I have the new tellurium q ultra black 2 speaker cable for a few weeks. Although this is a creat cable, it is gives lots of punch. And of course I like a punch, since this is on of the things for wich I like naim so much. But with albums, that are extra dark or bassy (Blue note albums from Jose James for example), the bass respons is to heavy for my likes. I read, that tellurium has a little jump in the cable, wich give the bass response a little extra top end. So, I am thinking of an alternative, like for example nordost frey 2 speaker cable. I wonder if Some of you have experience with this cable in your naim system. Or have the tellurium ultra black 2 and experienced furtere changes with a longer burn in time. Thank, Mike
Most Nordost converts will agree that speaker cables are the least significant in any signature. In that outside of the Naim eco system - Nordost power and signal cables offer more of any signature and the speaker cables just polish it up a bit.
After spending a considerable sum on long lengths of the Frey 2 speaker cables you might hear some difference but probably not enough to convince for its outlay.
@Skip member of this forum has a naim system and uses (I think ?) a Nordost Valhalla power cable from the wall socket to his power distribution block and had said that gives enough Nordost pep without upsetting the balance too much.
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What speakers do you have?
Hello Rick, I have the Hartbeth HL5 plus 40th universary speakers. You can not imagine how many people told me, to take other speakers. But as stupid iT might sound, I really love those old time looking speakers. In time I going to replace these for the Diesis Aura speakers, wich are to me something else.
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Thanks for Toby
I’d suggest Audience AU24-SX or Crystal Cable, Audioquest, WireWorld and Kimber. You could also try some Naim Naca5 or Super lumina
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Atlas cables are worth considering as they can be slightly lean
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Some of the cables mentioned here are probably quite a poor match for Naim amps, especially the separate power amps, which have specific requirements in terms of capacitance and inductance. Some cables, including Nordost and Kimber, and any with a Litz type construction, can have very high capacitance and low inductance, which is exactly what Naim amps don’t like, and in extreme cases, can cause them to become unstable and overheat. See the relevant FAQ for details of the spec. of NACA5 which serves as a guide for the type of non-Naim cable that might be a good match.
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Agree 100%
I always thought one of the great things about Naim was they made the right cables for their kit (e.g. NACA5) so you didn’t need to carry out endless experiments.
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Unlike the litz & weave type cables that are best (must) avoid, the Nordost Fey 2 is not anything that different w.r.t. construction, its a flat ribbon parallel pair.
The published spec show capacitance & inductance to be fairly ordinary middle of the road, the important inductance is 0.44uH/m & capacitance 34pF/m
Inductance is about half of what it should be, not ideal for a NAP300, but it would probably be better sticking with the TQ as its specs are closer to NACA5
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@Mike-B… FYI it’s Frey, not Fey. None of the cables I mentioned are Litz. Only company that I know of that’s for sure Litz is Cardas.
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You mentioned Kimber tho’, thats a weave & I did mention weave.
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You could just try moving the speakers out in the room a bit
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Weave doesn’t necessarily make it a Litz wire. Litz is typically many small wires coated then twisted, like Cardas Audio. Kimber does not coat individual strands.
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MikeN
If following your logic in thinking about Nordost as a way of bringing the bass down a bit you could look at something further down the range.
Despite what many say, Nordost are not lean. They all share an even handed way of resolving all tones, but the more higher you go the more they resolve. Perhaps if you tried some Blue Heaven 2 speaker cables. Most dealers are more likely to have some of these to try.
Just as quick and agile as their top cables but somewhat less of a demand for your room and speakers.
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I’m not saying litz is weave, read my post, I say avoid litz OR weave. My point is both produce more capacitance than Naim is happy with.
The Kimber multi-wire weave & the individual insulated strands of a litz both result in the same, high capacitance.
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We use only a little Nordost, but when you pay for it, it feels like a lot of Nordost! :: Valhalla 2 power cord into the Nordost 8 way power strip, but Powerlines from there. We use their ground wire for the power strip into my second earth ground to good effect. We use the Valhalla 2 jumpers for the Proac K6 mid-to-high, but use Naca5 for the speaker wire. And we use the Heimdahl iKable for the Airport Express to the 552 to AirPlay the iPhone apps like Sirius and Pandora and Spotify.
I think I would prefer something Naim in a speaker cable. Maybe a SuperLumina.
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ProAc makes their own speaker cable. Might want to try some out. Supposed to be a really good cable with ProAc’s.
And I just remembered what the Naca 5 reminds me of. Anyone remember the old 300 ohm flat television antenna wire? Flat spaced conductors to maintain the 300 ohms. Naca 5 looks just like it, just scaled Up https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin-lead
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Thanks for this important information. All my Naim systems have been bought from respected Naim dealers, and I always bought my cables together with a change in Naim Components. I always used 3 metre cable, as non of the Naim dealers informed me about the minimum of 3,5 metre. After Reading this I looked at the user manual, in wich this minimum length is mentioned. So I will test longer cables as well
Thanks. You have got a good point. I followed the advice of the Naim dealer. Not now and not in the past this cable was mentioned. Of course I have my own responsabilty to do research