Do you happen to know how long the XLR cable that comes with the NAP 350? @james_n ? @Richard.Dane?
Think its about 1.2m. Not that I used it, but did look at it when I had a pair of 350s on demo a few weeks back.
I was more intrested in the legacy cables to connect my 253/SC to. They were about the same length.
1.2 m should be fine for me.
How good is the stock XLR cable? Should I get a Chord Sarum T or a Linn silver XLR cable?
I donāt exactly but Naim usually length their cables at either 1m or 1.25m
Just found mine in my spares box and they are 1.2m.
The standard cables work well, but after trying a few different cables, AV Options Signal balanced cables worked best for me.
Thanks so much for the helpful responses! My NAP 350s are on their way next weekāJeremy at Basil Audio sent them my way. I had the NAP 500 before, so I bought the NAP 350s blind, trusting that they sound as good as the NAP 500, or even better.
My plan, when my 350s are built and delivered is to demo some chord cables from my dealer. But only once the 350s have at least a month or so if running. My plan is to leave then on 24/7 for the 2st month.
The dealer demo pair i borrowed were pretty factory fresh, so i had to leave them on whilst on demo. Plus the legacy cables were new too. To their credit, the sound was clearly enough for me to put my hand in my pocket for a pair of 350s. And it could be the naim cables are good enough to stay. However, the cable was nothing sophisticated, looked like 1.0mm mains cable. I think for the £259 im being changed naim could have tried a bit harder?
Excellent, Sean. Give them a couple of weeks to sound their best, but Iāll be interested in what you think of them.
Ok. So nap 500 to now nap 350? Will be intrested in what you think.
The NAP 350s are here at my home, below is one of them:
I had the NAC 552/NAP 500 (non-DR) for quite some time, and now Iām enjoying the Linn Klimax DSM Organik Next Generation/NAP 350s. If I remember right, the NAP 500 sounds very musical, with a smooth, flowing tone, but at times is unforgiving. The NAP 350s, on the other hand, can deliver very tight, extended bass and have a lower noise level, which I find especially nice in a typical large American living room with lots of glass.
By the way, do you guys use the supplied Naim plastic bodies? Or just straight Naim banana plugs into the amp speaker sockets?
I used the supplied Naim connectors when I changed the dealer supplied Z plugs on my KS-1 cables.
Bananas
My Naim dealer advises not to use the Naim plastic bodies.
No harm in that, but Iām curious as to why they donāt recommend using the plastic body ?
Maybe I misunderstood Jeremy? ping @BasilAudio here.
Edit: Apologies to Jeremy, he only meant the speaker end on the Non-Naim speakers as the connectors are usually too far apart, and that makes sense.
Ah ok. Yes, that makes sense ![]()
Hi all, at Axpona and just saw I was mentioned.
There are a few speakers with 3/4 inch spaced 4mm connectors but unless we know that for sure we terminate the speaker ends with the pins from the Naim plugs and heat shrink the solder joints for a neat result.
The amp end can also be terminated the same way but we prefer to use the Naim dual plug plastic bodies supplied with the amps. The critical thing is to ensure the pins are free to wiggle around. I canāt stress enough how Important that is. So the solder should not be allowed to run onto the part of the pin that fits inside the plastic body. Also the wire strands need to be pushed completely into the pin slot before soldering. Going from old Naim plugs to the one supplied with NC thereās no need to re-solder the NACA5 ends - simply swap the plastic bodies. The new ones have more āwiggle roomā so should be worthwhile using instead.
Jeremy
Basil Audio
The Naim plastic boxes hold the plug pins 19mm apart, which is a standard spacing used for many socket assemblies, so they often work well for speakers. Of course you can easily remove them if necessary, but they are often a good match for many loudspeakers.
I find the right angled plug arrangement often suits speakers particularly well as it sends the cables down to the floor where you want them. I sometimes find they work better for speakers than amps.
I used the plastic spacers when I had a Naim amp (300DR). With my current non-Naim amp they donāt fit anymore
Claude
