Solid Core Speaker Cable for CB Naim

Hi-Fi Corner
1

A few years ago 1mm twin & earth mains cable (the stuff you wire your house with!), was advocated by a few well respected reviewers. At the time, I tried it in a non-Naim system and found some aspects preferable to multi-stranded cable - generally a more open sound.

With my CB 42/160 I’ve used NAC A4 to meet the inductance requirement.

However , I’ve calculated that 1mm T & E has inductance of about 0.6uH/metre, so my 5 metres value of about 3 uH would not be far below the value if using the minimum of 3.5 metres of A4.

So in theory 1mm T & E ought to be “safe” to use.

Does anyone have any thoughts, or experience of using this cable with Naim amps?

Thanks

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Not on the specific cable, but I would not use 1mm2 cable for runs of 5m. Look at 1.5mm2 minimum (assuming your speakers don’t dip below 4 Ohm)

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Why not try some NACA5? It’s better than A4 and perfect for your amplifier. Or just keep the A4 and be happy.

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I tried some Cyrus solid core speaker cable on a Nait 3 once and it sounded absolutely dreadful.

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I used 1 and 1.5mm lighting cable for 20 odd years, I even replaced the internal wiring in my Mission 700s with it, along with removing most of the foam (not the back piece), winding my own coils for the crossover using an LCR bridge for that and matching a pair of pp caps.
I was very pleased with the results but when I bought a Nait 5 I replaced the cable with NACA5. The Nait didn’t work out but I kept the A5 to use with it’s replacement, a Rega Cursa/Maia. The solid core was lighter i
on the bass when I tried it on that.
DNM cable is near the Naca5 geometry but solid core and around half the price, also reputed to be more open sounding but lighter in the bass.

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Thanks for the info. My use of 1 mm T & E was also about 20 years ago, recommended by a magazine reviewer who also suggested removing loudspeaker damping, so perhaps we both read the same magazine. I might give it another try, but thanks for the DNM suggestion - hadn’t thought of that. Is it considered “safe” with Naim amps?

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I think so, the specs look close enough. The doubt is more concerning its current capacity for those 2Ω speakers.

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When you say ‘a few years ago’ you mean about 30 years ago, don’t you?

1 Like
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Thanks for the info on DNM, and yes it probably was more like 30 years ago.

I seem to remember a number of booklets full of “Tuning Tips”, some of which actually worked. You know the sort of thing - spiked stands, lightweight support shelves, etc.

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