Hi. I am looking at Signalcable’s REl Cable. Would that be okay to use with the SN3? I would be connecting the Signal cable to the back of the speakers and not to the SN3. The reason I am asking is because of what it says on the cable page. And I’ve read that Naim amps or at least older ones don’t like certain type of cables.
THE CABLE DESIGN
8 stranded copper conductors, Total of 152 Bare copper strands
You can use the cheapest bellwire you can find. It makes no difference to the Supernait: it is only affected by the cable that connects it to the loudspeakers.
Go watch the REL explanation about their cable. It doesn’t take power from the amp. It only gets information. I don’t know how that works but the sub has its own amp. So the requirements for your speaker cables doesn’t apply to the sub. You’re not driving the sub with the SN3.
Would I’d be correct in staying while the sub is amplifying the signal, the quality of the signal is reasonably Important particularly when it’s a longer cable?
Low frequency signals aren’t delicate so for that sub 200Hz stuff going to a sub any wire jumped off the back of the speakers will do. However, you may want to consider the impact of high level low frequency signals running parallel to mains or other line level signal cables. In those situations a screened cable can be beneficial. Noy so much about preserving the low frequency signals as preventing it impacting other things.
@KoopAs you are “overthinking” this a bit. Feeding the sub from the speakers means that the type of cable used has no effect on any load to the amplifier because the sub is only using the signal provided, not the voltage that drives the main speakers. I have 2 Rel S812’s in my system, both the subs and the main speakers work perfectly and the subs make no difference to the Nap 250DR.
I figured I was, but someone even told me that I couldn’t use a litz cabe on the SN3. I don’t know if its true. Some say that only applies to older Naim gear. I’ve been using the REL just fine, but I wanted to build my own cable for aesthetic purposes. When I read that the Signalcable is twisted I thought of the litz configuration so I came to ask.
Something that I do find very strange is what happens when I switch amps. I have a JBL MA710 that I sometimes use when I want to watch movies. My speakers are Monito Audio Silver 500 7G. I have jumper cables on them, spade to banana. I have the SN3’s speaker cables connected to the top posts. The REL is connected to the bottom posts. When I remove the SN3’s speaker cables from the speakers and plug in the speaker cables from the JBL. The JBL goes into protective mode. When I remove the REL speakon cable from the speakers the JBL functions as it should. Any idea what could be going on there?
Litz speaker cables are indeed bad for Naim power amps. A basic copper cable with twisted strands will not have the disadvantages of a Litz cable. But these are issues caused by the cables that are attached to the power amp. The reason that Naim (and Rel) recommend attaching sub cables to the speakers instead of the amp is precisely because it eliminates these problems, so you don’t need to consider cable type.
I don’t know why you are having problems with your other amp, but this could have the sub cables attached directly to it.
