Why does SL DIN to XLR not have mechanical alignment on the DIN

Posted by: Filipe on 04 August 2017

[@mention:1566878603942595]

Just to explain, my twin brain brawn racks make it difficult to plug into the SuperCap DR except by taking records out of the left hand racks and going round the left hand rear of the SC. The 300 amp is pulled out to enable the connections to be made. I note the required orientation and push them in. However, on powering up the 300DR PS it goes into oscillation every time with the volume on 0. Reverted to the Witch Hat IC which has the mechanical alignment and everything is ok.

I'm assuming the 300 oscillation means there is an open circuit. Would you agree? I could take the right hand rack stack apart from the top down, but why no mechanical alignment, or has someone damaged these loan cables loaned to my dealer by Naim (thank you)?

Phil

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Richard Dane

I'm so sorry Phil, I'm not sure what you mean here - no mechanical alignment?

I haven't tried SL cables yet, but if the Din is anything like the Hi-Line with the floating pins, you need to be very careful when aligning them - do not force the plug in or else you just dig into the plastic of the socket surround. If you look at the orientation of the DIN sockets you'll see the alignment is tilted slightly off centre

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Filipe

Richard Dane posted:
I'm so sorry Phil, I'm not sure what you mean here - no mechanical alignment?
I haven't tried SL cables yet, but if the Din is anything like the Hi-Line with the floating pins, you need to be very careful when aligning them - do not force the plug in or else you just dig into the plastic of the socket surround. If you look at the orientation of the DIN sockets you'll see the alignment is tilted slightly off centre

Richard

The female on the SC has an alignment slot on the inside of the rim. While the WitchHat has a matching raised metal the SL has none.

I have noted the alignment is tilted slightly off Centre towards the right (from the front).

Is my assumption correct about an open circuit (no connection) etc.?

Phil

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Richard Dane

Phil do you have them the right way around for CH1 and CH2?

I'm not sure how Naim differentiate them (I haven't seen the SL cables) - is it like the standard leads with Red band for CH2 and Green for CH1?

I'm probably not the best person to be advising you here. Best get input from someone with experience of using the SL DIN-XLRs

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Finkfan

After a quick google image search it looks like the SL din does have the raised metal for alignment.

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Filipe

Finkfan

The little square thing seems nothing more than a visual 12 o'clock marker that does not create the mechanical alignment. The WitchHat plugs in correctly every time.

Richard

Yes the channels are in the correct way or at least the same as the WitchHat. If they were the wrong way round all advice suggests there would be no sound rather than the 300 going into oscillation on zero volume.

I don't want to dismantle the stack if there is a fault in the cables, hence the questions at the start.

Phil

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by hungryhalibut

Just get the Naim logo at the top and stick it in.

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Adam Zielinski

SL is actually easy to allign into a SuperCap - NAIM logo has to be on top.

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Adam Zielinski

I see HH has just beaten me to it

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Filipe

That's the way I did it as best I could tell without seeing it actually inserted going by the way I held it before putting my hand round the back.

The SL DIn does not have anything on the inside of the rim to force the correct alignment which is easy to feel with the WitchHat. Hence the title of the thread.

What surprised me was that the 300 amp went into oscillation (humming noise from speakers) on 0 volume. I would have thought there would be silence

Phil

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Adam Zielinski

Are Burndy cables properly inserted on the NAP 300 side? The locking collars take a bit of effort to get them properly locked on to the amp's side.

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Filipe

Hi Adam, Yes quite agree the Burndies are stiff and one needs to have the XLR an speakers unplugged to get a grip of the ring.

Thank you all for your advice. I have now got it working so now I can start evaluating the difference. I'm told they are run-in so it should not take long. They were manufactured Jan 2016 according to the box. First impressions are quite like the WitchHat but the violin (Kyung Wha Chung playing Mendelson violin concerto) sounds crisper/punchier, and likewise the other instruments. Bass a bit better. I am very happy with the WitchHat but why not try the full loom!

This completes the SL loom. The SL RCA to Din used by the Rega kit is sounding really good.

I suppose the lack of mechanical alignment stuff on the inside of the SL Din is not there because of the affect on SQ.

For those curious about the difficulty the 300 amp goes on the bottom left shelf with LPs between it and the 282. The bottom of the right stack has 3 PSs with a gap to the nDAC and CDX2. To do the cabling I sit the 300 amp on a box in front of the rack stack and slide it in once it's working (with power off).

Phil

Posted on: 04 August 2017 by Huge

Filipe posted:
That's the way I did it as best I could tell without seeing it actually inserted going by the way I held it before putting my hand round the back.
The SL DIn does not have anything on the inside of the rim to force the correct alignment which is easy to feel with the WitchHat. Hence the title of the thread.
What surprised me was that the 300 amp went into oscillation (humming noise from speakers) on 0 volume. I would have thought there would be silence
Phil

Humming doesn't sound like oscillation, that sounds like having an unconnected input, say for instance connecting the cables the wrong way round.