Is it just me?

Please explain the phrase, 'had to pull the plug'.

What were the couple of different reasons?

C.

While Naim kit likes to be left powered up, an occasional power down can restore a bit of vitality.  Various theories  have been advanced to explain this e.g. about the capacitors refreshing themselves or some such, but I don't know. Anyway, you're not alone in experiencing this effect.  

Christopher_M posted:

Please explain the phrase, 'had to pull the plug'.

What were the couple of different reasons?

C.

Adjusting cables or in the presence of a storm I have had to "pull the plug"  (kill the power to the two units).

Hope you remember to 'pull the plug' in the right order i.e. in your case Supernait2 first, then NDX. And the reverse when powering up again. 

MDS posted:

Hope you remember to 'pull the plug' in the right order i.e. in your case Supernait2 first, then NDX. And the reverse when powering up again. 

Not sure, but thanks for this, whats the reason behind the order?

You don't want unnecessary spikes, thumps etc being pushed through your speakers, which can happen if you were to start switching off sources and pre-amps while the power-amp is still powered up and driving the speakers. Doing it in the recommended order smoothes the whole process.   

Popeye, just take a look in FAQs and you will see a post about the correct order for switch off and switch on. It is good advice and always there if you forget the order.

All you need to really remember is the power amp; ON last.  OFF first.  And when switching off, wait a moment or two for the logo to go out before switching anything else off.  

Richard Dane posted:

All you need to really remember is the power amp; ON last.  OFF first.  And when switching off, wait a moment or two for the logo to go out before switching anything else off.  

Plus one. Funnily enough, I did exactly that last night to re-dress a signal cable further away from a power cable. It took about half an hour for the system come back on song.

It used to appear to me that alternate switch ons were better/ worse, as if there was a an optimum and less optimum setting for the power switches. I have not pursued this logically, just an impression. Electrically minded folk can you help?

Powering down & back up occasionally does seem to make the system sound better. No, dunno why...I confess, in all my years of Naim ownership, I've never bothered to switch off and on in any particular sequence. There are eight boxes with switches scattered around the Fraim racking & I work from one side to the other. Nothing bad's ever happened as a consequence (dropping a full tin of white emulsion in the garage with the lid off probably wasn't caused by this).

No it's not just you! It's something I do now and then. Possibly unplugging and re-plugging removes tarnish and oxidation from both plug and socket. Cleaning up a literally and actual dirty mains. The correct way to initially set up the mains plugs in a new system, according to my dealer, is to plug and unplug many times before powering up! I suppose this advice holds true for DIN/Phono plugs. So before buying a new mains filter or what ever make sure all plugs and sockets, mains and signal, are clean and stay away from switched sockets. Rich. 

Popeye posted:

Hi Guys

A couple of times now, for a couple of different reasons I have had to pull the plug on my NDX and Supernait2. Each time I have done this, things (to my ears) certainly seem to improve.

Is this my mind playing tricks on me, or is there any logic behind this?

 

Cheers 

Popeye

If you plug in out once a while it can be logic, but if it`s happen all time, or most of the time, it`s for sure mind tricks

meni48 posted:

Popeye posted:

 

 

If you plug in out once a while it can be logic, but if it`s happen all time, or most of the time, it`s for sure mind tricks

Not unlike the effect my father pointed out to me 50 years ago, that a car that has just been washed and polished does actually sound quieter and go faster than when it was dirty. He was completely right....

best

David

MDS posted:

You don't want unnecessary spikes, thumps etc being pushed through your speakers, which can happen if you were to start switching off sources and pre-amps while the power-amp is still powered up and driving the speakers. Doing it in the recommended order smoothes the whole process.   

I really wish I had a way to control this when the power goes out. Every time I get a power failure, I get a rather loud "pop" from my speakers. Always afraid something really will pop one day. 

Got Hi-Fi? posted:

MDS posted:

You don't want unnecessary spikes, thumps etc being pushed through your speakers, which can happen if you were to start switching off sources and pre-amps while the power-amp is still powered up and driving the speakers. Doing it in the recommended order smoothes the whole process.   

I really wish I had a way to control this when the power goes out. Every time I get a power failure, I get a rather loud "pop" from my speakers. Always afraid something really will pop one day. 

Yes. A power-cut is something none of us can control. But after one we can power-up again in the right order.

MDS posted:

Got Hi-Fi? posted:

MDS posted:

You don't want unnecessary spikes, thumps etc being pushed through your speakers, which can happen if you were to start switching off sources and pre-amps while the power-amp is still powered up and driving the speakers. Doing it in the recommended order smoothes the whole process.   

I really wish I had a way to control this when the power goes out. Every time I get a power failure, I get a rather loud "pop" from my speakers. Always afraid something really will pop one day. 

Yes. A power-cut is something none of us can control. But after one we can power-up again in the right order.

But not if power goes off and comes back on when we're not at home.

Yes, very true. I typically only spot that one has happened by the clocks on the microwave and oven needing resetting.  That always causes me to check the hi-fi, too.  The only clue the hi-fi gives is that occasionally a power cut will cause the black boxes to revert back to buttons etc being illuminated. 

MDS posted:

Got Hi-Fi? posted:

MDS posted:

You don't want unnecessary spikes, thumps etc being pushed through your speakers, which can happen if you were to start switching off sources and pre-amps while the power-amp is still powered up and driving the speakers. Doing it in the recommended order smoothes the whole process.   

I really wish I had a way to control this when the power goes out. Every time I get a power failure, I get a rather loud "pop" from my speakers. Always afraid something really will pop one day. 

Yes. A power-cut is something none of us can control. But after one we can power-up again in the right order.

Though of course most if not all the NACs self mute on powerup until they stabilise then un mute... really protects thumps and cracks into speakers when there is a power interruption and you are not there to take over...

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

MDS posted:

Got Hi-Fi? posted:

MDS posted:

You don't want unnecessary spikes, thumps etc being pushed through your speakers, which can happen if you were to start switching off sources and pre-amps while the power-amp is still powered up and driving the speakers. Doing it in the recommended order smoothes the whole process.   

I really wish I had a way to control this when the power goes out. Every time I get a power failure, I get a rather loud "pop" from my speakers. Always afraid something really will pop one day. 

Yes. A power-cut is something none of us can control. But after one we can power-up again in the right order.

Though of course most if not all the NACs self mute on powerup until they stabilise then un mute... really protects thumps and cracks into speakers when there is a power interruption and you are not there to take over...

My old Superuniti certainly didn't have this feature. Once after a short power cut, it cancelled the input trim, turned the volume to max, and turned on iRadio. Fortunately (for the speakers and the cat, less so for my eardrums) I was in the room at the time, and managed to dive for the volume control before anything blew.

fatcat posted:

MDS posted:

Got Hi-Fi? posted:

MDS posted:

You don't want unnecessary spikes, thumps etc being pushed through your speakers, which can happen if you were to start switching off sources and pre-amps while the power-amp is still powered up and driving the speakers. Doing it in the recommended order smoothes the whole process.   

I really wish I had a way to control this when the power goes out. Every time I get a power failure, I get a rather loud "pop" from my speakers. Always afraid something really will pop one day. 

Yes. A power-cut is something none of us can control. But after one we can power-up again in the right order.

But not if power goes off and comes back on when we're not at home.

Exactly this, its happened a few times when I was sleeping, My power often cuts off, then right back on again anywhere from 2 seconds to minutes. Lets just say that POP more than woke me up a couple times. Even when I am awake, I don't always get to it in time. 

It is indeed a true phenomenon. I’m sure another member referred to it once as a ‘bloating’ of the sound before the power off/on snaps everything back into focus  

I always found I preferred the Naim sound freshly turned on as the bass was deeper and punchier and the treble slightly less explicit. The balance was nicer to my ears. In the end I’d keep SUpernait 1 and hicap DR switched off every night, not really the Naim way......

Popeye posted:

Hi Guys

A couple of times now, for a couple of different reasons I have had to pull the plug on my NDX and Supernait2. Each time I have done this, things (to my ears) certainly seem to improve.

Is this my mind playing tricks on me, or is there any logic behind this?

 

Cheers 

Popeye

..do you think these items slowly 'pollute' their surroundings (including other 'boxes') with electromagentic radiation? In my own system (which includes a Supercap, HiCap and Lingo) best performance occurs with a short warm up of the Lingo. The Supercap can be left on for days on end. The HiCap and Lingo not.

dektop100 posted:

Popeye posted:

Hi Guys

A couple of times now, for a couple of different reasons I have had to pull the plug on my NDX and Supernait2. Each time I have done this, things (to my ears) certainly seem to improve.

Is this my mind playing tricks on me, or is there any logic behind this?

 

Cheers 

Popeye

..do you think these items slowly 'pollute' their surroundings (including other 'boxes') with electromagentic radiation? In my own system (which includes a Supercap, HiCap and Lingo) best performance occurs with a short warm up of the Lingo. The Supercap can be left on for days on end. The HiCap and Lingo not.

In my rudimentary understanding of such matters, electromagnetic radiation starts as soon as the power is turned on, and stops as soon as it's turned off, so wouldn't have the effect of slowly polluting anything. 

I have had a similar experience with my CD555, the SQ would slowly decrease and a five minute restore seemed to do the trick. It would seem need switching off after about a fortnight, but thankfully it seems to have settled down again and I haven't switched it off for a long time now.