CD5/NACA 5 burn in period or it just **** !

Is the equipment always powered on? If you turn it on and off, you'll probably hear harshness.

Are the tweeters OK?

Is the sound of this CD5 different from that of your old CD5?

Regards.

Phil

quote:

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Is the equipment always powered on? If you turn it on and off, you'll probably hear harshness.

Are the tweeters OK?

Is the sound of this CD5 different from that of your old CD5?

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yes it is generaly left powered on, except when trying to solve this problem.

I think the tweeters are ok, sound is comming from them both, otherwise I have no way of checking ?

yes the old CD5 sounding all lot different, as I have said, currently it sounds harsh in particular on female voices and indie type music (new radicles etc) and the normal transient extensions you get arnt there so it sounds dull.

of course this is a very difficult thing to describe, and maybe I am being a little over excesive with regard bleeding ears, but its harsher than before. I had my previous CD5 for 18 mths, and I loved it !!
I have also added a Hicap some 4 mths ago and it made a clear improvement to the old CD5 yet with the new one there is no difference either Hicapped or using its own PSU.
Phil

Derek -

I think the cable issue is that the Naim connectors are marked with a 'Pos' tab on them so if a black bannana plug is put on the other end of the wire that has the 'Pos' tab on it, then its backwards.

On the back of my Nait 5, both speaker wires go the same way and the phasing is correct. My wires were done up by NANA.

- GregB

Insert Witty Signature Line Here

Phil,

Can you take your CD5 to your dealers at lunch and have a listen in comparison to their demo CD5? Don't compare with the CDX2, you will regret!

It should be pretty audible if it is a dodgy unit.

Matthew

Derek

The tekky at Audio T had connected a black plug on the lead with the ribbed edge and a red one on the other end. This happened on both cables.

I could accept one cable being wired up incorrectly but not two.

In other words each run of cable had a positive connector at one end and a negative one at the other end.

Regards

Mick

Alan

The customer can choose either to DIY or let the dealer install it.

Regards

Mick

never had the option, due to upgrading / changing to Naim on a piece by piece basis ?

Mick

OK I understand

Derek

<<Have you checked your PTs today>>

If you have you speaker wire one exiting up and one exiting down then do the following.

On the one which is upside down, remove the cover, now making a note of the positive plug, remove the sheath from the plugs, twist both plugs round 180 degrees.

Put the sheath back on insuring the positive tab is on the positive plug side.

Replace the cover.

Your wire can now be inserted the right way up.

This is not rocket science

In my experience, phasing problems do not result in harshness; they result in phasey sound.

Again in my experience, switching from A4 to A5 was like a switch from a 62 to a 72 - much more incisive sound. I can see NACA5 being called harsh by someone who doesn't like it, but the other Phil seems to indicate that the harshness is more of a problem than the A4/A5 difference.

Either the other Phil is a lot more sensitive to this than I am (and I hear CD hash in everything below a CDS), or there's a problem with his system.

Since Phil liked his first CD5 and not his second, I'd suspect the CD5....Four weeks is enough run-intime for both the CD player and the wire.

And BTW, the 'crap' in JohMak's contribution is his total discount of anecdotal evidence that wire has an effect on people's perceptions. I am no wire maven, and I'm happy that Naim supplies cheap wire, and I don't know what the differences are attributed to - but it is entirely unscientific to ignore the reports.

So, John, don't say wire differeneces are 'crap' until you conduct a well-designed experiment to determine what phenomena are involved in the reports.

I will now go back to my 'do not obssess about wire' stance.

Regards.

Phil

Am I the only one who does have the little plastic covers on the ends of my speaker cable? At least at the amp end my plugs are not at right angles to the wire so that they can be sensibly connected to the amplifier. I've had three sets of A5 installed by three different dealers and never had the plastic covers.

I expect I am about to be informed that the plastic covers are crucial for sound quality reasons and therefore I have a crappy hi-fi. Or I have the wrong sort of plugs or something.

Matthew

I apologize to JohnMak for my wording above.

My point is that there is something going on with wire; it is eminently audible. Even if one cannot hear differences between wires, there are so many reports of differences that real questions can be asked, and real experiments should be run.

Even though I believe there are real, audible differences bewteen wires, I think we have no idea what that something is. Therefore I personally exchew cable rolling myself.

Regards.

Phil

This may have been mentioned, but doesn't the cd5 have several transport screws/knobs in the bottom? One keeps the tray in place and the other unlocks the circut board which sits on springs. Its a long shot, but make sure this screw has been removed. That could explain the sound your getting.

Chris Bell

I have often found that when upgrading a component, the overall sound is worse; it is often a mistake to blame the upgrade which may simply be better at exposing shortcomings further up the chain. It is a tricky one to solve...in my experience, harshness is not a characteristic of Naim kit when it is properly set up. You really need to examine EVERY aspect of your system.....support,lead connections, and, dare I say it, mains supply. Naim kit is like a highly tuned sports car.When something is not quite right it is much more obvious than, say, with a "detuned" motor. Like cars, finding the root cause can be problematic. But get it right, and suddenly all that trouble seems worth it. I would be reluctant to blame the kit, which is capable of outstanding performance. Also, in my experience, burn in of all components (including cable) can take up to 12 weeks!

best of luck

laurie S

many thanks guys, I rearranged the all my gear to the following rack positions
102
cd5
180
2x Hi
napsc - in another corner of the room !
and kept the NACA5

and............ for two days over the weekend I had it all, glorious deep tunfull bass, fine mid and treble detail, no harshness - I am so happy
Then come bank holiday monday ... back to square one
harsh and no mid range, such variation cannot be just bad mains day, can it ?
Phil

Fled,

IMHO, Logically the NACA5 speaker cable can’t be at fault, if you did get the sound you wanted - if only for the weekend! As already suggested - have you changed the QED speaker plugs to Naim ones (with or without covers)? This should at least complete the ‘Naim Chain’. Curious that you have a dedicated spur and there could be a bad mains issue! How do you plug in – a mains block? – hydra? – is the napsc plugged in a separate socket? Perhaps this is an issue?

Good Luck again

Regards
Geoff

Nick, let's hope it works! Otherwise its back to the vigins.

Fled, is the new CD5 supposed to sound identical to the old one from Naim's point of view? If its been tweaked you may just not like it as much.

Alex

BTW John, I see what you mean. If everyone was at home making a million cups of tea that's about 5 billion boiled kettles.

[This message was edited by Alex S. on TUESDAY 06 May 2003 at 18:52.]

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Originally posted by Mike Hanson:
+ Do you have two sets of binding posts on your speakers? If so, your cables should be in the upper posts (the ones going to the tweeters).

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

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Hi Mike:

No offense, but...

Does that really make a difference? How could that be? Anyway I'll try it later tonight.

quote:

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Originally posted by Ross Blackman:
Mike is right, it does make a difference, which can be substantial. The size of the difference depends on the quality of the jumpers between the high and low frequency binding posts. For example, on my Proacs with Michell binding posts and a Michell Rhodium plated link between them, it makes virtually no difference. However, using wire as jumpers (including NACA5) it does make a noticeable difference. Where I differ from Mike is that I always prefer the speaker cable to be connected to the low frequency binding posts. It really depends on whether you want to emphasise the upper or lower frequencies.

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Yes, upper or lower will sound different. I generally find that extra contacts (e.g. through the jumpers) causes hash in the sound, which is why I prefer to use the top posts. In the bottom it adds a bit more low-frequency control, but I can't stand that upper-frequency squelch (which seems to be a problem for very many people and their Naim kit).

My recent upgrade of opening up the backs of my speakers and attaching both sets of wires to the same posts made a wonderful difference, and is the best solution (assuming your speakers can be modded this way).

-=> Mike Hanson <=-