Naim Standard Main Lead Length

I had a slight surprise today, while installing my new Grahams Hydra. I was removing 4 ‘standard’ Naim mains leads and replacing with a 4 headed Hydra. Problem free, but … I found my ‘standard’ leads were of 2 different lengths…!! I can see from the IEC plugs, that the 2 shorter leads are more recent (and match the Grahams ones) - whereas the longer leaders have an older/different style of IEC plug. The shorter (newer) leads are around 1,9 to 2,0 metres - whereas the longer (older) leads are around 2,4 to 2,5 metres.

The different age makes sense to me - in that 2 leads are from circa 1985/86, from my CB250 & original HiCap. Whereas the other 2 are from built-as-Olive units - or even Black units.

Guess something changed…? Perhaps @Richard.Dane or @NeilS can enlighten us, here…?

I’m not up on any recent changes to the UK mains leads, so I’m no authority here.

FWIW, Powerline Lite apart, I used to really like the old Pirelli cable leads. Sadly the cable could no longer be sourced; it happens, and then Naim have to select a new cable from the available options. Do you know whether the cable itself is different?

The cables look a bit different, in thickness. The older/longer ones are slightly thicker.

The IEC plugs on the new cables are identical, whereas the older ones are similar, but not the same (one is marked Bulgin).

Check the old ones and see if the cable is marked “Pirelli”. These were really excellent.

Hi Ian,

I’m afraid the 80s predates my time at Naim & I’m unaware that longer mains leads were ever a “thing”.
BS1363 states that 0.75mm CSA manufacturer supplied leads protected by a 13A fuse cannot exceed 2m in length, so if the older ones are a bit bigger, the extra length may have been allowable.

Regards
Neil.

@NeilS - Thanks. Well, having checked a bit more, vs. a couple of unused/new leads from Black era units, these are definitely c. 2 metres - as expected. And look ‘the same’ as my ‘Olive’ era leads. Their IEC plugs are CE marked.

@Richard.Dane - I can see BICC on one of the long/old leads. The other looks like it could have had something on it, but its now lost through age. These 2 leads are clearly thicker in overall size - and definitely longer, at c. 2,4 metres - or about 8 feet in old units… :sunglasses:

Maybe they were made semi locally in the Pirelli cable works in Southampton. Which was bull dozed early 90s to create a new shopping center?

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