Speaker cables: asked 100 times and never fully answered

... it's been discovered that these are some of the factors that correlate to  maintenance of psychological interest in the music being reproduced...

Hi Huge,

This sounds intriguing ; could you expand on those factors, and others, that correlate with maintenance of interest in music?

Thanks,

Jan

Jan, quick reference (as I'm going out)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/..._Audio_amplification

I'll see it I can find a transcript of the relevant interview with Julian.

Hi Huge,

Thank you for that. Very interesting.

FYI, the reason for my interest in this subject is that I have been considering the purchase of Naim amplification at some time in the future, having joined the Naim fraternity earlier this year by buying an NDX. I'm not sure, though, that I can accommodate speaker cables with a minimum length of 3.5m in my smallish room without coiling them up. That is probably a no-no because it would change the capacitance/inductance characteristics.

ATB,

David

Hi David,  you're right about coiling,  it adds inductance

The approved way is to fold them as per the picture

one guy posted a very detailed and elaborated (and useful, in my view), 'review' of his new Vertere cables but nobody seemed to give a #*!t; yet, Vertere has probably much to do with the SuperLumina series... While everybody ran and bought TelluriumQ Black on the mere basis of a single 'I like it very much' post...

You Naim folks are definitely strange people.

N

I don't think EVERYBODY has run and bought TQ.

They should. Far better than the anxiety caused by a non-updating tracking number.

Nainiac originally posted:

"....while everybody ran and bought TelluriumQ Black on the mere basis of a single 'I like it very much' post"

I very much doubt it. I myself have posted about my very positive view of the TQ Black and (especially the) TQ "Ultra Black" speaker cables and interconnects. I use TQ Ultra Black in my main system, but I'm afraid I can't really be described as being "one of these strange Naim folks", since there is not a Naim component to be found in this system. I do have a Naim streamer in a 2nd system, but don't use TQ there.

I actually purchased my cables and interconnects before the post to which I think you were alluding appeared, and only after an extended "no obligation" trial in my own system. Of course my reason for choosing to demo the TQs (amongst others) was the large number of positive views of their products available in the media. How else would one short-list products to audition? I rate the cable extremely highly, and certainly worth the not insignificant extra cost. It will be staying in my system indefinitely.

No reason why a post from the esteemed HH (sadly, no longer a member of the TQ fraternity) shouldn't encourage any other members of the forum from investigating the product. You obviously have a low regard for a number of members of this forum to believe that they aren't capable of making their own minds up about a product.

Incidentally, HH, I reckon you should ditch your SLs and NAC5, bring back your TQ Blacks and invest in a pair of Magnepan speakers. For the same sort of money as your SLs, you might just get a 2nd hand pair of 3.5Rs (or even 3.6Rs). These match perfectly with the TQs, and you'll have one hell of a system (assuming of course your Naim amp is capable of driving them).

Sorry, only joking - honestly!        

You have to be pretty unlucky to pick a cable that screws up your amp.

Not always - and it's not just Naim's amp designs that run afoul of this.

At the end of the day, though, most mainstream cable manufacturers have a pretty good grasp of this compatibility chestnut; often, it is the smaller, less-experienced cable vendors that don't - and I have no sympathy for them whatsoever; they have the same resources and tools available to them to insure that their designs don't push an amp into instability. Alternately, they can craft a known do-not-use-with-x list and properly propagate this throughout the retailer network.

Maggies might be interesting if (1) they worked three inches from the wall and (2) they didn't have the same name as someone I detest. 

The TQ is a super cable and I'm delighted if my ramblings have helped some to better sound. It's just that NACA5 works so much better with SL2s. They are truly marvellous speakers and I'm happy to slum it with NACA5 if that is what's required. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

"Maggies might be interesting if (1) they worked three inches from the wall and (2) they didn't have the same name as someone I detest".

Oh no! Now you've spoilt them for me as well. I had never associated them with ...........

Some of us like to slum it with Atlas Hyper 2 on their 250.2.

I've looked at the Vertere website, and there's a serious lack of any real specifications.

No electrical characteristics, no cable cross-section area data, cryptic descriptions such as "x5 Conductors, Pulse Multi Type", "x11 & x1 Conductors, Pulse Multi Type", and the cables are shielded (which greatly increases capacitance if you use the shield).

No wonder not many people use them - they don't even give an honest description of what they're selling, just marketing hype masquerading as specifications.

Same could be said for TQ cables. No specs unless you count unofficial ones measured by users and posted elsewhere. Yet there's no shortage of TQ users.

Same can be said of TQ - marking hype masquerading as we know best.

Shall we take a close look at SuperLumina, then?

Best

N

"The Super Lumina range is the result. Consisting of audio interconnects andspeaker cables, the range is capable of meeting the demands of Statement but is equally at home in other Naim 500 and Classic Series systems."

So we know it's intended application then.  No guarantees for non-Naim systems though.

Seems clear enough to me.

Well, it is equally clear to me that:

- The recent line of Naim integrates and power amps, up to a certain level, is perfectly safe with non-NACA cables, as per manual;

- maxbertola had apparently direct contact with Vertere and was suggested the type of cables to use;

- The SL range of cables seems to have close relationship with Vertere products, and

- SL speaker cables, btw, are as shielded as the Vertere ones. So how is it that SL is not creating capacitance issues with Naim while Vertere could?

As for TQ cables, I browsed a little and wasn't able to find anything about their specs, which the factory (?) seems not enthusiastic about giving; they look like the NACA, but their cross section is arguably much thinner, which could mean nothing and everything. Yet, close to nobody (a quick survey with the 'search' function) seemed to consider this side of the aspect.

But I have no personal interest in Tellurium cables (btw, did anybody bother to find what exactly tellurium is, and how, if ever, this has any concrete application in the cables? Because, I too have access to websites..); I was only pointing out how strange it is that a cable with no given spec, no ascertained relationship or compatibility with Naim has been enthusiastically adopted by many with no fear or worry, while another, with a much more documented relationship with Naim, and which has been 'reviewed' much more accurately by a poster who, it seems, is perfectly happy with the sound of it and not only is not experiencing troubles but - if memory and experience are not abandoning me - is not also a complete foreigner to sound and music, is the object of diffidence if not indifference.

But, as I said, the ways of this forum and its people are funny indeed.

N

Jan,

Here's an old Naim sales brochure,

http://www.avoptions.com/downl...or-Brochure-1990.pdf

look at page 12

Great stuff! Thanks for the followup Huge.

Jan

I spoke to the owner of Voodoo Cable (USA) about his cables for my system, and in regard to the issue between cable and amp, particularly the NAP200, Bruce states, " It appears Naim uses a current output regulator network that conforms with the stringent low power consumption regulations for CE certification. This is common among component manufacturers with distribution to EU markets. So their recommendation, albeit extremely conservative, for low capacitance and modest inductance speaker cable is likely within that rationale. But their recommendations for their extremely long cable lengths contradict that recommended specification for capacitance , because with added cable length line capacitance and therefore inductance increase exponentially."  Lower line capacitance is what the NAP200 wants to drive it's speakers. Bruce is an electrical engineer.

I have just received "the other" cable from somewhere nearby Turkey and I must say: Awesome.

Straight out of the box it changed my standpoint regarding the cable discussion. Really worth a try!

What is it doing? PRAT still right there, however it softens the edges and without doubt delivers a lot more detail with just a little less stage maybe. It still runs in and might even get better than this. 14 days money back guarantee makes it lots of fun and little risk.

Best regards

Chris