Are Analog Seduction managing to duck import tax issues? I see they price in Euros but can’t find mention of how they handle the paperwork into the EU.
I’ve stopped ordering from the UK directly except as a last resort, especially if there’s a risk DHL or the like will be involved. It is a bit random though. I ordered some albums direct from UK artists (The Unthanks) on two occasions in the last year, the first time the package was just delivered, the second I had to pay La Poste for some import Tax, or maybe it was TVA, it was an extra €20 anyway on top of £60 for the records and they wanted it as a cheque, I’d forgotten about them before moving to France.
Glade to hear it. I still haven’t made up my mind about power distribution, currently just the one GTX-D NCF R in the powerbar itself feeding the DAC & phono. Streamer is currently plugged into the spare spot in the NCF wall outlet, as it has a FI-50 NCF R end on it & I don’t want to plug into one of the other outlets in my powerbar as their still just cryo Hubbels & don’t want to damage the plating. So not sure if I want to add another NCF outlet or two to my current power bar or swap it for the 609 NCF or the top of the line Audio Sensibility I mentioned above. My DIY powerbar is nice with an NCF R inlet, thick aluminum extrusion, 12awg OCC solid core copper & Still Points ERS cloth but the others probably have better physical isolation & dampening.
Just put in the new FI-50 NCF/S55N combo on my phono & S022 based cord on my TT power supply, so now time for another long run in.
2 Likes
I’m still waiting for my budget to recover from the Holidays before I get serious about a Powerbar. I almost forgot about the Audio Sensibility unit, thanks for the reminder it’s definitely something to consider. Luckily my AVOptions SuperWiremold still does an admirable job that’s only been enhanced with the GTX- D NCF outlet.
I feel for you with another long run in but at least you know it’s coming. Well worth it but time consuming for sure.
I could always swap the new phono cord with the one from wall to powerbar, which would speed up run in greatly but I’m actually somewhat curious how it changes as things run in so I’m going to leave it on the phono stage. Things were sounding good from the get go last night, so will be interesting how things evolve.
1 Like
Hi @daren_p, do you keep all your cables the same length or adjust to reach each box neatly?
Have you tried the same cable at different lengths to see if it made a difference? If so, did it?!
Thanks
Hi Mark63, I see you to are Oxfurdshy’r.
I have an all DIY power dist setup, only one Furutech item tho. (see profile)
I experimented a lot with length (& materials) and concluded that made to measure length & rats nest avoidance had all the bonus points.
2 Likes
Hi @Mike-B, yes up in the north east of the county.
I also experimented with power cables earlier in the year, didn’t expect to hear much of a difference but was surprised I did. It doesn’t take much to improve on the Powerline-Lite, I really don’t like it, not because of its sound but the horrible hard plastic cable that seems impossible to get the kinks out of! It’s also far too long for my setup where a couple of the boxes just need 50cm or so.
I tried making up a Furutech cable, chose Alpha-3 after reading a lot of good things about it, that was quite an eye opener, very hefty unshielded cable but it’s not very flexible so hard to route. Would be much better if cut to length, hence my question. I could just try it of course but thought I’d ask before I cut it in half 
Best alternative I found to the Powerline-lite was the Puritan Classic Plus, extremely flexible and uses good quality plugs/sockets. That led to trying the Puritan Ultimate, exceptional cable and takes flexible to an entirely new level … but that’s for another topic as off topic here
3 Likes
No I’ve never gone that far as to compare different lengths of the same cable. I’ve done different ways over the years, depending on what my thinking was at the time. Doing custom lengths can make cable dressing easier but if you want to try swapping different cable to different components, it can make things more difficult. I typically try to make them min 1.5m in length, have read a shorter length may make the cable have less impact on sound, so don’t typically make them shorter (though have never verified if there was any truth to that). With some of the big awg cables, having a bit extra can sometimes help with routing. Currently I went with a 1.5m from wall to powerbar & then all the cables that go from the kit to the powerbar are 2M. This allowed me to get the powerbar from out behind the rack, which can help with dressing & would think might be a performance improvement vs having it behind the rack, where it would be close to all the other cables.
3 Likes
That makes sense about the length, thanks Daren, I’d probably have to settle on 1m for thick cables as I have limited space, longer only really works for flexible cables, the Puritans I have are 1.5m and are easy to route. I am planning to try the Furutech connectors I already have on these cables, there’s a company that does this and claims they improve them further,
Did you ever try the Alpha-3 cable? I really liked it, although not tried any other Furutech cable to compare Tried it with gold and rhodium (ncf) plugs and the FI-28 IEC connectors … I actually noticed an improvement with those over the FI-11s I started out with, that was another surprise for me
1 Like
For the “settle on 1m for the thick cables”, do you have any currently in mind? While not super flexible, I can say the S055N & DPS-4.1 are still decently flexible given their awg. I actually find having a bit extra length can be helpful & can actually work better even when space is limited. It can also help when you’re plugging a heavy cable into a small/light component, while sitting on Fraim, that can otherwise cause the shelves to shift under the weight. I’ll post a photo up of what mine currently looks like if I remember. Just don’t judge my dressing, currently still running things in & still havea bunch of my old cable sitting there, so I can go back & compare. Some of the older ones were also shorter, so I have had to leave things as is. Plan is to get the powerbar futher out from the rack, when I’ve eliminated all the older short cables.
Sorry, no haven’t used the Alpha-3 & haven’t read/come across much on it either, so not sure how it compares sonically to their other current offerings.
2 Likes
I thought I might try the ones you’ve been talking about in this topic, the cable I have is 1.5m and is fine for the boxes further away from the sockets but I couldn’t get it routed to the nearer ones, it would have needed to go out away from the socket then turn back on itself … just too tight a turn for the cable. Cutting it shorter would allow it to run directly from the socket to the inlet.
The Alpha-3 is 11 awg, 4mm2, 15mm diameter, unshielded.
The S055N or DPS-4.1 can both be great choices but sonically are a bit different so what’s the best option for you would depend on what kit you plan on using with it & what you are trying to achieve (& as you mentioned, end choice can be just as or even more important). If we were relating them to speakers, I’d say the S055N would be more like a Sonus Faber & the DPS would be more like a Wilson.
2 Likes
The FI-50 NCF (R) combined with DPS4.1 is very good. If I had the budget I would have bought few more. Unfortunately I don’t so some inferior cords are used together with the good cords in the system. The result is still pretty remarkable.
1 Like
Thanks Daren, will give it some thought once these new boxes have settled in, no point in trying other changes at this point really!
1 Like
Ryder, sounds like you’re still getting on well with the new combo, glad to hear it.
For sure 
1 Like
Very simple to do, didn’t need to modify the cable at all.
Won’t be trying it for quite a while though, sticking with all Naim cables during the run in.
1 Like
It does seem simple enough but I’m scared I’d screw something up like the polarity. Maybe one day I’ll muster up the courage to do it myself.
It is straightforward, Dad showed me how to wire a plug when I was a youngster … “the live brown bear walked on the green earth under a neutral blue sky” (edit: UK only!)
But yes, definitely don’t try it unless you’re confident … you could buy the parts and get an electrician to assemble them, doubt it’d be expensive.
1 Like
Looks like they’ve already got the top of the line male end on there? So probably just room for improvement on the IEC end, looks like a FI-28, is that a gold or rhodium connector?