Super Lumina speaker cable

Posted by: rsch on 22 December 2017

Last week i finally took the plunge for a set of speaker cable. Needing at least 2 x 7m  the cost was not easy to digest. However the opportunity of an ex demo one, made the deal much more bearable.

First impression, assuming that it 's already  run in,  is very very positive. i found pretty much what i was looking for.      Compared  with the good old A5, there is much more midrange refinement. It pretty much eradicated that sort of edgy character and glare from the mid and  upward. More importantly it has considerably reduced the occasional listening fatigue at decently high listening volume. I can finally crank up the volume well to up to 10 'o clock. where with the A5 was pretty much impossible. I'm curious to see our Max B. impression. He always tells me that i play music at insane levels.

To have proof of it, i played  Tears F. Fears cd - Elemental. I always found this record pretty aggresive. Now there is a new level of clarity even on most complex passages

Another one i tried is Stelly Dan -  Gaucho (2013 issue) Here i found a new level of dynamics of vocal richness, the transient attack on Nineteen was mindblowing.

Finally London Grammar - Truth Is .. Here again a new vocal richness and moreover a much better bass control. It seems to have reduced a certain degree of bass bloatiness. 

The only complain is the lack of a better idenfitication of the cable direction. There is only slight difference of the shade of grey on the insert between cable and resistor blocks.

Regards

Roberto                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

Posted on: 22 December 2017 by hungryhalibut

If you look at the wire you will see that it has the ‘naim’ logo printed on it. The n goes at the amplifier end and the m at the speaker end. It’s far easier to get the direction right by looking at this than trying to differentiate between the two shades of grey. 

Posted on: 22 December 2017 by u77033103172058601

Alternatively, match up the ends, because the order of termination (with respect to the block at each end) is different at the amplifier end from the speaker end.

Posted on: 22 December 2017 by MDS
Hungryhalibut posted:

If you look at the wire you will see that it has the ‘naim’ logo printed on it. The n goes at the amplifier end and the m at the speaker end. It’s far easier to get the direction right by looking at this than trying to differentiate between the two shades of grey. 

.....But you do need good light and possibly reading glasses.

Anyway, Roberto, I hope you continue to enjoy the SL cables. I think your level of system definitely deserves it. 

Posted on: 22 December 2017 by Massimo Bertola

 

rsch posted:

I'm curious to see our Max B. impression. He always tells me that i play music at insane levels.

To be exact, I tell you that you listen to insane music at insane levels...

Enjoy your new cables! I'm curious too.

;-)

M.

Posted on: 23 December 2017 by fathings cat

Must get round to trying the Super Lumina effect, your results sound very positive.

Gary

Posted on: 23 December 2017 by rsch

Yesterday night i played a few tracks of DCD Anastasis live and L. Gerrard The Silver Tree, it was further proof of the improved bass control and timing. I hope to upgrade soon the din/xlr too.

Max, you're welcome.

Regards

Roberto

Posted on: 23 December 2017 by spurrier sucks
rsch posted:

Yesterday night i played a few tracks of DCD Anastasis live and L. Gerrard The Silver Tree, it was further proof of the improved bass control and timing. I hope to upgrade soon the din/xlr too.

Max, you're welcome.

Regards

Roberto

I have the SL IC and was stunned when I  did a comparison with and without. It made a clear improvement in sound to me. That said getting the SL SC has caused doubt for me. I'm a bit of a speaker cable skeptic even though I know the effects of the SL IC. I must get a demo of the SL SC after reading your glowing review. Enjoy your new purchase. 

Posted on: 23 December 2017 by rsch
spurrier sucks posted:
rsch posted:

Yesterday night i played a few tracks of DCD Anastasis live and L. Gerrard The Silver Tree, it was further proof of the improved bass control and timing. I hope to upgrade soon the din/xlr too.

Max, you're welcome.

Regards

Roberto

I have the SL IC and was stunned when I  did a comparison with and without. It made a clear improvement in sound to me. That said getting the SL SC has caused doubt for me. I'm a bit of a speaker cable skeptic even though I know the effects of the SL IC. I must get a demo of the SL SC after reading your glowing review. Enjoy your new purchase. 

In my system SC cable had much more positive effect than IC one.

Regards

Roberto

Posted on: 23 December 2017 by Darke Bear

After the SL IC between source and Pre, the SL SC were the next very large upgrade. When you need three active runs of 7m you need to be convinced first - it was blindingly obvious when I had the luck of a home trial of an active loom for a few hours that this was what my system had being crying out for.

The SL speaker cable dramatically drops the subjective noise-floor and presents a smoother more easy-detailed rendering of the music with all the micro-dynamics done as well as the macro-dynamics. It was so much better than the NACA5 I had been using before, for what I like to hear retrieved and rendered from my music, that it was a silly comparison - but for the sully price increase it should have been!

I'd say all the other SL cables after the SL Speaker Cable were very welcome improvements that built on what the others did, but were not as significant as what the interconnect from source to pre and speaker cables did.

DB.

Posted on: 23 December 2017 by Bert Schurink

Super Lumina has been a major upgrade in my system. I was more lucky then DB as I don’t run active. So price is still high but digestible.

Posted on: 23 December 2017 by rsch

It's also worth noting that with 555 source we aready have Hi LIne as standard which is already a premium interconnect. While the Naca is probably the major bottleneck, being conceived in the CB/Olive era, hence optimized  for electronics  with different voicing.

I hope to upgrade the din/xlr one as soon as possible

Regards

Roberto

Posted on: 23 December 2017 by Ravenswood10

The final piece of the loom for me was a pair of DIN to XLR cables for my NAP 300 DR. I had Chord Indigo there before    and heard an immediate and very clear difference for the better. Mind you the supplied interconnects aren't bad considering that they're lamp flex at heart!