Cables - My Conclusion

Posted by: The Strat (Fender) on 06 October 2017

Guys,

You will know from my other thread where I initially contemplated trying some Chord Signature Reference speaker cable between my NAP 250DR and Kudos S20s following what I thought was encouraging experiments with Signature TA inter-connects. Well it hasn't turned out as expected but I've drawn a conclusion.

As I said I was initially impressed by the Signature stuff including the Din-XLR, more forward and more resolution. But after a while I began to suspect that the sound was actually more forced, and I therefore put back the full Naim loom and wow I realised how I had lost that organic but rich sound.

In turn this had me thinking that if Naim cables really worked best with Naim electronics, and of course that's an obvious conclusion, then I should re-address Naca as an alternative to my long serving (prior to my Naim days) Chord Odyssey. So a trial (fully run-in) set arrived 3 nights ago and was installed. The outcome was not as expected at all. Certainly, the Naca was more dynamic and some might interpret as more Naim like, but after a short while I was turning the sound down to the point I was actually finding electric guitars and high female vocals almost unbearable, in fact aggressive but when we put back the Odyssey it was just sublime.

So my conclusion is that by all means experiment but when wiring up Naim electronics Naim inter-connects will in all likelihood work best. However, for speakers the outcome is most likely to be speaker dependent and with another brand Naca could well have yielded a different result but with my S20s Odyssey was by far the better solution.

Regards,

Lindsay

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by Polarbear

The Strat (Fender) posted:
Well it's all about where best to invest inevitably limited resource. For me, at the let's say mid table position in the Naim catalogue, spending £000s on cables isn't going to happen in preference to say investing in a SC or DR treating other stuff.

Since when did the OP's opinion ever come into a cable thread?

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by Polarbear

Huge posted:
A set of SL cables would cost me £7k8, that would make them about 40% of the entire actual cost of my system and almost twice the cost of any single component.

Don't do it then, its not worth it IMHO

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by ken c

Hungryhalibut posted:
You lot have got too many boxes!! All I needed for an SL full loom was one din to XLR and a 3m pair of cables.

surely, any box count >1 is "too many"? i.e. where is the threshold?

of course its true that 'active' does double the cost because of the HF/LF channel split -- but in general, this is not necessarily to do with # of boxes per se. another active config where for example using an active card in the pre-amp, would probably require the same outlay for a full loom, i guess...

enjoy

ken

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by audio1946

Hungryhalibut posted:
analogmusic posted:
Not at all. Let me explain, your transition to Kudos was interesting for me as you moved away from Dynaudio.
Just saying I was a bit tempted to follow your footsteps and buy a pre-loved S20 from Ebay (I will not pay full price for S20), but luckily I read this thread and realized that if NACA5 and S20 don't work, it isn't for me. There have been a few comments over the years that Kudos tweeters are on the hot side.
I dislike very much a departure from Neutrality in my hi-fi. Only If the recording it bright, that is the only time I want to hear it.
I confirmed this when I heard Naim QB and Muso, they have about the same tonal balance and neutrality as many speaker manufacturers who don't want spice things up. As I said I myself loved B&W until my dealer pointed out how bright it sounded and I make the change to a more neutral speaker philosophy.
People look for different things from their hi-fi, but me personally, when I play a Metallica album, I want to feel that energy that I heard at their live shows on my Naim hi-fi.
NACA5 allows this to come through so it's very important for me to have cables (and speakers) that preserve the musical energy and excitement.
Anyone who's seen Metallica live knows there is no refinement or delicacy in the sound, only pure energy metal rock music !!
Naim tune all their amps before statement with NACA5, and before Superlumina, there simply wasn't any other speaker cable that Naim made. I think one has to stop and think why was the case and understand the Naim intended performance, and why Naim amplifiers in fact was created to begin with.
The reasons are exactly what I said above, JV wanted to create an amplifier that captured the energy of a live rock show.
This is verifiable on the Andrew Everard review of the NAP 250 DR.
Since this is a cable thread, I wanted to put the other side of the story in defense of NACA5.
‘I loved B&W until my dealer pointed out how bright it sounded....’
Surely you don’t give a toss what your dealer thinks? That’s just ridiculous. If I told you that Vertere cables were dreadful things, would you stop promoting them. What if a dealer told you that Dynaudio speakers were too dull sounding? What if a chef said that you should eat tagliatelle instead of spaghetti? Or a tailor said you should only wear double breasted suits?

dealers love upgrade fever its easy money , different is not always better. the only easy to detect improvement ive had is from power amps run with balanced xlrs . short speaker cables, and all that power circiut well away from sensitive pre amp stuff

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by naim_nymph

The Strat (Fender) posted:
Well it's all about where best to invest inevitably limited resource. For me, at the let's say mid table position in the Naim catalogue, spending £000s on cables isn't going to happen in preference to say investing in a SC or DR treating other stuff.

Lindsay,

don't worry about fancy pants cables or any other upgrades for now,

be happy with what you have until you can afford that lovely pre-owned 552

Debs

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by The Strat (Fender)

Now you’re talking Debs

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by Chris Dolan

naim_nymph posted:
be happy with what you have until you can afford that lovely pre-owned 552

... when the advantages of Chord Sarum T over Super Lumina interconnects will become even more apparent

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by Dave J

Possibly cheaper, too?

Posted on: 10 October 2017 by Polarbear

Chris Dolan posted:
naim_nymph posted:
be happy with what you have until you can afford that lovely pre-owned 552
... when the advantages of Chord Sarum T over Super Lumina interconnects will become even more apparent

and he will need a 500

Posted on: 11 October 2017 by Allante93

Polarbear posted:
Chris Dolan posted:
naim_nymph posted:
be happy with what you have until you can afford that lovely pre-owned 552
... when the advantages of Chord Sarum T over Super Lumina interconnects will become even more apparent
and he will need a 500

Couldn't agree more with you Chaps!

Kinda of where as was going with:

{Does Naim's Statement Amp, include the series inductor?

Just Curious, since the SL Speaker Cable was introduced for the Statement, although equally at home with the 500 & Classic Series. (552>282)

That Julian sure used his Noodle, taking the Speaker Cable out of the equation, with cost effective Naca A5.

JMHO & Take, that's all.

Enjoy Your Music, The Why!

Allante93!}