I have a Nova running Dynaudio X44s and recently “upgraded” to (used) NACA5 from my previous speaker cable, Supra 2.5mm tin plated copper.
On the one hand, I think I finally understand what PRAT means: the music is clearly more exciting, clearer in the midrange, and gets my feet tapping.
But there’s definitely less bass than before, from the midbass down. Any suggestions on speaker cable that might give me the best of both worlds?
Double check the direction and the phasing L/R of both cables at both ends first.
…and the quality of the soldering. My s/h NACA5 was merely ‘fine’ until I resoldered the plugs, whereupon I started hearing gallons of bass in well-known tracks that I’d never heard before.
Maybe the bass is just more tightly controlled now, or there was too much dominant bass before?
I have a pair of Intro’s MK1 that were voiced using NAC A5 and when I first installed the Intro’s we were using Witchhat Audio N2 which we had for a number of years.
The bass was bloated and lacked control and not how we remembered the sound of the Intro’s, we changed to a nice set of 4 metre NAC A5 terminated correctly and the difference was imense.
The bass tightened up, was more controlled and tuneful, but Mrs R did comment that she thought that were not as forceful as before.
Don’t know if you that is something you are experiencing, stick with it, we have replaced our 200 with a 250 power amp and the bass is deeper but still controlled.
Vertere.
PRaT stands for Pace Rhythm and Timing 
NacA5 is fantastic,Supra is not a good match for Naim.
Sometimes there is a perceived reduction in bass, but it’s actually a quality improvement. I’d play with speaker positioning second after having given the nac a5 a few weeks.
Interesting, but a cliche reply from me. I went round and round with several A5 “alternatives” and for a relatively short time thought there were improvements. However, after swapping back in A5, in each case, it just seemed right again. Still have A5 in our olive system. It will stay installed!
BTW, the soldering I have found is more important than I expected, I even got myself self a super heavy duty iron for the terminations, that helped too, good luck
Martin
I havent after shifting to an expensive Synergistic Research full loom, but prior to that a number of iterations always resulted in going back to the NACA5.
In my experience the choice of speaker cable depends on the speaker. With both my previous Dyn Contours and now Titans I’ve tried Naca5 but found the bass for the want of a technical expression lumpy and returned to Chord Odyssey. The only way to find out is to ask a dealer if you can try various brands, Kudos KS1 is highly regarded around here, as is Tellurium and Vertere.
Thank you, I did know the meaning of the acronym, I just hadn’t experienced it meaningfully before in such a way that I understood what people were talking about when they used it.
I am amazed. Every reason the OP doesn’t get ‘the best’ out of his Naim cables must have been mentioned bar perhaps temperature in his room.
Could it be that he just prefers another cable for his system in his room? Outrageous I know.
This being a Naim forum he will probably ‘burn’ them in, lay ‘em out differently on the floor, re-solder them, is re-educated on how he should listen to music or do the Naim dance and suddenly see the light 
.
I am not for one moment saying it’a bad cable but there is life outside Naim … .
FWIW I had NACA 5 a long time ago for a long time. No issues (as with any other cable afterwards) but I was glad to loose the stiffness of it.
sounds like a ban solicitation to me… 
Explain please
I have both Linn K20 (=Naca4), and split Linn K400.
What I understand Naca5 are not so different to Nac4, although regarded as better.
But, I much prefer the split Linn K400.
They have a meatier sound, with more body.
ohw ye of little faith, how dare you doubt the devine quality of any Naim produce….
in short; “just kidding”
So instead of sharing my relevant experience with NACA5 and giving the OP a (very cheap) possible solution, I should instead have said ‘NACA5’s clearly not for you, mate, go and spend a few hundred quid on some new cable’?
To quote your first sentence, ‘I am amazed’, though for different reasons.
Oh dear here we go again, I have left other threads in past few weeks and I don’t like where this is going again.
I only wanted to share my experience of NAC A5 having moved from it years ago to Witchhat and then back…… I’m happy so I will leave what could become another rabbit hole.
Only matter of taste – you sacrificed prat for meaty sound. And interestingly when upgrade to better sources and amps you will have both meaty sound and prat even with A5, that’s the point of Naim.