Naim mains cables - preferable to 'specialist'?

fwiw, i tried B&Q 16A core as mains lead, with wattgate iec socket. the cable very obviously messed up the frequency balance, as if treble filter controls had been set to max. a very disturning and unmusical splash.

i tried the wattgate on my cds2, i didnt pick up any difference with the std naim.

i havent tried kimble, sorry, kimber cable.

enjoy

ken

Hi Chris,
1st thing you need to bear in mind is that a differant cable to the one supplied by Naim will give you a differant presentation, and you may either like or dislike what you hear.

That suck-eggs comment aside I have used Kimber powerkords for some years with Naim kit and enjoyed the presentation. Recent upgrades however have sttered me back totally (other than speaker cable) back to Naim, apart from using a twin & earth 6mm2 mains cable, constructed by another forum member, terminated with a wattgate 320 IEC.

Its all down to what you are trying to achieve. For the price of three Russ andrews cables you could sort out your mains - thats a whole new playing field!

andy c!

I tried a couple of RA Yello cables and they tamed the system, but took away its sense of timing.
I made a variety of other cables, with reference to Ven Haus designs (just search in google), but they didn't really rock my boat (some even used shielded mains cable).
I experimented with building mains blocks, and had some success.
I now run my system off a "hydra" that I made, and am really quite pleased with it. (A hydra is a single mains plug that has several wires coming out from it, either directly from the plug, or at a junction box part way along the cable.)
A company called Grahams make Hydras (I think the name is theirs - from the nasty Greek creature with many snake heads), from standard Naim mains cables and a number of people swear by them.
Word is that Naim are going to release an "octopus" at some point (ie. a creature with many arms).
As Andy C says though, the fact is that mains cables can make fairly fundamental differences to the sound coming out of the speakers, (To me this is unbelievable, apart from the fact that it is true!)

Paul

Hi Chris

I used to use RA Classic Powerkord and preferred them in a mixed system of Naim and other brands.

Now, since having an all Naim system, I prefer my two home made Hydra's using Micromark 4 way mains plugs with the standard Naim supplied power cable, all joints soldered.

Cheers, Julian