Absurd amount of bass following solder termination

Hi-Fi Corner
1

Hi all,
I recently got some used K20, to taste the naim house sound before getting A5. I enjoyed the K20 more than either my existing Odyssey 2 or the loan Epic X on my XS3+ND5-SX2

I initially had the K20 on old no-name screw fixing banana plugs and decided yesterday to terminate them properly at the amp end with the naim plugs (speaker end already had Deltrons fitted).

When I plugged them back in I felt I could hear more but, the bass lift was insane, boomy and very hard to deal with. It sounded like room colouration but I had not moved the speakers at all (Spendor A7).

Does K20 / NAC-A4 have a bass heavy signature? Just to make sure Iā€™m clear here, this happened after I properly terminated the speaker cables.

2

Sounds odd.

Though one things people always forget when they swap in a new speaker cable and say the change was immediate and dramatic is that it is not the only thing that changed. In nearly all cases the amp was powered down while this was done and the sound of a power cycled Naim amp is nearly always bigger than the difference in any cable. As such I would suggest:

  • Give it a few hours. Does it calm down?
  • Did you use the right amount of solder at the proper temp? Are the connections tidy and shiny or cloudy and a bit dry or globbed with too much solder?
  • You might be hearing how the amp and speakers really sounds together in the room that a poor connection masked (especially if the screw connection was just biting a couple strands).
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4

Hi there,
Thanks for reply. Yes gave it plenty of time. Itā€™s on day 2 now. Connections are shiny. Wasnā€™t aware of a specific amount of solder I should use though.
I agree that it could be the natural sound off the room but the The Epic X I had was properly terminated and I didnt get this messy, resonant sound. Same with the prior XT6F so I dont know thats the whole answer.

Iā€™m flummoxed.

5

Ohhh I thought you had also heard the K20 prior to termination without the problem but you mean you got it second hand and immediately terminated it?

So really you are comparing the Chord to the Linn. Do you still have the Chord to put back. A standard sanity check in troubleshooting is to revert the change and confirm the bahaviour also reverts.

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6

Got it second hand, self terminated with well screwed in banana plugs. Liked what I heard so terminated properly, now donā€™t like what I hear!

And putting the Chord back in is a good idea, thanks I will. Will report back in when I get a chance.

7

Have you double checked the phase?
Could it possibly have been out of phase before you soldered the connections? Or vice versa?

7 Likes
8

Itā€™s not impossible my. When I first put them in I thought the bass was more noticeable than either of the chord cables, so I would be surprised. I checked phase earlier today and they are certainly in phase at moment. When Iā€™m up next I will just swap the phase on one just to see if it sounds more like it did before i soldered them. Thanks

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9

Maybe youā€™ve been out of phase before and just noticed now.
Usually a major sign on phase being wrong is a lack of bass.
Just a thought. :thinking:

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10

Spendor A7s can certainly sound rather loose in the bass. Maybe the new cable terminations are just allowing more through to the speakers?

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11

No, the chords were in phase. The k20 with screw bananas gave great almost perfect bass.

12

The A7 are not loose or I wouldnā€™t have bought them.

Not loose on audition, not loose on chord odyssey 2, chord epic X or screw plug L20. Now overwhelming with soldered Naim plugs.

As I said in OP, it sounds more like the room.

13

I have K20 and K400(split to single wire).
The K20 dig deeper in the bass, but has a bit leaner mids, compared to K400.
The K400 on the other hand has a meatier upper bass and mids.
Through my SN3.
I prefer K400.

14

Then I guess you know what you need to do now.

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15

Thank you, this is helpful.

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16

:slight_smile: I did. And am now again happy. I feel like itā€™s some kind of room resonance that just got tipped over to a noticeable/obnoxious level.

17

I managed to upgrade to a point where the speakers started shaking the floor. Second side of Led Zep Three, Gallows Pole, particularly excited it. Speakers at the time were Thiels with long throw 6ā€ drivers, the floor was an Axminster over boards screwed to batons just laid on rough concrete with a membrane between. I think it was adding the supercap that did it. I changed the speakers but maybe isolators would have worked.

Canā€™t imagine how solder would do this though.

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18

Me neither. We should have asked for the before and after pics of the plugs on both ends without the covers. Too late now.

Also meh. If everyone is happy now, and it appears they are, then ā€œresult!ā€

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19

I would have thought poor soldering would be more likely to affect the high end and not bass

20

I took my time. Shiny finish made sure the wire was fully in the groove and well ā€˜grippedā€™ as it were.

21

If you had screw terminals before and now soldered I suspect the connection is better not worse, a poor connection can lose bass. I suspect you were losing bass before ? I dont think the A7 is a bass heavy speaker, I guess bass is relative. Iā€™ve never heard a 180mm driver deliver very much bass !

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