Hi guys - I’ve just moved house - and during the move, one of the speakers got twisted with the SuperLumina speaker cable still plugged in, and the metal pin (the actual “banana”?) broke off one of the cables.
Disaster - as id just had a guy in lifting the oak floor and installing them underneath.
So one of the cables is broken and sealed within the floor!
So - options to repair probably don’t include sending it back to Naim - will need to be a repair in situ I think.
Has anybody repaired or replaced one of these plugs before?
I’m pretty handy with a soldering iron, and I’d hope that in the circumstances Naim might let me have a replacement plug - rather than insist it goes back to them - or I could “just” solder the broken pin back on with some high quality silver solder but it’s a daunting prospect nonetheless.
If its a solder type then easy to fix in situ, but i should think you need a new plug as i should think its snapped in two, rather than pulled the wire out.
But if its a clamp fitting then its a new plug and you need the crimp tool as well
It’s completely snapped off at the base of the pin - the pin was inside the speaker terminal socket
I will investigate!
I just feel I know how the conversation with Naim support is going to go (assuming they still exist) so I think given the fact this has also been installed in the floor - a bit of kit purchase is worth it.
They will almost certainly ask for it to be returned for a fix as its their only option.
Getting a replacement plug shouldn’t be too difficult, but probably need to find it yourself and then fit
It would be wise not to make assumptions. As the plugs are bespoke to SuperLumina, the source has to be Naim. There is nothing to be lost from speaking to them and they are very helpful. When the logo bar on my Nova came adrift they sent me a replacement direct to my house. In the speaker plug case it’s clearly Matt’s fault and there is likely to be a charge, and therefore have to go through a dealer but who knows? Don’t just assume that Naim are unhelpful. That would be a mistake.
Thanks - I’m not assuming they will be unhelpful, I’m assuming they will want the cable back to do the repair themselves - and as I say, it’s been installed under the floor so that’s easier said than done! ….so I’m hoping for a pragmatic approach to facilitate a self repair, which is not generally my experience of them, and I agree with @Dunc that that’s normally to their absolute credit, but I feel a different approach is what is needed here.
I’ll absolutely speak to them in the morning. I do wonder how the recent changes have affected support.
Hopefully there will be a pragmatic solution. That said, can you not attach a piece of string to the cable at the amp end and then pull the cable out? Leaving the string in place would enable you to replace the cable once it’s fixed? Hopefully the channel is wide enough to take the plugs and metal box, otherwise it’s slightly foolish.
I wouldn’t attempt a DIY job on highly-specialised cables worth several thousand quid. Also, I think the conductors are, or contain, silver which may, perhaps, require special solder. Absolutely no doubt about it - send to Naim. Best done via a dealer, who might lend you cables in the meantime. Naim repaired my HiLine recently, via my dealer - Cymbiosis. Took a few weeks but it came back as new (with no charge).
Having just read a bit about the construction of this cable with resistors, i feel that this either needs to go back to a dealer and then naim fix it, or you find someone that can fix it on site and correctly test it afterwards for the correct resistance.
Its not looking quite as simple as a normal speaker construction.
100% speak to naim on this, but i feel it going to have to be removed and sent back, and i know thats not what you want to hear, but maybe they know of someone that can do it correctly on site?
Yes - it’s been designed to allow the cables and boxes to be pulled back through - so it’s not impossible - just not ideal!
And I agree - I think the plug is just the plug, albeit a jazzy Naim one, but with nothing active going on - and the clever stuff (no idea what that is - but I have some transparent balanced cables that also have this) is in the black box.
Matt, in these circumstances I would recommend letting your dealer know. They can liaise with Naim and may even be able to come out and effect a repair. That would be my first port of call here.
The little black boxes can be unscrewed to make pulling them through tight gaps easier.
The cable consists of multiple silver plated copper strands of varying diameter, all of which are individually shielded, so I imagine it would be very easy, even for someone experienced in soldering, to get it wrong.
This may sound silly, but does the cable run under just one strip of flooring? If it does , could the installer pull up the single strip and re-install it with some sort of innocuous latch system. The cable could then easily be repaired by either naim or your dealer. Would also make any sort of change or servicing easier over the long term.
Oh jeez, are you in the U.S.? If so, good luck dealing with FNA. My dealer had a similar situation with a customer and was pulling their teeth and hair out trying to deal with FNA to get the SL cable repaired. It’s one of the many reasons they dropped Naim as a brand they represent.
