All my cables are by Luna, a fairly small, but rapidly growing Canadian company, based near Quebec. All their cables are hand crafted by Danny Labrecque. There are 5 grades, so regardless of budget, there’s something for everyone. As Danny replaced my Naim HiLine cables, one by one, with the Luna Red (rouge) level cables (their 2nd best) there was an astounding improvement. This was true for power cords, interconnects and speaker cables. Switching to the red cables was no longer an option. Several months later, I asked Danny to bring down a complete set of his black (Noir) level cables and we repeated the replacing, one at a time, with each exchange making a very significant difference. I had no choice but to replace the reds with the black. (He gave me a complete credit for the reds.)
The 5 levels, going from cheapest to costliest are:
Grey, Orange, Blue, Red, and Black. As you move through the colors, the price doubles each time.
Check out their website. I cannot recommend them highly enough!
I forgot to mention that Danny, the co-owner of Luna Cables used to sell and do repair work on Naim equipment. He is intimately familiar with the innerworkings of nearly all Naim gear and is a huge fan. His cables match up perfectly with my Naim 500 series gear, and he’s certain the same would be true for the Statement.
I first came across Luna Through Masimilliano (Max) Magri, the owner and chief engineer of Grandinote. He claimed that he never heard a more natural/neutral sounding cable anywhere. As a result, he only used Luna cables to show all his electronics and speakers at the various audio shows, including Munich High End and Axpona. When Max came to my place to install the Mach 36’s Danny also came so that he could hear those speakers. I had asked him if he would bring a set of his red cables with him so that I could try them with my rig. He happily complied, and as I mentioned a few minutes ago, each time he substituted one of his Luna cables for my Naim HiLines, the change was extremely significant. I ended up keeping the entire set of the Luna red cables. Around six months later I asked him to bring over a complete set of the black, his best, to se if they were really as good as he claimed. He did and they were!
Passing through an airport a year or so ago (when one could!) there was Lagavulin younger than the ‘standard’ 16, which underwhelmed me. I vaguely recall it was 10 years, but possibly I recall wrong and it could have been 12, but I don’t remember anything indicating it was a Special Reserve, so I guess likely not that one. I’ll look out for it!
So…we’re back to scotch! Well, if you try the 12 and are not impressed, bring it over to my place and I’ll help get rid of it for you. Then you can decide, from whichever ones I have, what to taste next.
Glad to read that there is not only Superlumina or Chord which work with Naim.
For my part I discovered Audience 24U SRX speakers cables. They sound sublime with my 250 dr.
Mitch, you have mentioned Naim HiLine cables a couple of times. Do you mean Naim SuperLumina cables? If not have you tried SuperLumina cables? They were designed by Naim to initially accompany Statement amps but you may know many of use use them with Classic and 500 kit.
Hi Nigel. I never tried the Super Lumina. I’ve spoken to a few dealers and others who actually work for Naim (not mentioning any names). When I enquired about the quality of the super Lumina the fairly consistent response was that Naim makes excellent electronics. That was enough for me.
Hi Mitch - the Stereophile review of the Statement kit and their comments around cabling make interesting & understandable reading. I suspect you’ve read as part of your diligence(?).
As a matter of personal interest I found reading the manual on Naim’s webite informative too, noting the signal cables connect quite low down, unlike a 552 head unit on Fraim which is generally located quite high up to keep the pesky burndies off the ground.
I’m still struggling with how each power amp being ~100kg.
@HappyListener
I did read the review to which you referred and I agree with your assessment. As to the struggling with the 100kg (or 220lbs), I look forward to the challenge!
Great system and lovely single malt collection! I pickup up a bottle of the 16 year Tomintoul the last time I was there. Very nice! Must try the 21 year old next! Lovely place to visit if you haven’t been!
I’ve tried the 16yr one… I’m not really a big fan of peaty single malts though. It was nice for a change. More of a Balvenie,Blair Athol, Talisker or a good sherry cask GlenDronach… really liked the 18yr Allardice, probably more than the 21yr Parliament.
I spend a lot of time in Scotland normally (before lockdown) and normally pickup bottles from the distilleries. Found a few good small local ones as well in the far North West highlands. Dam, I wish this whole lockdown thing was over with!
I checked the Luna site. The Luna noir costs 13 k / m. The rouge is in the Chord Music level price.
Numerous members have already found the Music much better vs Superlumina.
So all is relative. There is always better.
I am not using the word strange to imply there is nothing better than SuperLumina, of course there is. I find it strange that Naim dealers and employees would cast doubt on the capabilities of SuperLumina, that’s all.