End of my tether

Turn it off first.

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Wow that was quick. Thanks. I’ll be following your earlier advice that it doesn’t need to go off in order to remove the XPS2.

A bit worrying really as I’ve seen dealer after dealer swap speaker cables out on mute when I spent the best part of 2 years auditioning speakers to replace my Epos.

I don’t agree with HH. If you are taking the speaker cable plugs out at the Nait end and the Nait is on and muted, you certainly don’t need to turn it off.
On the other hand if you are taking an XPS2 off anything then the XPS2 and the thing it is connected to all need to be turned off first.

Best

David

If you remove the plugs with the amp on, make sure you’re using the Naim SA8 speaker connectors where both + and - disconnect at the same time. If you’re at all concerned then just turn off the amp. If it’s off for a few minutes then it won’t take very long to warm up again.

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Gosh. Now I’m confused. @Richard.Dane I do appear to have the SA8 although I’d no idea that was what they were called. I presume you’re not talking about taking both SA8s out simultaneously but just making sure that when I pull one SA8 out I do so with a smooth movement and then do the other one???

Apparently conflicting advice from the ever helpful @anon4489532 and @davidhendon has pushed me towards a couple of power downs on all of it.

Power down 1 - Pull the speaker cable out into the middle of the floor so it’s as away from walls as it can be until it enters the Nait and see how that sounds.
If there’s no appreciable change then

Power down 2 - Remove the XPS2 for a period, which would at least rule the latter in or out.

30 minutes of listening to 2 Daft Punk tracks and 1 Bonnie Raitt at decent volume with no distractions suggests all traces of distortion and sibilance have gone. Vocals no longer shriek at high frequencies. Much smoother. Bass is there but not heavy bass and certainly not distinct. Blurred if you will. Sometimes you can pick it out clearly and turn off it goes again. Certainly more warmth and definitely more PRaT but something still not right.

I’m wary of going down the road of adding the 200 and HC2 DR back in today no matter how logical as I’m not 100% confident with connections and link plugs and it’s not my Nait to blow up.

Mike, just switch it all off before disconnecting anything. It’ll only take a few minutes to warm up again after you’ve connected it all back up again. You’re making this a lot harder for yourself than you need to.

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Correct.

Mike, sorry to confuse. I’d happily pull out speaker plugs with the amp muted, but given your sight issues I thought it safest to suggest turning the amp off completely.

The XPS is different. When you switch it off in order to remove it from your CDX2 there is no need whatsoever to switch off the amplifier. Just mute it so you don’t get a surprise when you turn the CD player on.

Powered it all down. Don’t trust my vision on some aspects so…

First thing I’m going to do is measure the cable length. It strikes me I have more than the optimum 3/3.5m here. We shall see. Then I’m unscrewing the SA8s to check all is well there.

After that a quick power up to see how unfolded cables sound and then after that remove the XPS2 and see if anything else happens.

Watch this space. I’m no longer at the end of my tether :slight_smile:

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Thanks. Just seen your post after I posted. No need to apologise. Wise advice. Anyway, off to action :slight_smile:

3.5m per channel is the minimum. Optimum is probably nearer >5m per channel. FWIW, I use 10m per channel in my own system.

Sigh. Some muppet has moved my tape measure. Got No problem here I presume?

Left

Right
image

Blimey, mine runs the full length of the living room. I’d say at least 4 metres so I’m going to have to find a way to do the magic folding trick sometime in the near future.

I have 25 feet a side of Chord Rumor 2 with my CB 110. On one side the speaker is only about 2 feet from the speaker, the other needs all 25 feet to go up and around a set of french doors. Sounds great - the longer the better.

… but only if you have the space for it :slight_smile: which I absolutely don’t. Current living room is smaller than my old flat although the property itself is much bigger.

Scuse the mess.

Mrs. H. had asked the 14 year old to measure the dining table for a new table cloth. Measure located and I have easily 5m of cable when I look to barely need 3.5 or 4. Thoughts?

In the meantime, I checked the Naim interconnects as can be seen from the previous photos. Screwed back together and reinserted into the Nait 5 in the absence of anyone altering me to anything perilously wrong.

Have then struggled to power back down and take the XPS2 out simply because I enjoyed 30 minutes of Daft Punk. Bass and mids clearly influenced by having to get this cable into that corner as they’re clearly increased slightly by bringing the cables out like this. However, the bass is very “one note” for want of a better phrase.

So, have finally powered down and about to remove the Burndy; insert the link plug thingy (which even my dealer thinks is a mare to fit) and power the CDX2 as a standalone CDP.

Again, watch this space.

I think HH and I are now saying the same thing. I certainly agree that powering down is always the safest thing to do if you are at all unsure.
Best

David

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I’m saying what I was always saying, just in a different way. To paraphrase Eric Morecombe.

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Ha :slight_smile:

Anyway…

1 - thoughts on reducing cable length welcome along with thoughts on the earlier pics of the internals of the Naim connector?

2 - taken the XPS2 out there was an immediate uplift in bass. 202 needed a recap anyway but this now suggests XPS2 and/or Burndy are in play as culprits. So, myself and Mrs. H. gave decided to leave it as bare CDX2 into Nait 5 for the time being.

When I get the call that Class A are done with the 202 I’ll take the Nait 5 back as well as the XPS2 and Burndy and ask my dealer to test both.

All the right advice, not necessarily in the right order?

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