As I’ve recently ventured into the high end Naim, and subsequent to my searching the threads, I cannot find opinions or experiences relates to my post title. AI has told me quite vehemently that you should never run speaker cable under a rug due to capacitance, inductance, grounding cable damage from foot flow. I’m panicking as I’ve shelled a pretty dollar on 10m of SL! Man this leads to OCD.
Does anyone else have to run cable under a rug? Would Gorilla taping it flat on the wooden floor help, so the huge rug 12’ x 8’ goes on top?
In the past I have used carpet underlay when running speaker cable under a rug so that I could run the cable right across the middle of the floor.
I used two layers of underlay and cut a gap in them just wide enough for the cable, which survived perfectly unscathed for a few years.
This also made the rug nice and soft to walk on.
I did this with NACA5 and with a thin sub cable. When I used Super Lumina I ran it under the floorboards (in a different room) to eliminate the risk of damage.
Yes, running expensive speaker cables under a rug can potentially detriment the sound quality. The reason for this is that the rug can act as an obstacle to the sound waves traveling through the air and along the cable, causing them to reflect or absorb some of the sound energy. This can result in a loss of sound quality or distortion of the audio signal.
In addition, the rug can also introduce interference or noise into the signal, particularly if the cable is not properly shielded. This can further degrade the sound quality, particularly in the case of high-end audio systems where even small differences in signal quality can be noticeable.
Furthermore, running speaker cables under a rug can increase the risk of damage to the cables, particularly if the rug is moved or shifted frequently. This can result in kinks or breaks in the cable, which can further impact the sound quality or even cause the cable to fail completely.
Therefore, it is generally recommended to avoid running speaker cables under a rug, particularly if they are expensive and high-quality cables. Instead, it is better to run the cables along the walls or use cable covers to protect and conceal them while minimizing the impact on sound quality.
The first two paragraphs of that are total nonsense imho. And if you do something like Chris suggested, then the third paragraph won’t be an issue either.
Unfortunately there is a rise in the popularity of chatgpt and other “ai” so you can now get recommendations about your hifi. Apparently. Who needs an experienced hifi dealer? Maybe all the questions about snaics and burndies can finally be answered automatically?
Just tried it:
In the context of Naim audio, what is a burndy?
In the context of Naim Audio, a “burndy” refers to a type of cable that is used to connect certain components within a Naim Audio system.
Specifically, a burndy cable is a proprietary cable used to connect Naim Audio power supplies to their respective components, such as CD players, digital-to-analog converters, and preamplifiers. The name “burndy” comes from the fact that the cable is made by a company called Burndy, which specializes in producing high-quality industrial connectors.
Naim Audio components that require a burndy cable typically have a dedicated connector on the back panel for this purpose. The burndy cable provides a high-quality and low-resistance connection, which is important for maintaining the integrity of the power supply and minimizing noise and interference in the system.
Which burndy cable do I need to use between an nsc222 and an npx300?
To connect an Naim NSC222 preamplifier to an NPX300 power supply, you would need to use a specific type of Burndy cable called the SNAIC5-5pin Burndy cable.
The SNAIC5-5pin Burndy cable is a proprietary cable used by Naim Audio to connect certain preamplifiers to their corresponding power supplies. This cable has a 5-pin DIN connector on one end that connects to the preamplifier, and a 5-pin Burndy connector on the other end that connects to the power supply.
It’s worth noting that Burndy cables are not interchangeable between different Naim Audio components, so it’s important to make sure you use the correct cable for your specific system. Using the wrong cable could result in poor performance or damage to your components.
That is a contradictory statement. A rug indeed is likely to act as an obstacle to sound waves travelling from the air above to the cable below … so compared to an exposed cable will reduce any possible effect of the sound waves on the cable.
That does not state how the alleged interference or noise can be introduced, while improperly shielded low level signal cables are better avoided anyway, using decent quality shielded cables instead - and I’ve yet to hear any sensible argument to convince me that shielding of high level cables such as speaker cables would have any benefit unless they pass through a very high intensity electromagnetic field - which would be nothing to dod with a static rug overlying.
If just running a cable across the middle of a room with a loose rug carelessly thrown over, and a lot of heavy traffic over it, then possibly - but surely only an idiot does that, regardless of what the cable is carrying? @ChrisSU’s suggestion is a good solution, otherwise pass around the edge of the room where possible - which can include covering with a rug, or pushing down between a carpet gripper and skirting board.
If by AI you mean some Artificial “Intelligence” tool, as oposed to somebody called Al, you’ve just discovered the uselessness of such things for meaningful purposes, and, I hope you don’t mind my saying, at the same time rather exposing a gullibility to suggestion…
May I ask this then, as I have bought underlay from Chris’s suggestion and I am going to lay the cable carefully this weekend.
But here is a thought I had this morning driving to work. If I bought some thick foil akin to what is wrapped around turkeys - no joke - would wrapping the 10cm width cable sandwiches for the SL restrict EM radiation and interference?
Forget the question- Chat GPG (my new friend) answered:
Wrapping aluminum foil around speaker cables is not likely to have any significant impact on the sound quality of your audio system.
Speaker cables are designed to transmit audio signals from your amplifier or receiver to your speakers with as little loss or interference as possible. The cables themselves are usually made of copper or other conductive metals that have low resistance and high conductivity.
Wrapping aluminum foil around the cables may provide some protection against electromagnetic interference (EMI) or radio frequency interference (RFI), but this is unlikely to be a significant issue in most home audio setups.
In fact, adding aluminum foil to your speaker cables could potentially introduce other issues, such as creating a capacitance effect or increasing resistance, which could negatively affect the audio quality.
Overall, if you are looking to improve the sound quality of your audio system, there are likely more effective ways to do so than by wrapping aluminum foil around your speaker cables. Some suggestions might include upgrading your speakers or amplifier, adjusting your speaker placement or room acoustics, or experimenting with different audio cables that are designed specifically for audio applications.
Whilst on this occasion I agree with your new “friend”, I would caution against using AI to find answers to serious questions, especially where there is a lot of myth already - so-called AI cannot differentiate between facts and the snake oil that is pedalled widely. Maybe one day ot willbe able to make more sense than can many mere humans, but not yet -it is better to seek facts from factual sources, and if those elude you then still better to seek from a forum such as this, but bearing in mind there may be more than one opinion on many suvpbjects, and you will have to do some spadework and assessment to work out what is right for you.
Given the nature of your questions and apparent belief in the infallibility of AI, what made you choose SL cables?
The thing is I’m trying to think of solutions akin to raising speaker cable off the floor - as I see in hifi demo shows, as I heard Paul McGowen say on YouTube.
Yet I’m stuck putting the SL under a huge rug due to children etc.
So how do I get those benefits? Chat GPT helped. Use lots of carpet underlay.
What benefits? Are you sure there are any? If your cable required suspension on silk threads from platinum stanchions to perform properly, don’t you think the manufacturer would provide that information - and offer said suspenders for you to buy?
Personally I wouldn’t take any notice whatsoever of anything AI was to come up with in answer to a question requiring genuine facts and/or true understanding and proper reasoning: it may come, but at present AI can only give you what it picks up from an internet trawl, without any actual understanding of what it finds, and without any ability to assess whether it makes real sense. If a number of sources - e.g. individuals on this or another forum, or perhaps snake-oil peddling get-rich-quick merchants, were to say the same thing, e.g that the earth really is flat, then AI may come back with that - and it is entirely up to you to determine whether it is the correct answer.
