My Nova suddenly sounds not good

Those cables are not available here, but tomorrow I will demo Chord Signature XL cables from a friend.

Naim mention speaker cable recommendations in the manual for all of their products. They also produce speaker cables that are an ideal match. If you choose to use a cable made by a competitor surely its up to them, or your dealer, to provide information about their suitability for your system if they want the sale.

I have been using Kimber VS 4 speaker cables (2x3.5m) first on Uniti, later Superuniti and now on Supernait for more than ten years and have never had problems before. While the Superuniti warmed up a little under load, Supernait 3 remains almost cold. The sound from the leashed Sonus Faber Olympica 2 is fantastic!

I would suggest either inviting your Naim dealer to come and have a listen, or packing it up and driving to said dealer for a check up.

Hi Richard, I’d like to ask for guidance on speaker cables if I may. I have had a Nova for approx. 15 months now, connected to a pair of B and W CM8 series 2 with 2 x 5mtr runs of Tellurium Black 11 cables, although everything seems OK, and sounds fine, some of the points being made in this thread make me wonder if the cables are correct technically, could you, or any forum members offer any thoughts/advice please?

Not quite. Linn K20 was (originally) near identical to Naim NAC-A4.

NAC-A5 has far less, but thicker conductors - and it less flexible, that A4 was.

Yes, that is the plan if the new update planned this week does not make any positive changes. Fingers crossed.

TQ cables are fine with Naim. The two conductors being reasonably thick, separated by a web, is a similar construction to NACA5 and won’t give you any nasty surprises.

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Nick, I haven’t been able to find any specs in relation to the inductance or capacitance of this cable. All I can say is that it appears to be of likely suitable construction, or at least I can’t see anything obvious that would particularly concern me.

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Thanks Richard, I heard a long time ago that Tellurium keep their specs something of a secret. As I say, everything seems and sounds great so I’m not too worried.

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Thanks Chris, that’s kind of what I was thinking, I don’t have the technical knowledge to confirm one way or another, but I’m happy with your input, thank you.

One of the HiFi shop in my area is also distributor of Kimber cables and they always used Kimber cables on the Naim’s they had on demo. I don’t know the specs for Kimber cables but it was said litz or woven type cables are not suitable at all with Naim’s.

I know Robert, was talking about the electrical characteristics

Naim mention speaker cable recommendations in the manual for all of their products.

:drooling_face: :drooling_face: :drooling_face: :drooling_face:

A manual, really? At last ! :wink:

Without trying to be contentious, only normally after firmware upgrades. Don’t supposed you’ve updated very recently?

Equally, I think our systems can vary day to day/hour to hour for no particular reason - possibly us and our mood, level of distraction etc. I’ve been through periods where I though my system sounded awful only to find it spectacular a day or so later, all sources included.

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Well the Unitis have that horrible online support thing which is a subsisute for a proper manual, but does still contain speaker cable information if you dig for it. All other power amps have proper pdf manuals which cover it.

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It’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek constructive feedback for Naim.

The online support tool is ok, but personally I’d rather a ‘linear’ reading PDF manual if paper manuals are no longer provided.

I’m sure the online tool took quite some time to produce but it’s just not as logical for me to use compared to a conventional manual, electronic or paper based.

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How long have you got the S40’s?

no, I had updated to the latest version the day it was released.

More than 3 years, I guess.

Well…I hope it gets sorted. I couldn’t be happier with my Nova. It’s a spectacular kit. No muss, no fuss, and not many people will visit me and not be blown away. Worth every penny. That said…

I simply do not get why anyone would go against Naim’s recommendations. I have the cheapo Chora 816 (for the 100x) and added the NACA5 and Powerline. Wow. The Choras, even at $900/ea (tho I got them 2 for 1!!) are outstanding. For the price moreso, but regardless of price, they sound great. As for the Powerline sure, there might be less expensive cords. But…I spent quite a bit for the Nova. I’m not going to get cheap with it now. As I’ve noted I started with the Audio Quest Type 5 cables at the recommendation of the dealer and the Nova immediately overheated. Returned them and got the NACA5, resolved. Powerline? Paid full price, and I’m in the USA without the fancy plugstill…worth every penny (Personally I think Naim should include it with every unit and add the cost.)