Yeah recommended 3.5m but SuperLumina sold at 3m.
Our 300DR hasn’t blown up yet 
I don’t think I’ve ever seen much other than SuperLumina 3m or 5m+ for sale. Can’t recall seeing 3.5m once.
See the fAQ
I discovered a new expression. Instead of saying « I don’t know « , you can say « it’s irrelevant « . 
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It’s called a deflection 
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But Richard, on the launch thread for the 200 series, Naim weighed in that that hasn’t really been true since the Chrome Bumper days and while they recommend at least 3.5m of A5 for sound quality, the amps are inductance tolerant from Olive and from DR can be used with pretty much any cable of any length.
We even talked about ammending the FAQ and you said you’d look into it.
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Yea Steve said a too short cable can sound “nervous” and a too long can sound boring and to relaxed. Classic amps and onwards was not sensitive to the specifications more than that it can affect how the cable sounds. I believe this was valid with classic and onwards and that Olive and earlier was were problems could happen if not following the guidelines. Steve Sells is Technical Director at Naim and has been there since 2001.
So sad to hear that they are selling their soul and go for ability to use shorter cables.
It was so smart to have the Amps needing at least 5 meters of cable to sound the best.
Yes, I need some input from Steve first, as there have been issues with high capacitance and low inductance cabling. Just because an amp will survive the use of inappropriate cabling doesn’t mean it’s a good choice. My own NAP250.2 for one example, where I tried some Kimber cable on it and it was most unhappy. Now, it may be that it was robust enough that using that cable wouldn’t have damaged it, but it definitely ran very hot and sounded awful, so hardly a great match.
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IIRC Steve said they have had a zobel network of some sort since all but the earliest CB integrateds.
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The amps all have had zobel networks AFAIK, but it’s the added inductance that they don’t have.
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Yes,sorry meant the inductance.
My SN3 can sometimes run hot driving my n-SATs/n-SUB to near their ends-stops using (7 x metre of NAC A5) - rinsing out some Deep Purple. I Hope this hasn’t caused any damage to the amp. Are Naim amps ok to get hot every now & then?
Yes,sorry meant the inductance.
It was a modification to remove the Zobel Networks,gained a lot sound wise but it’s not good for safety.
I would assume the challenge with Kimber cable and similar geometry cables is very high capacitance in the area of 3-800pF per meter which is very high indeed. Their inductance is low however. A cable maker told me it’s not the specific numbers of inductance and capacitance that is important for naim amps. It’s the relationship between those values that is. Non confirmed information though.
If you drive an amp really hard then it can get fairly hot. That’s fine, and there’s a thermal trip to protect it if it gets too hot. If it gets really hot just through normal use or with no music playing then that’s a problem.
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Yes, as per the FAQ recommendations, ideally you want a cable that offers a combination of low capacitance and moderately high inductance.
Thanks Richard. All seems fine, runs cool during normal use, the thermal cutout has never engaged even when driving hard and this was on very hot summer days…
Responce from dealer when I enquired if they use Naim speaker cables in store.
"We use Non-Naim or Non-Naim normally. But it’s at our risk! LOL. I understand where you’re coming from…all I can say is we have a lot of Naim owner customers that don’t use Naim cable and have not had any issues…
I put Non-Naim to protect them.
I had the following email conversation with Naim Support.
I note from the manual from my SN3 the following statement “however, a wide range of speaker cable types can
be used without risk of damage to the amplifier.”
Are there any type of loudspeaker cables that should definitely not be used with the SN3?
Thank you.
Kind Regards.
Roger
Hi
Sorry for the delay in responding.
Twisted cables add load to the amplifier, and can cause the amp to overheat, so we advise against using those. Parallel cables, with the red and black running side by side, are the best, like our NAC-A5 cable, found here: Naim Audio NAC A5 | Audio Speaker Cable
Kind regards,
Duncan
Hi.
So that I can make an informed decision what is the maximum pF per M of the cable recommended for the modern Naim amps such as the SN3?
Thank you.
Kind Regards.
Roger.
Hi Roger,
That information isn’t available.
We advise on a minimum length of 3.5 meters per side, and of non-twisted cable for maximum performance.
Kind regards,
Duncan
Hi Duncan.
Due to space constraints and loudspeaker configuration, I need 2.5M and 1M jumpers. I do not have room to form 1M loops of NAC 5 cable and I cannot afford your more expensive cable.
I appreciate we live in litigious times and Naim only want to give out standard information and not to go off the script.
It is an unfortunate sign of the times that is the line companies are taking.
Oh, how I long for the days long gone, when companies were customer centric.
Kind regards
Roger
I’d like to think that we’re still of the older order, and very much focused on providing the customer with whatever it is that they ask.
I made some enquiries, and this is what I found, I hope it’s sufficient.
Nominal NAC A5 specification is:
9 mΩ
16 pF/m
0.9 uH/m
A supernait 3 should be OK with double that capacitance, but note that you should use the same lengths on both channels.
Kind regards,
Duncan
I then had the following email conversation with Audioquest.
Good Morning Alasdair.
Do Audioquest make any loudspeaker cables that can be used with a Naim Supernait 3 amp?
I understand that Naim amps will not tolerate high capacitance cables.
I “heard” a rumour on a forum that the Rocket 88 can be “retuned” to make it suitable for use with Naim amps. Is this correct?
Thank you.
Kind regards
Roger.
Hello Roger,
Alasdair is no longer working for AudioQuest, but we’d be happy to assist you. You are correct that Naim amps are particular with the type of speaker cable used with them. We can do a special Naim audio preparation on any of our Rocket series speaker cables that will work perfectly with Naim amps.
Dustin Cairns
Hello Dustin.
Would the pF per M be less than 30pF per M?
Less than 30pF per M is the requirement of my modern Naim amp.
Thank you.
Kind regards
Roger
Hello Roger,
I checked with our senior director of engineering, he said the Naim preparation build ALWAYS works with both current and legacy Naim amplifiers. It has been tested repetitively.
Rocket 88 with Naim construction: 140pF / meter - 1.8uH / meter.
Dustin Cairns
So I purchased a 2.5M stereo pair and 1M stereo pair and have been using them for two weeks and my SN3 is perfectly happy.
The Rocket 88 are, IMHO with my ears in my room, far better than my old WH Phantoms. The noise floor is at lot lower and all the “hash” has disappeared and the presentation is natural and neutral. The top end is clear and I can turn the volume up without wincing. The bottom end is tight and fast.
I am more happy then a happy thing.
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That’s a very detailed and elaborated thread! now do one for NAP 500! 
at the end of the day i m worried to not damage the amp not the sound quality…for now.
I think it’s fairer to say, A5 performs as intentended and is the cable used in development sound tests and Naim can vouche for it’s consistent high performance and suitability to acheiving the desired performance level within the optimal lengths stated.
We’re free to use any other cable we wish! If we feel we have found a better one, well great. Just be aware with everything not A5 or SL, it’s the wild west and Naim won’t have anything to say about a non Naim product they haven’t used in development. As such, if each user is responsible for their own performance assurance tests.
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