You’re supposed to have 3.5m speaker wire each side. Speaker wire has a lot to do with quality of bass reproduction.
Nobody tells you what you should do. But it’s hard to help if your opinions go against certain assumptions popular here (‘cables matter’). From my experience they matter a lot.
When I had uniti star with my current ProAc 148 in my 30sqm room I had great bass. Apart from some records. I accepted this. Naim don’t do tone control. Might do in the future. Or not.
Luxman, Accuphase
I respect your wishes not to get pulled into the wild world of cables, but there are basic rules you need to follow to hear your Naim at its best - and that includes longer speaker cables.
Our Naim Uniti systems are more flexible than more specialist separates on this point, but we would NEVER suggest using less than 2m of cable per channel.
Using shorter cables will be throttling the performance of your Star.
Could you maybe borrow a pair of 2 or 3m length cables (ideally NAC A5 or something similar in design; avoid braided cables) from a dealer, just to hear the difference?
Hi, thanks for your reply.
I could easily increase the length of my cables as I have a reel of it (see link), but I’d have to cool it up under carpet: is this what you’re suggesting?
Not heard of the cable you suggest. Can you send me a link please?
KabelDirekt – Pure Copper Stereo Audio Speaker Wire & Cable – Made in Germany – 2x2.5mm² – 15m – (For Hifi Speakers and Surround Sound Systems, Pure Copper, with polarity markings)
Is the same is true for the 5si amplifier? I invested a bit into 1.5 meters cables of different brands. Should I run after my cable dealer ?
Yes, it’s the same. For separates we’d suggest 3m+
So that’s a 3 grand stereo with 15 quids worth of cable and it’s rather short?
It helps to listen to dealers and naims advice perhaps…
If you can’t borrow a proper cable from your dealer try Witch Hat No Nonsense (or N2) cable, you can get 2x3.5m cables for £105 which is a tiny fraction of what your Star cost. If you don’t like it you can send it back within 30 days for a no questions asked refund. Very few send them back.
I had some cheap twisted pair cable as a remnant from my old system when I got my first Naim amp (Nait XS2) and the difference the Witch Hat cable made was astonishing. I’m now on a SN3 amp and the cable is every bit as good with that amp too,
You can also fairly easily buy Naim’s own cable NACA5 secondhand on eBay. Often they come in pairs with terminations and you can just plug it in. If you decide it’s not for you, you can easily sell it again.
I agree, though there next to no possibility that Naim would introduce tone controls that might corrupt the signal path.
Naim equipment replaced my arcam delta 290 amp, it had very very subtle tone control, idea for low level listening, this was with ruark talisman 2 speakers which were not imho bass light.
Bought online….first foray into “High end” hifi…….
Purchased from dealer 300 miles away……
No advice on cables given…….
Want helpful advice (& a tone control)……
Not smart-arse comments.
Thanks for that tip.
Much appreciated.
Will look into this further.
Is this available online?
I think some linn equipment has a kind of tone control?
I very much doubt you’ll ever get a tone control from Naim. Your speaker cables are sub-optimal so go with what Naim recommend. Witch Hat No Nonsense (N2) would be a good starting point given the modest price and 30 day money back guarantee
Yes it is, just search Witch Hat N2 cable.
My pal has Linn.
And same problem
They have some kind of room optimisation software which involves going online (I think), but he says it sounds false.
I’ll look into improving my cables.
Naive of me really, buying £6k+ Worth of gear and expecting it to sound superb on its own
A system can only sound as good as its weakest link. In your case that’s the speaker cable.
For those having problems with bass (too little bass, too much base or both at the same time: i.e. generally too little but bass ‘boom’ at one or more specific frequencies), you could do a LOT worse than get a copy of REW and try out the room simulator.
In my specific case I use speakers with a measured close field bass response down to 60Hz -3db and a 300DR power amp - something not noted for a lack of bass response!. However, the in room the response is -6db at 160Hz, dropping to -20db @ 110Hz and holding that to 60Hz, before rising to a very sharp bass peak of +2db at 48Hz. this is entirely due to the position of the speakers. I also use a sub that is tuned to precisely fill in the missing frequencies (it’s also positioned 1.7m closer to the listener than are the main speakers to ensure phase continuity through the crossover from the main speakers to the sub; the final result - with the sub - is flat ±4dB 15Hz to 18kHz, with low minimum phase plot discontinuity).
Usually gross bass response problems are nothing to do with the electronics, a bit related to the speakers themselves but mostly to do with the layout of the room.