speaker cable or?

feeling_zen posted:

keano posted:

My Naim speaker cable is from around 1989 but it should not be et problem?

No problem at all. At that age it may benefit from trimming it back a few centimeters at each and and resolder the ends properly. Even pretty decent solders can allow oxidisation to creep up the ends of cables. How far you need to trim to get bright shiny coppy again will depend on how well they were soldered in the first place. With 30 years behind it, it is possible that as much as 20cm might need to be cut off each end but it really varies. Even a decent one should be re-terminated every 10 years or so.

I am using really old NACA5.  Works fine but I had to reterminate it to get around problems with the soldered connections that had not been done very well by the initial supplier.  I would stick with it, having tried various alternatives and always going back to it.

Now that the discussion is virtually over, and NAC A5 has regained predominancy, I'll add my usual, useless and late 2 pennies. I have used NAC A5 for years, and done some cautious comparisons. It is a very good cable, with a very good balance between the extremes, is fast but not harsh, and obviously matches Naim electrically to perfection. I don't think it's such a nuisance to use anymore: if one places a rack the way Naim suggests – on a side wall respect the one where the speakers are – the problem of its stiffness disappears, and becomes a plus: the NAC A runs well along the skirting board and follows corners much better than thinner and smoother cables. It stays in place.

If I am now using TQBlack, is because I have often felt that NAC A5 left something behind in terms of extreme detail and clarity – a tad of graininess is sometimes apparent on some recordings, and transparence and coherence of the soundstage are not always at their maximum. TQBlack costs, presently, 1.5 than the NAC A5 in my country, and I am confident that this .5 more in cost makes things better; but since superstition of a semi-religious kind (and for once I have no polemical intention) is a firm element of the typical Naim user's attitude, a sneaky feeling in the back of my mind tells me that I might go back to NAC A5 some day.

I have also tried the Vertere Pulse X mini speaker cable: rich, structured, coherent and fuller than the NAC A; but in the end I am forced to admit that the very sonic qualities that one seems to look for in Naim electronics, can be found at a minimum cost in NAC A5. So, I too vote for it, provided the plugs are freshly soldered and the OP is after PR&T and not 'perfection'.

For soldering NACA5 I use one of these, it's a 100w Weller Heatgun.  It heats up really quickly as all it is a transformer shorted out with heavy duty wire!

You can get them at Maplins for under £50.

Richard

I am in naca5 Camp. Just auditioned both sl and Chard sarum - latter both full loom and With my sl interconnect. The expensive combos Were different (more detail), bur NOT better to my ear in my room/system. During all auditions had to swap back to naca as missed the naca full magic prat. Also on my system to my years nacas are more neutral. more details of sl/sarum to chorus, studioacoustics etc toned down band housesound and essence to me. now with naca acdc rocks like acdc, david brubeck amazes like david brubeck, johnny cash sounds like whiskey on a mic, depeche mode drives like depeche mode etc. difference are not subtle! i have been very surpriced. liked sarum speaker cables better than sl, but unclear how runin sl are. br Lars

The impact on sound quality of msmatched materials on the speaker binding posts and the cable plugs is grossly overstated. It is really not worth being too concerned with at any level. The cable itself doesn't match the plugs or the terminations anyway.

In principle there are changes in property as current transfers between different conductive materials but in reality, we are not likely to hear a difference between similar quality plugs where the only differentiation is gold plate versus nickel (for example). Some have claimed differences. I would propose this is more down to all the other differences in the plug type or join than the material over such a  short distance.

On the topic of A5 stiffness, this is easily overcome at installation time by using a hair dryer to soften it for any sharp corners it doesn't want to hug. 

FZ, it's not about sound differences when the contacts are clean (which are, as you say, tiny, indeed if they exist at all), it's actually about electro-chemical reactions (i.e. galvanic corrosion) degrading the plating materials.

Provided the solder joint is well formed, the electro-chemical compatibility between the wire, the solder and the plug plating is actually irrelevant, as the solder excludes water vapour and oxygen (and other corrosive substances) from the joint; so that, inside the joint, no corrosion reactions can occur.