I know its an age old discussion but I’m curious as to how a passive cable amplifies a particular range of frequencies? Attenuate for sure but to amplify I’d need convincing, perhaps its attenuating mid or lower frequencies and giving the impression of accentuated highs?
I don’t know technically how it works, but in my admittedly small experience of hearing qed, it has tended towards a brighter sound on balance. And very quickly my brain says no.
^^ looks like Richard has heard the same.
No apology required. It’s all good.
1 Like
Having tried several cables of different brands and prices I always came back to naca5 on my system, with the other cables something was missing…
2 Likes
Positioned the Motives SX2 a bit further apart with 15 degrees toe in so the tweeter is more on axis. This gives slightly more air/sparkle with NACA5. Quite happy now.
2 Likes
I turned 50 this june so probably everything above 12.000 hz isn’t that clear anymore 
1 Like
I’ve found NAC A5 cables to be a match made in heaven with Naim amps & Motive SX2 speakers. Regarding the soldering, try to hunt down some MultiCore Crystal 505 60/40 tin/lead alloy solder and re-do the connections using new plugs.
1 Like
What music/audio test tracks do you all use to finetune toe in?
sorry but all the solder tips/tricks are pointless. It isn’t rocket science. If it is soldered okay than its fine, and it is fine. A bit more or less solder makes no difference.
What he means is, it’s possible to make a complete mess of connecting up sa8 plugs with naca5; if you use decent solder and a good iron then it makes the job easier to complete neatly.
If it looks like this, then its fine:
I’ve seen worse that’s not great but looks “wet” if you know what I mean the best I’ve seen is this below from Cymbiosis. 
3 Likes
In my experience with NAC A5, SA8s, quality of solder, soldering skills and with any other banana plugs for that matter is the better the termination(s) the better the final resulting sound. NAC A5 does not lack treble sparkle, bass, mid-range or any other myth that maybe described here.
3 Likes
the soldering shines that’s good but to me there is a bit too much
1 Like
Gryphon singing Three Jolly Butchers, Take Five by Dave Brubeck, Flight of the Cosmic Hippo by Bela Fleck, Amy Winehouse singing Rehab, almost any Pink Floyd or Steely Dan, Kind of Blue, Hot Rats, Tubular Bells, Tres Hombres, Dummy, Scary Monsters, Graceland….
I may just be showing my age of course.
1 Like
thanx!
NAC A5 is still my favourite cable although the Chord Epic XL pushed it very hard for me. The Chord was cleaner sounding with more musical information and the bass was more impactful in my system. But there was a more natural, open sound that made the NAC A5 more fun for me. I did not feel the NAC A5 was lacking in any area of the sound spectrum. If one is experiencing lack of treble I would question the termination or perhaps there may be some damage to the cable somewhere.
1 Like
I got my NACA5 s/h (including some quite old and shonky plugs) and thought it sounded fine, but not noticeably different to the Linn K10 it replaced.
A child then bumped one of the plugs, causing a break, so I took the opportunity to redo all the plugs properly - SA8 at the amp end, Kimber at the speaker end. The difference was absolutely extraordinary (particularly in the bass, where I heard ‘new’ things on music I thought I’d known for decades) and definitely above that of the K10. The dodgy old plugs were basically stopping me hearing what the A5 could do.
Mark
3 Likes
That’s not a soldering job, it’s modern art.
1 Like
Yes indeed Peter at Cymbiosis knows what to do with a soldering iron.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.