NAIM NAC A5 good deal?

Posted by: mystik on 27 February 2002

Hello, I have found "NAIM NAC A5 SPEAKER CABLE 2 X 3M BIWIRED" on an auction but it's 6 years old. Would cable of this age sound any worse than buying brand new Naim speaker cable?

Thanks alot

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Peter Stockwell

no.

Peter

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by mystik

How much would it be worth paying for it?

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Peter Stockwell

Dunno, it's not that expensive new, about 5GBP in the UK so 2 x 3m is about 30GBP, so 15GBP would seem reasonable to all concerned.

Peter

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by mystik

It's a biwire set so I've offered about double your suggestion. There is 12m in total

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Peter Stockwell

Been there, done that! I don't believe it's worth it, just arrange for the Naca5 to connect the two halfs of the speaker section, instant strap and no need to biwire. I've even biamped and a Nait 5 overwhelmed my previous two amp combo.

Peter

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by kevinrt

When I bought my CD5 ht edealer recommended Chord Odyssey speaker cable (not bi-wired) to connect my Audiolab 8000S and Linn Keilidhs. I've since changed the amplification to Nait 5. Anyone compared the Odyssey to Naim speaker cable in this set-up. Any comments?

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Eddie Pugh

I use Chord Rumour with my 250 and Yamaha NS 1000M's and it all sounds great. The little spring clips on the Yamys are hard pressed to swallow NAC A5
DIY replacement terminals will have to be fitted soon (a real tricky job due to the configuration of the crossover) as some corrosion has set in after 25 years of hard use.

Eddie

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Peter Stockwell

quote:
Originally posted by Richard van Laar:
Maybe the used speakers could have something to do with the bi-wire or not to bi-wire question too??....
There are lots of speakers out there that are designed to be bi-wired.
Richard.

Designed ? or marketed ? I bought into the biwire/biamp thing but now I believe it's just a question of fashion and a way to sell more amps and cable.

Peter

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by kevinrt

You must have bought a great system to start with or be highly resistant to the up-grade bug? From reading through posts on this forum it seems most people don't have your restraint.
What's the longest anyone has continuously used one component in their main system?

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by jcc

This from a Naim owners manual concerning NACA:

"THEY SHOULD BE AT LEAST 3.5 METRES LONG AND OF EQUAL LENGTH."

Its printed in CAPS in the manual too....

Even though 3 metres is almost 'there', I've found longer lengths to result in an improvement as well.

just my $.02 worth.

Enjoy
jim cash

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Jaitch

I can't match Eddie's 25 years but I had the same 250 power amp for 18 years before upgrading to 135's last year It's a great advert for Naim the equipment is so well built.

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Peter Stockwell

quote:
Originally posted by Barryr:
I Bi-Wire my CDM1se's using Nordost super flatline, and they sound better biwired, no questions answered or asked!

I don't doubt that they sound better biwired, but what did you use for straps between the HF and bass/mid units ? I use a single run of Naca5 on my CDM1se's that effectively connects the hf to the bass/mid, and they sound much better this way than in any biwire/biamp configuration that I had prior. I believe that much of the improvement in biwiring comes from the wire being better quality than the straps that come standard with the speakers.

Peter

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Peter Stockwell

quote:
Originally posted by Richard van Laar:

Sonus Faber is a good example of this. You will never achieve the same results when you single-wire SF speakers compared to bi-wiring (with the same cable that is...).
Richard.
CDX/02/102/180/SF

Can't argue with your results, but again what do you use for straps in single wire configuration ?

Peter

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by mystik

So do I use a single run with small "straps" or 2 runs as my B&W CDM1SE's have bi-wire terminals?

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Mike Sae

(Andrew Weekes' pic)

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Phil Barry

I'd be wary of investing a lot in 3M runs, since Naim specifies 3.5M. Damamge probably will not ensue, but....

If it's a biwired run, it's (probably) worth less than a single-wired run, if you've got a Naim amp! After all, you'll have to supply the labor to get rid of one of the runs.

Seriously, my speakers (Near 50s, unknown on the forum except for a couple of us) sounded unequivocally better bi-wired from several different amps. They sound unequivocally better singe-wired from a Nap140 or 250 (I've forgotten what state my system was in when I made the change).

I went into the terminal block and attached both sets of wires to one set of terminals, thus solving the strapping problem.

I'm sure there are speakers that sound better when bi-wired even when run by Naim amps, but Naim's recommendations have worked for me and for many others on the forum. Do the potential gains outweigh the costs of obtaining those gains?

Phil
from There's no harm in experimenting, IL, USA

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by David Quigley

Quote from JV

quote:
Date: January 21, 1998 09:44 AM
Author: julian vereker
Subject: cable length

This has been covered before, (try search), but to restate, NACA was
designed for a nominal 10m length so that 5m - 20m would be fine, but
3m is the shortest recommended.

julian

Hope this helps

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by mystik

So I think I'll invest in 4 metre runs to be safe with extra bits to bridge the bi-wire terminals on my B&W's. I don't know where I am going to put 4 metres of cable in a relatively small room though. The other thing is termination, I expect that will cost some major money!?

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by David Quigley

..should be pretty cheap. Just use the naim plugs at the amp end and, depending on your speaker binding posts, (1)nothing, (2) naim plugs or (3)simple gold posts. Not sure there is consensus on the value of doing much more than this, though doubtless some will disagree.

David

Posted on: 27 February 2002 by Mike Sae

To clarify, those plugs aren't soldered directly to the speaker. For more detailed pics on the Naim speaker plugs gohere
and
Andy's page

best,

mike

Posted on: 28 February 2002 by Peter Stockwell

quote:
Originally posted by mystik:
So I think I'll invest in 4 metre runs to be safe with extra bits to bridge the bi-wire terminals on my B&W's. I don't know where I am going to put 4 metres of cable in a relatively small room though. The other thing is termination, I expect that will cost some major money!?

I use bare wires into my B+W, there's a hole in each binding post, just thread the cable through and screw down tight. Make sure that there's enough 'tail' to span the two posts ( one above the other).

Peter