Switching between the two is always interesting. The image depth is less on the lavender but it’s easy to forget what a great little cable it is. I always describe the HL as taking stuff away so you can better appreciate what’s there. Lavender has superior PRaT IMHO. I like the HL else I wouldn’t have bought it but the construction and requirements make ir a less clear cut decision for many than it perhaps ought to be.
Will review things post work tonight.
Apologies for the quality. Does this look right? Top right going to the NAPSC. Bottom left going to the Hi-Cap DR?
On the Hi-Cap DR the cable on the right is the one from the 202 and the one on the left appears to go to the 200?
Powered down. Pulled some of the NAPSC power cable back from the spaghetti towards the NAPSC. Unplugged the speaker cable closest to the 200 power as it was looped before entering. Unlooped and reinserted. It’s still tight and touching floor and wall but certainly better than previously.
Decided the Hi-Line gets a last chance rather than the lavender. Unplugged Hi-Line at both ends making careful note of which was the source end. Gave it a gentle loosening etc. Reinserted. Very close to touching floor but again a gentle stretch outwards at each end temporarily sorted it.
Tried the new Joan Shelley as it’s what I was playing before the power down. Mistake as there’s not a lot of bass on it. Back to my trusties then. Bonnie Raitt and Was (Not Was) doing Baby Mine. Whole I Love Everybody album by Lyle Lovett.
Some defined bass has returned. A damn sight more listenable. Quite variable though. Still pointing to the Hi-Line for me.
Apologies @Richard.Dane for the late response (in every sense). I had no idea reopening a thread was an option. Apologies for the duplication.
The Hiline was the only posh capable I tried that was an instant success.
Same here. I wasn’t immediately sure I wanted one as my initial reaction was that it did lots of the traditional “hi-fi” things but maybe lost a little in the process but a long demo removed those notions.
Always less convinced by the Powerline. Multiple Powerlines always seemed detrimental to me whilst I had to experiment for a while to find which box one worked best on. Have seen and heard strong evidence that it really is system and room dependent.
All that said this morning I had sufficient bass that Mrs. H. and the 14 year old slid into the room doing their version of the dance to Tilted by Christine and the Queens, which was the track playing at the time. Looking hopefully forward to a session of new music this evening now but, much like public trahsport, it’s the hope and the inconsistency which kill you.
Looks correct to me. Are your lock rings tight? I normally lock them whilst fiddling with cables and then unlock afterwards - actually on my 82 I have the SNAICS just catching as the 82 carries the full weight of the SNAICs owing to being on the top shelf and the Supercap on the bottom.
Grey end of Hiline to the 202 and neither end should be fully home. Push all the way in first and then withdraw about 1mm so that the body of the Hiline is not touching the DIN socket body.
Thanks. Yes, all is well. There was a suggestion ages ago that loose was better but I was never able to detect a difference.
Yup, no issue there. Thanks.
Mmm… going from what you say above I don’t think it’s the Hi-Line at fault here. How old are your speaker cables and when were they last terminated? You should not be losing anything with the Hi-Line in tow, if anything it should sound simply better in everyway over the Lavender.
The reason why i’m asking the above question is because I was in a very similar situation as yourself regarding inconsistencies with my system. Even after I had my Hi-Line repaired by Naim I was still experiencing variables In sound quality, bass being one of them. My NAC A5 was well over twenty years old and it never occurred to me to buy a whole new lot. After faffing around for ages believing it was this or that (mostly blaming my Hi-Line amongst other things) and in the end being driven crazy, I bit the bullet and ordered a whole new batch of NAC A5 and had it all terminated with brand new plugs. Problem completely solved!!
When it hangs properly; doesn’t stiffen up and touch the floor etc. then that’s exactly what it does. On the other hand…
The speaker cable is probably 17 years old; has been trimmed and re-terminated twice and has been checked twice in recent years by my dealer. Holding up just fine. I also checked the termination last night.
There’s definitely issues with the cramped space in which my system sits but this is to my mind undoubtedly the Hi-Line. Interestingly last time I came to this conclusion three dealers didn’t believe me. The third, who still has my business, was sceptical but agreed to return it to Naim. It was repaired and the returned version was night and day different.
Having just listened to Christine and the Queens first album; the new National album and the Billie Eilish album I can only conclude that the middle of these three has little bass as the other two thrum along nicely. The sound is warm but toe tapping I.e. no shortage of PRaT. Let’s see how long I have before it goes off again.
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