Normal banana plugs

I use BFA banana connectors without issue. 

Naim amps have nickle plated banana sockets, because of the potential of dissimilar metals issues its a good idea to use the same material with the banana pins & thats what the Naim plugs are.    Additional benefits include the Naim plug assembles with correctly spaced pins & the 90 degree cable exit angle go a long way to prevent accidental banana pin pull outs.

But no,  using a non-Naim 4mm banana plug won't damage it,  it might (might) over time find a hint of corrosion with dissimilar metals,  but that about it.   I use the Naim plugs on the amp end & Deltron gold plated pins in my 'gold' speaker terminals.

Mike-B posted:

Naim amps have nickle plated banana sockets, because of the potential of dissimilar metals issues its a good idea to use the same material with the banana pins & thats what the Naim plugs are.    Additional benefits include the Naim plug assembles with correctly spaced pins & the 90 degree cable exit angle go a long way to prevent accidental banana pin pull outs.

I use the Naim plugs on the amp end & Deltron gold plated pins in my 'gold' speaker terminals.

I think the 90º exit angle probably works great for Fraim, but it was a problem for my cabinet where the shelf my 250 sits on extends behind the back of it a bit. It came out too easily because of that, so I switched. I have Fraim on order so I may consider going back to the Naim pins.

RaceTripper posted:

I think the 90º exit angle probably works great for Fraim, but it was a problem for my cabinet where the shelf my 250 sits on extends behind the back of it a bit. It came out too easily because of that, so I switched. I have Fraim on order so I may consider going back to the Naim pins.

Valid point & not disagreeing,  however I don't have Fraim & have the same wide shelf behind the amp.   I have the speaker cable fitted & shaped to not only exit at 90 degrees but also exit sideways.  

Naim plugs were designed to comply with an EU safety regulation, which I think relates to eliminating the possibility that they could be inserted into a live socket by mistake. As far as I’m aware, no other manufacturer bothered with such a strict interpretation of the rules, and as long as you don’t do something very silly with your speaker cables, regular bananas will be fine. 

I've had Chord plugs on my cables for nearly 13 years with absolutely no issues whatsoever.

Thank you all, I’ve given it a go. The naim 200 connected to speakers switches on and there is no sound, but when I connect it to the 272 (I dare not even turn it on) there is a humming from both speakers.

Ive connected the naim interconnect both ways and also flicked over the earthing switch on the 272 but the humming remains.

Any ideas? I’d much rather listen to music tonight than more brexit!

Do you have things connected to more than one mains outlet? Maybe you have a ground loop.

I’ve tried it with 2 separate plugs and also 2 plugs into an extension lead. I’ll try a different part of my flat as it’s next to the tv and lots of other electrical equipment

W12 posted:

Thank you all, I’ve given it a go. The naim 200 connected to speakers switches on and there is no sound, but when I connect it to the 272 (I dare not even turn it on) there is a humming from both speakers.

Ive connected the naim interconnect both ways and also flicked over the earthing switch on the 272 but the humming remains.

Any ideas? I’d much rather listen to music tonight than more brexit!

Do you have a screened Ethernet lead connected to it?

Still the same. They are plugged next to each other in a wall socket. There are no other appliances in the room. With the 272 switched off there is a humming sound. Could this be the naim interconnect or speaker cable? The speaker cable is old and the gold banana plugs cheap.

Huge posted:

W12 posted:

Thank you all, I’ve given it a go. The naim 200 connected to speakers switches on and there is no sound, but when I connect it to the 272 (I dare not even turn it on) there is a humming from both speakers.

Ive connected the naim interconnect both ways and also flicked over the earthing switch on the 272 but the humming remains.

Any ideas? I’d much rather listen to music tonight than more brexit!

Do you have a screened Ethernet lead connected to it?

Nope no Ethernet cable, the only cables are speaker and interconnect 

W12 posted:

Still the same. They are plugged next to each other in a wall socket. There are no other appliances in the room. With the 272 switched off there is a humming sound. Could this be the naim interconnect or speaker cable? The speaker cable is old and the gold banana plugs cheap.

How loud is the hum, is it from the speakers or actually from the 200? I have permanent hum from my 200 and it can be heard to a lesser degree in the speakers along with hiss. However, it's not obtrusive and any music simply overrides it.

It’s fairly loud. When the 200 is turned on just with speakers there is no hum. When the 200 and 272 are connected there is no hum. When the 200 has the interconnect but it isn’t plugged in to the 272 there is a faint hum, and when it’s plugged in to the 272 it’s fairly loud even whilst it’s not turned on.

Hi Jonners, 

this may be easier

Naim 200 + naim interconnect + naim 272 = no hum

 naim 200 + speakers = no hum

naim 200 + speakers with interconnect just plugged in on the 200 = a little hum

naim 200 + speakers + interconnect to switched off 272 = big hum

naim 200 + speakers + interconnect to switched on 272 = haven’t tried

I’ve tried flicking the earth switch on the 272 but it didn’t make any difference. Do you think I should turn on the 272? The volume is set at 0

Are you sure that the mains earth is connected properly.

Maybe the cable is bad. Can you borrow another from your dealer?

Normally you'd switch the 272 on first and then switch on the 200. Give that a go. 

PS - Make sure you have the link plug in the 272. 

Thank you again everybody. I turned on the 272 and the humming pretty much stopped. It plays out of one channel so I swapped speaker cables and the same channel wasn’t working. I’m hoping it’s a poor connection with the banana plugs and so I’ve just ordered the naim naca5 cable with naim speaker plugs. 

I have to say I listened to a little digital radio and was amazed, it sounded sublime just on one.. really hope this new cable does the trick.

the NAIM community on here is first class - I was reading horror stories elsewhere and thought I’d be calling out the electrician for a full flat rewire!

james n posted:

Normally you'd switch the 272 on first and then switch on the 200. Give that a go. 

PS - Make sure you have the link plug in the 272. 

Hi James, I’m using the naim supplied plug for it. Is this what you mean by link plug? Presumably all the naim plugs are the same for all naim equipment or do they differ?

W12 posted:

james n posted:

Normally you'd switch the 272 on first and then switch on the 200. Give that a go. 

PS - Make sure you have the link plug in the 272. 

Hi James, I’m using the naim supplied plug for it. Is this what you mean by link plug? Presumably all the naim plugs are the same for all naim equipment or do they differ?

That's the one. They do differ - yours should have NAC N 272 printed on the end.

Sounds like it's all working apart from a dodgy cable 

I can’t see any differences between the 2 main plugs/ leads or see NAC N 272 printed anywhere, but the 200 lead is visibly older so have kept it together.

yep fingers crossed the channel hasn’t blown and the new naim speaker plugs will do the trick

W12 posted:

I can’t see any differences between the 2 main plugs/ leads or see NAC N 272 printed anywhere, but the 200 lead is visibly older so have kept it together.

yep fingers crossed the channel hasn’t blown and the new naim speaker plugs will do the trick

The link plug looks like a giant thimble and may be already plugged into the back of the 272. (It wont work without this plug - you only take it out if you use an external power supply and the big multipin socket on the back of the 272 is where the lead from the PSU goes.) I think you have said you tried changing the chassis / earth switch on the back of the 272. This fixed the humming for me. You might want to try taking the link plug out and re-connecting it, just to make sure it has connected properly.

A minor comment on the speaker cable plugs. I am using NACA5 speaker cable, which is really stiff and when I had normal banana plugs on the amp end of the cable, the stiffness of the cable would pull the plugs out of the sockets on the amp! I put the naim plugs on and this stopped the cable's naughty tricks.

W12 posted:

I can’t see any differences between the 2 main plugs/ leads or see NAC N 272 printed anywhere, but the 200 lead is visibly older so have kept it together.

Sorry I should have been more clear on the link plug - as SJT says, the black thimble looking thing to the right of the two DIN cables is the Burndy link plug.

Thanks James and SJT. The link plug is ok. I thought naim had different power leads for a moment- nothing would surprise me in this world of hifi.

ive ordered some new cabling and will let you know if I have any success.

enjoy the weekend