Cable Dressing

[Bluesfan]

We have found spiders to be very helpful when it comes to cable dressing.

Their webs do stabilise the Snaics and Burndy cables over time, damping out vibration of the free hanging cables.

Patience is required for the full benefit though, as the spiders need a year or so to weave the optimum damping matrix of webs.

Frequent disturbance upsets the delicate balance of webs and pixie dust that brings the best out of our system.

Best regards, BF

[LindsayM]

Yes I rather fear that there must an absolute orgy going on amongst the spider community at the back of my racks.

[Antz]

@IanB61

couple of things I have down over the years following advice on here and from dealer

• Burndys let hang naturally if possible
• when to clean system - give them a good squeeze and massage OK I know it sounds daft
• with source cables for me don’t tighten - put into socket a draw back a little
• for me Burndy and cable on 252 let hang in a tear U shape - slightly touching
• try and never let source and Burndys touch
• good clean once a year
• my speaker cable does run along the ground and extra cable in S shape not curled

hope of use

[IanB61]

Thanks Antz. Helpful. What do you mean by source cables?

[Douglas]

My dealer is installing two Fraim stacks early next year. It will be a one person fix but is likely to be more than a full day. Perhaps two shorter ones as a compromise?
Regarding cable dressing and to avoid SL cables running all round the room I opted for them to go under the floor. Its wooden with a large rug in the middle and with the cables out of sight it pleases my other half. Its also cheaper for the SL to go in a straight run. The boxes are at the other end of the room from the LSs.
The work involved my dealer and his electrician to route the cables with pipe wrap where the cable exits the floor. I had the electrician suspend the cable on ties fixed to the underside mainly to avoid any chance of touching the GF slab beneath. I had rain there once and didn’t want to take any chance on it happening again.
Fully agree on not placing sources and amps between speakers. Why get up to change a disc on the other side of the room as well?

[Suedkiez]

@IanB61

Thanks Antz. Helpful. What do you mean by source cables?

He means the cables from source to amp, like NDX2 to 252.

FWIW, I also wrote a summary once, maybe helpful:

Spaghetti junction

Tidy can look messy. Don’t bundle them all together just to look good. Essentially: All cables should ideally hang free without touching rack, floor, or wall. All cables should be as stress-less as possible, in particular the burndies. I.e., do not twist them forcefully so that they fit into the sockets. It helps to try out what you do NOT want: hold the cable at both ends and then twist one end; you notice the cable becoming rigid, you want to avoid this. Instead, hold them loosely at both en…

[Thruster04]

Is folding spare NACA5 like the old Rip Rap firework a good idea? My right speaker has 2 metres of spare cable folded this way.

[IanB61]

Thanks!. Yes I had Nac A5 in the firecracker method. Now got Whichhat Phantom. From memory they said to just coil the excess. At present everything is on the ground. Speaker cable & 3 powerlines. No doubt cables and Burndys will be touching at the back hence the need for a Spring (winter) clean

[anon4489532]

The 252’s Burndy caries both power and audio.

[IanB61]

What about the concept of using Velcro cable clips to keep the Powerline supplies away from other cables

[anon4489532]

If you organise things carefully you don’t need clips. As you look at the system all the power is on the right, while the signal is on the left. Just do what you reasonably can and then don’t worry about it.

[IanB61]

Agreed. Problem is I have two power sockets to left of rack 2 to the right meaning best I can do is two Powerlines coming from right and one from left so it will inevitably cross over

[anon4489532]

Maybe you can route them under the rack somehow. I’m rather pleased I got rid of mine, as they are so unwieldy. With the Hydra I just stuff it under the rack and forget about it.

[Suedkiez]

I always thought one of the cool things about PowerLine is that you can bend it in any shape to avoid collisions. (Which is what Naim also says on the PL product website)

It’s IMHO unwieldy only in the sense that NACA5 is - you can’t just throw it to the floor. However I, for one, love about both cables that they stay in the shape I tell them to

[Blackbird]

Really? You mean the 252 send AC sound signals to the Supercap DR and then back?

[anon4489532]

The Supercap powers the 252 through the Burndy. The audio signal travels down the Burndy from the 252 to the Supercap, and then on to the power amp. The Snaic5 carries power for the digital parts of the 252, such as switching and lights.

[IanB61]

Well, I have disconnected and labelled everything today. From top to bottom NDX2, 252, 300PS, Supercap, 555PS and 300. I moved the 300PS higher to try and give the burndys some space from the 300. So before I put it back into the alcove in situ any comments?. I do have some pipe insulation so wonder if it is worth using that anywhere and I do need to do a little light “swinging” to try to loosen up the Burndys a bit more

[trickydickie]

I don’t think that the best order.

In my system I have from top to bottom

252
NDS
300
Supercap
300PS
555DR

Nothing touches the floor and it keeps power away from the pre-amp and streamer.

[IanB61]

Thanks. Only problem is speaker cable length doesn’t allow 300 to go higher in the rack hence why I have it at the bottom

[jusphish]

I’ve always wondered why there’s so much discussion about keeping the signal and power away from each other but then Naim puts them in the same cable (including burned and snaic) and also sends signal directly through the external power supplies.