Yet another power cord thread

Posted by: Sounsfaber on 29 September 2015

hi, I've searched and searched but can't fine this naim power cord information at all.

ive had a chc hydra for a while, but with the sound advice of a naim dealer I compare the hydra to the black box naim Kema Keur (shin yang) cords and have found while the hydra star earthing had benefits   the naim supplied cords gave more of an enjoyable all over experience. Now the thing is, I have a couple of older naim power cords. I have found them to be rather to my liking, connected to the Olive xps/ CDs 2 seems to give a lower noise floor which Inturn has more detail, one of the older power cables came with the xps.

I can't seem to find any real name on them just <desco> and <har>  and a few numbers, no name at the IEC end either. What I have noticed is that the IEC plug is made out of a more rubbery  surrounding where the kema Kerr is rock hard plastic. Also the old cable is slightly thinner. I have 2 of these old cords, I'm also very sure naim used these on the olives. My other old cord is marked with tape and paper nap250 at one end . This cord came from a dealer so I'm confident.

 

My question is does anybody know the history of these old cords and would you say they are keepers.

While the short answer is if you like it then yes, I'm just interested in the history and could you say that the newer chinese made are more suited for the black boxes, or is it just the naim have cheaped out on the cords compeared to what they were using backin the day.

Posted on: 30 September 2015 by Richard Dane

There have been quite a few different cords over the years - different markets required different cords, which made things more complex once you move away from the UK market. Sometimes Naim would have a cord that was liked and then would find it was no longer available, so listening tests and selection would need to be done again for the best of the rest, and so on. The fact that they were essentially just off-the-shelf kit, but selected from what was available, makes identification tricky these days.

 

FWIW, Some of the best standard power leads that came with UK kit were the ones that used the old Pirelli cable.  I have a few of these and when I compared in the past I reckoned they were just that little bit better sounding to my ears than even the current UK standard cords.

 

If you want to know more for your specific area you should have a word with Mr Murphy.  I think he was supplied with UK cords and then changed the plug to a Tapon for the NZ market.

Posted on: 30 September 2015 by Efraim roots

IME, a good power cord is a good power cord, and listening test is king. Standard cords will sound different (that's why naim go thru the exercise of choosing). These standard cords can be truly great, but most important, they can also be really bad If you for example mixed up the original naim supplied one with some other random type. Keep your originals! If you have a few different types, compare them and put the best ones in source first order. If you learn which ones is best you can keep and eye open when you shifting gear and make sure you keep/get as many really good one as possible 

Regarding european 'shuko' type power cords supplied by Naim they have been the same for many many years, so this exercise isn't very relevant for us if you don't have old chrome or olive gear with original cords. Btw; Linn power cords are also carefully choosen and ranged from good to fantastic, if you want to try another good standard cable I suggest you try theirs also, It might end up like a cheap upgrade.

Posted on: 01 October 2015 by Sounsfaber

Thank you for the replays. Richard I would ask Mr Murphy but he's way to busy for such small trivial  questions, although the very limited contact I have had with him was great, amazingly one night I emailed him at 11, he replied within secounds..... I wonder if he sleeps thank you for your input very much appreciate and as always very informative.

Efraim roots cheers mate Iv put my other old school cord into my SuperCap. I must say things are really starting to become silly good. I have been  concentrating on the power supply eg mains earthing 50mm cable, direct 6mm wire(s) connected to an unswitched  Heritage plug that is hooked up to a ceramic rewireable 30 amp fuse then to a larger earth buss for contact reasons Off under my house to a copper earth steak, now here's the kicker the earth steak is positioned right by my back yard water tap so I just need to let the water run to make sure it's a good earth lol I kill me. I was kind happy I thought of that at the time, it was Richard that had commented on how important the ground moisture is around you steak guess I've got that covered, now I'm thinking of running a bear copper wire under ground off the earth steak for a leght or 2 just to be sure. Hey it's not a buried Rolls Royce but it's a start (This has been done within New Zealand standards by a qualified electrician, check your country rules if you want to play) 

end goal to get nac late model 52, 2x135. Oh yes powerline