Quick connection question -NAC52 to headphone amp

Hi Bruce,

No, the connection for input and output is different at the 5pin DIN end.

There are plenty of cheap (and nasty) 5pin DIN to 4 phonos that would work, but I don't recall seeing a decent 180° 5pin DIN to 4 phonos.

Some specialists like Witch Hat, Flashback sales or Abi Rabinovich (AR Sound) may well be able to supply a much better 5pin DIN to 2 phonos output cable.

If you can learn to solder, a fairly decent cable will cost about £10 for the parts (and no patients need be damaged by heat!).

You need a tape i/c.  I would recommend either Chord - Chrysalis is widely available secondhand often for less than £20 in DIN5 - 4 RCA form and is ideal here - or Naim's own (see FAQ and pic below). You may only need to use the REC OUT side but that's OK and prevents any confusion in years hence when wondering why an i/c doesn't seem to work because it's a "Special" with the 'wrong' pins connected.

 If you look for a Chrysalis lead then go for the latest you can find (usually identified by later style Chord RCA Phonos in place of early Deltrons) but even the earlier cable is a good one. 

Richard, good point.  I didn't think s/h, so I forgot about the Chrysalis!

Thanks folks

For others interested: - https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...it-5i-and-in-general

Since I have actually ordered the wrong cable (doh) so will otherwise send it back can you tell me how to re-wire the DIN for a tape ouput socket vs the input version that will be arriving?

I can get my soldering iron out after all!

Bruce

Bruce - the cable you've ordered will have L&R channels to CH1 / 2 in. Swap these to CH1 / 2 out respectively and you'll have yourself an output cable. 

Yep, just swap them over left to right on the back of the DIN plug.

You do need a small bit on your soldering iron: The back part of the pins on a DIN plug are about 5mm long, 1.1mm diameter, and are only about 1.5mm apart.  A 'solder sucker' or desoldering braid are the best thing for helping to release the wires from the existing solder joints on the pins.  Small surgical forceps are very useful for moving the wires after that.

Bruce

You may have slight problem if you simply swap from input to output at the din plug, but it depends on the construction of the cable you’ve bought.  If it has a shield and it’s only connected to one end of the cable, it will be connected to the wrong end.

The shield should be connected to the component that is outputting the signal.

Bruce what cable have you actually ordered?

With most cable you should be able to simply swap the signal cables as most RCA->DIN are wired as unbalanced cables (the signal return current is carried in the screen).  Very few are wired pseudo-balanced, with the screen connected only at one end.

[More detail to explain why...
Even when pseudo-balanced as an input cable, the screen should still be normally connected at the DIN end (even though this isn't the source).  This is because many phono coupled source components don't have an earth connection to protective ground (so in that case you'd actually want the shield connected to the DIN end anyway as that's likely to be the point with the lowest impedance to the mains protective ground).  The only time the shield connection should be at the phono end is if it's known that the phono shells are connected to mains protective ground.]

That’s good advice to somebody who’s constructing an interconnect. But Bruce isn’t constructing an interconnect, he’s bought one from a cable manufacturer, who has no idea if Bruce’s RCA connections are adequately grounded.

They don’t have time to question their customers about protective ground, and anyway, how many would know the answer. They’ll build them to convention.

By coincidence, I was speaking to a well know interconnect supplier about this subject, 6 months ago. They told me the shield is always connected to source.

Good advice chaps - perhaps the best thing for Bruce to do is to return the interconnect and order the right one 

I used a cable from Flashbacksales on my 82 they make a specific cable to suit at a very reasonable price.

Calm folks, I will just send it back!

PCD-thanks for that tip, looks like they will do just what I want.

Bruce

Just a brief update

Flashback sales-very efficient and nicely made cable

Arcam rHead plus Grado e325 'phones makes very nice music. I've never had decent headphones in a system before. A nice option for certain music and moods.

Cheers

Bruce