I have figured out a way to stack my system with burndys hanging freely, there is no way to put a gap between components and some items cannot be moved. See present picture.
Now, the rearrangement puts the NAP 500 ps below the 552 ps three from bottom. I’m now conscious the EM from the 500 ps will affect the electronics in the freshly serviced 552 ps. So I’ve learnt that ferrite mats can be used - my omniscient ChatGPT !
But no one here talks of ferrite mats? Surely if folk have restrictive space, there cannot buy another layer - company out of business - a ferrite mat would solve EM radiation??
Can any one elucidate here - I’m hoping for your usual wise answers of course, as I’ve set my morning aside to rearranging, and it’s quite a task with my child proof cage!
I think you might mean MuMetal mats or foil.
Although I’m not resticted for space I have these embeded into my shelving and wired to ground.
Does it make any difference, I’ve never tried it without as I installed it during the rack construction.
In thereory it should, hense why I did it.
It might do. Shielding is no panacea, and from Naim’s PoV, if you get away without it, you’re usually better off, which is perhaps why Naim usually prefer without, unless there’s no choice. Of course, the original Supernait has a mumetal shield in the cover, just above the pots, because the enormous transformer meant it was necessary, and Naim offered a mumetal shielding kit for NAIT 3 owners who wanted to fit MC boards but were getting interference from the close proximity of the transformer. It did the trick, but something in the SQ was lost along the way.
Such a curious upgrade! For maybe £20 I bought adhesive copper foil and I can see nuMetal sheets available for purchase. That one has been put to the side, but I thought why not try the copper?
As you can see from my picture it might look tacky but straight away the compressed instruments and sound have opened up.
I await correction but here’s my rather rough understanding.
Copper is one thing, mumetal something else. Copper won’t shield magnetic flux but if earthed it will help shield from electromagnetic waves.
Mumetal can shield very effectively from magnetic flux, up to the point where it saturates, and the flux will run through the shield rather than its surroundings but they will complete their circuit around their source so if the shielding is incomplete they’ll reemerge from, say the edge of a sheet, so you might just shift the problem sideways a bit. If formed, mumetal needs annealing in a hydrogen (or maybe some other reducing) atmosphere to restore its shielding to full effectiveness, not a DIY job. I looked into it as I’m getting induced hum on my PTP Lenco as the cartridge nears the centre of the record, and the motor whose coils sit near the bearing.
When I first installed my 552 it went where the 282 had been, under my CDX2, which was powered from a 555ps. It was quite happy here until I replaced my 250 with a 500. The 500 ps was in the rack next to it but the 552 was between that than the disconnected transformer in the CDX2. The system lost its liveliness, putting the 250 back, even at the bottom of the clean stack brought it back but with the 500ps in place the CDX2 needed to be under the 552 to make music enjoyable again.
Putting the PTP Lenco with its large motor on the shelf above the 552 also degraded the sound, though not as much as the CDX2, its fine on top of the brawn stack.
I currently have my superline and a stageline N on the shelf above my 552 without upsetting it, my SUT on the other hand sits below it.
Quite why the 552 is such a sensitive device maybe Naim could answer, the 282 isn’t. From my experience it pays to be careful of focussing magnetic flux through a 552. This might be worth bearing in mind when trying out ferrous mats.
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