How do find your Harbeth 40.2 speakers with your Tontrager stands? Which speaker cables do you use?
I love the 40.2 Anniversary / TonTrƤger duo, but I canāt comment on the difference the stands make as they came with the speakers when I bought them second hand.
Iām still using NACA5. At some point Iāll try and see if some other cable might be a better match, but I want to be very familiar with the current setup first.
Claude
2 Likes
Hi Sean, how are you getting on with the 350s ?
@james_n, currently, Iām experimenting with the interconnect and speaker cables. Iām switching between the Linn XLR and the Naim-supplied XLR cables. For the speaker cables, Iām alternating between the Kusdo KS-1, the AV Options Twisted-56 Deep-Cryo, the Linn silver K200 and the LFD hybrid (constructed using PC-OCC multi-strand and LC-OFC ribbon conductors). The speakers are the Harbeth 40.2s on the TonTrƤger stands. The jury is still out, but Iām currently leaning toward the Linn XLR interconnect and the AV Options Twisted-56 speaker cables. Surprisingly, I find the LFD hybrid sound to be louder than the other speaker cables.
As for the SQ, I find that they are fast, meaty, and the bass is extended and tight. At the same time, they remain very musical, enjoyable, still sound coherent, wonderful at high volumes, they just hold everything together on complex pieces. I can play music loudly for hours without feeling tired.
4 Likes
By the way, I am not sure about you guys, but I turn the rear panel switch to āInstant Onā to keep audio circuits permanently powered instead of the default setting of āStandbyā.
1 Like
Good news, Sean - Iām pleased to read that you are enjoying them. They do work really well with the KDSM to make a very capable three box system.
Regarding the standby settings, once my 350s had run in, I switched over to auto standby so the 350s power up when I switch the KDSM out of standby and they sense an audio signal and go back to standby ~19mins after no audio signal. I find they only take about 10 mins once out of standby to reach full performance, so itās nice to save a bit of energy when not in use without a performance hit.
3 Likes
My house is powered by solar, so wasteful energy consumption is not a problem.
ā¦..but you could be exporting the spare power for use by others, and on darker days and winter days the house wonāt be fully powered by solar.
1 Like
Apparently the grid in the UK isnāt going to cope with the influx of spare solar energy later this year and one of the plans is to pay us all to waste it 
1 Like
Maybe Octopus could start handing out free Naims to help the cause.
6 Likes
Thereās not much if any of a performance hit on a run in power amp, they heat up and stabilise within an hour. Unlike preamps which can take up to 48hrs to settle after a cold start. I donāt even think people at Naim bother leaving the pre NC power amps on 24/7.
I tend to just power my power amp up on days where it seems like a session will be feasible.
1 Like
I wholly understand your point about feasibility ā¦..
1 Like
From what Iāve read it appears to be that the central network folks have not fully integrated solar/wind farms into the grid so that they can control output. Potentially an example of penny pinching to save money on integration. In Scotland where there is lots of wind power (less in the way of demand) suppliers have to pay to connect to the grid whereas in the Home Counties (more in the way of demand) the grid pays for suppliers to connect to the grid. Apparently this is because there is not enough infrastructure to move the electricity from North to South. Happy to be told I have this wrong.
Apologies for veering off topic - Iāll go and speak to myself whilst listening to RP.
So have they been telling customers for decades to leave them powered on to increase servicing revenue?
Ageing of components is a significant reason for servicing intervals, not just āpowered-upā time. Indeed I think I read somewhere that switching on and off multiple times actually increases the āwearā on componentry and increases failure rates?
Bruce
5 Likes
Correct, the more changes in temperature the more material fatigue.
2 Likes
Steve Sells has stated numerous times that leaving the product on reduces its life. I can find many quotes stating it if the following isnāt good enough.
2 Likes
And heās just as wrong as your are.
1 Like
Yes indeed, this is exactly what I am doing, export surplus energy to the grid for time-based credits.
Btw, I know that there is a long thread about solar in this forum.
1 Like