All I can say is if you don’t hit them up with colored dots once you figure out connecting them the first time they will drive you mad. Then there are those here who obsess about relaxing them. They are already driven to madness. 
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We all have to go through a bit of pain and mental torture to enjoy the music that we so love!
I have a new CDX2.2 and XPS DR that I can’t get to work yet because of the difficulty connecting the Burndy cable to the equipment on my aluminium equipment rack.
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all this fussing reminds me of a jingle we had in the army:
“don’t let your dingle-dangle dangle too low,
so pick up your dingle-dangle and let’s [sic.] go”
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A few thoughts on dealing with Burndies, based on my own experience with a 552DR and, more recently, a 300DR.
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Even if you have a good amount of space around your rack(s), I’d recommend removing the boxes and setting them up so that their backs are facing you and the boxes are situated exactly as they are in the rack in terms of horizontal and vertical offset. This will make the cable wrangling much quicker, easier and less sweary.
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Placing a permanent white dot on top of each plug (per Adam Meredith, above) is good advice generally. My racks are quite cramped at the back and, during my last rebuild, I put strips of colour coded tape around every cable.
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Start by plugging in one of the Burndies at one end, routing it to the other box as if you were behind the rack, and trying to plug it into the other box. You’ll likely have to twist the plug to get it to line up correctly. Note how far off it is, and whether you have to rotate it inwards or outwards.
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Unplug the Burndy from both ends, one plug in each hand, and face away from the boxes, so you have room in front of you, and the cable is pointing away from you in some kind of broad U shape.
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Twist each end of the cable inwards or outwards to bring them into the correct alignment as best you can. You’ll likely feel some resistance – the Burndies are stiff, and will want to spring back to their original alignment.
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Next, straighten your arms and point your wrists down and, keeping a tight grip on the plugs, swing the cable back and forth a few times. You can do this fairly vigorously, you won’t harm the cable (don’t hit yourself in the face
). After a dozen or so swings, you should feel the cable relax a bit (a tip of the hat to @Richard.Dane for this advice, as this is the key to getting it right). -
Now try plugging it in again. It’s unlikely to be perfect, but you should be closer to the correct alignment. Maybe you’ve overdone it, and now it’s rotated in the opposite direction. Note again how far off it is and in what direction, and repeat the swinging process. Keep doing this until you can slide the second plug straight in without needing any twisting. As a test, unplug it, and slide it out. Does it spring even slightly to one side or the other? If so, keep trying.
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The Burndy will “remember” its new alignment so that, when you put the boxes back and hook it up, it will plug in without needing any twisting at either end. In reality, you may need to give the middle part a wiggle this way or that to remove any torsion at the plug ends
In reality, this is much easier than it sounds, and it will take you less time than it took me to write this.
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Cables also distress themselves by gravity. That’s why I’m guessing systems sound bit off directly after you have played around with cables and better when metals have relaxed into their new position few days or weeks later. A Burndy will give up too but takes more time. Do it as good as you can, stick it in and have a glass of red and relax.
552 is a
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This whole thing has always been rather curious to me. I never got on with my CDS3 that I had many years ago. It’s been suggseted that incorrect installation of the Burndy was responsible - ie. it was not de-stressed.
There was no mention in the instruction manual at all of this as I recall. If such a thing is as critcal to correct performance as this appears to be (and I’m not suggesting that it isn’t) then surely it should be highlighted in the manual?
Or is there an assumption that people should ‘just know’ this - so much so that it’s not worth mentioning? It was mentioned by Adam as has been pointed out. But not everyone reads the Naim website - nor should they be required to in order to get their expensive purchase to work correctly.
It has to be remembered that these are items of domestic hi-fi equipment - to be used by lay-people, rather than professional equipment which is designed to be used in a professional environment and installed/used by trained personnel.
The price we pay I guess for using such fussy, although excellent, equipment. There is a ‘grey area’ that lies between the domestic and professional situations requiring a cetain amount of specialist knowledge on the part of the user in order to achieve the correct performance.
It also highlights the advantage of buying from a specialist dealer who will install the equipment and ensure that it is functioning correctly. Many years ago the dealer input was seen as pretty much essential. These days, with on-line purchasing and the internet there seems to be a much more relaxed approach.
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Much of this sort of optimisation of installation was down to the dealer who would be expected to install this level of equipment in the customer’s home.
Part of the function of the forum has of course been to “democratise” and make widely available to everybody a lot of the knowledge gained over years from Naim, dealers, distributors, and not least Naim’s own customers.
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Someone needs to get the blame when it’s not delivering. Blame the stressed burndy! 
Totally understood if :
- Everyone purchase new
- Everyone has a dealer next door that also have time to visit you
- There is no used products market
Then reality hit
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That’s what’s covered with the second half of my post;
Part of the function of the forum has of course been to “democratise” and make widely available to everybody a lot of the knowledge gained over years from Naim, dealers, distributors, and not least Naim’s own customers.
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All i say is, if you really need to do this to a cable, and i for dont believe any off it. Then the cable is obviously not fit for use and naim should design a better cable that is.
I have had many different cables over the years, and for some strange reason it’s only naim cables that need this? Unfortunately you can’t talk about them on here, so that’s that.
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Obviously it’s not required for it to function. It’s about optimising performance, and I suppose that Naim’s particular combination of mechanical and electronic engineering with their electronics means that there are performance gains by doing this. Some appreciate that and will go with Naim, others don’t, and will go elsewhere.
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Exactly what my dealers have said over the years. They were wrong. First Burndy, which hung loose in a single stack was identified as the sole culprit when I first had a serious quality drop off. Dealer destressed it thete and then and the difference was surprising and immediate.
About 3 years later my dealer brought Mark Raggett in to identify system issues which he could not. They literally brought an entire duplicate system in an estate car and subbed 1 box at a time. It was a masterclass in problem solving but that aside they identified that the HC2 DR had been wrongly wired by a previous dealer; that the 200 had bern blown in consequence and the same Burndy was no longer redeemable by virtue of only ever having been destressed that once. Mark gave me h9s from the back of the car.
I’m afraid when I pay that amount of money for a cable I don’t wish to learn how to operate it like a skipping rope.
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As is with dressing the SNAIC which Naim mention in the instructions that come with the product. Burndy dressing seems not as important to Naim then to include it in the instructions.
I think there has always been some room for improvement with Naim’s instructions. But of course there’s also a line where things that can appear a bit “out there” could potentially scare a customer, and would be something best handled by the installing dealer.
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Thanks
That is exactly how I have done it.
Which one difference.
When I twisted it it it’s „dots above“ position and go for relaxing shaking it went back in its original position.
First I have done it without relaxing.
With second approach I relaxed it and than bend the cable (additional curve see pic). So cable is de stressed initially…
Bending should be no problem damn it’s a cable…
won’t be sound it 4th time.
Still thinking about buying a new one for peace of mind
Waited for the rooster to appear 
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