Indeed, but on this occasion we’ll just have to agree to differ.
My speakers work perfectly for me in my chosen configuration. Isn’t there some physical principle that three points define a plane?
I’m not suggesting to anyone else how to use the stands, if they buy them.
You can of course do whatever you want but I would wager that the stand designer knows more about stand design than you, so probably included all that gubbins for a reason. After all it would be more profitable for them not to include it.
Indeed. I’m happy to take responsibility for my decision. If I’m missing out, more fool me!
I’m after some stands for my ATC scm 11’s - the top plate on the SS6 looks small in relation to the size of my ATC speakers.
Might be a daft question but the top plat is 160mm square which seems too small for my speakers or am I missing something.
It really makes no difference… that is an old myth perpetuated by some…
Now if you split the speaker cable apart into two and only coiled one half of the cable, or used coax for loudspeaker cable THEN it would modify the inductance and effect performance…
Who told you this out of interest Nigel? The advice given should have been the exact opposite for SQ reasons unless the loudspeaker cable is coaxial… There is no reason not to coil twin conductor such as NACA5 (ie send and receive combined) loudspeaker cable… totally fine… and is usually done at temporary venues and the like as well as often done in domestic hifi setups. (Technically this is supported by the send and receive currents to the speaker cancelling each other out… basic physics). However if the speaker cable was coaxial then yes you would not want to coil.
loudspeaker cable, like any cable has capacitance and inductance per length… this slightly affects the speaker response to the amplifier’s signal. Therefore for both channels to sound as much the same as possible then the loudspeaker cable should be the same length… sure 50 to 100 cms difference is going to be pretty marginal for most cable.
BTW regarding the coiling of mains extension leads… it’s exactly the same… however you often see two current levels for coiled and uncoiled in an extension lead… this is because of cable heating… a coiled cable can’t dissipate heat in the same way… and so less current is usually specified when coiled. I suggest most home hifi speaker cables don’t get warm or run at extremely high power (kW) so this point is mute.
Nope, there is NO inductive effect on speaker cables if coiled with send and receive combined into a single cable and the loudspeaker cable is not coaxial cable… the send and receive cancel the inductance out so there is no added or subtracted inductance overall, since the send and return current is identical.
I’d even go as far to say that the only time I ever had issues was when I did the Naim zigzag arrangement I picked up AM radio. Went back to coiling and problem solved.
Simon, it would be inappropriate to name names here. I don’t doubt what you say, though the ‘don’t coil’ advice is pretty common.
I asked the question regarding loudspeaker cable lengths of my amplifier manufacturer, Benchmark Media, who confirmed unequal lengths made no material difference.
Unlike most manufacturers, Benchmark Media provides a lot of technical advice on its website, so may provide more explanatiom than I can provide.
Yes I have seen but it is as far as I am concerned invalid from a technical perspective or from regular physics and electrical engineering perspective with cable like NACA5 - but they may be concerned about the vinyl/plastic insulation sticking over extended time when touching each other - but I have not noticed that.
If you Google you see this come up time again with audiophiles and the general answer is that there no electrical impact of coiling.
I guess those who studied or practice electrical engineering know this - for those who don’t or haven’t then they reliant on advice from others or the web - and there there would appear to be a majority view that there is no impact - but alas Naim have not updated their FAQ - but they will know why perhaps, but I do think it does detract from credibility - and if there was a real reason that went against standing electrical engineering principles then it would be special and you would expect a white paper or similar to justify which parameters are being considered and why.
For the record I coil speaker cable and have out of curiosity use uncoiled and coiled with various Naim amps - using Naim amps - and heard absolutely no difference what so ever. I have used approx 70 cm diameter coils.
However I do wonder if for older Naim amps that creating a such a common mode coil could make the amp more susceptible to RF pickup induced into the loop common mode - which could cause audible RF pickup by interacting with the amp output stage… though I note @feeling_zen said by creating a coil instead of a Z type stack of NAC A5 he avoided RF pickup in his setup.
If I had equal lengths on KS1, I would need to coil 2.75m in a tight coil of 20cm diameter in order to hide it. I wonder if that would make a difference, rather than your 70cm diameter, which is more of a hula hoop than a coil.
I can’t see it would from an objective perspective - but I haven’t tried for a subjective assessment - actually my loops are more 55cms I have just measured…
Winding NACA5 into a tight loop could by quite challenging.
Simon is correct, there is no issue with coiling. I like to use a minimum of 5m length and as a result have 2 coils of excess cable, each with 3 turns at approximately 30cm diameter. This sounds better to me than shorter lengths uncoiled.
You can get a different top plate which is wider. I think it’s the one from SS5 it’s 190 wide
In my previous place I had dreadful radio interference, most likely from a mast 3/4 of a mile away and visible from my kitchen window. At its worst it was like having the radio on at a low volume.
After much experimentation, I found that the dressing of the speaker cables could have a big mitigating effect. What worked best seemed to be to pinch the excess A5 into a hairpin profile, then roll that excess into a tight loop.
I cringed at the necessity of following the “never coil” advice, but I see that I needn’t have worried. 
Thinking about it some more, I had the two runs of A5 running next to the wall at 90 degrees to the direction of the mast; I now wonder if they were acting as an FM antenna?
Could well have been… and the induced RF voltage interacts with your amplifier electronics (intermodulation effects and others) to provide a semi demodulated likely distorted low level audio from the FM…
In this scenarios the speaker could becomes part of a tuned circuit against a capacitively coupled ground through your amp. Changing the shape and/or orientation of the speaker cable can sufficiently detune to prevent RF break through as you discovered.
Although it would have been very inconvenient (fitted carpet), an option might have been to lay the cables in some sort of diagonal routing, to make sure that they were at no point parallel either to each other or to the FM transmission.
Thankfully, there are no such concerns in my present home. I remember how, even after spending much time tweaking the cables, the interference would randomly recur, and I would need to move them this way or that to try to get rid of it. As a consequence, my listening time was rarely relaxed, always being a little on edge for the slightest stray murmur or rustle, which would completely puncture the illusion.
Exactly - I ordered the larger plate with my SS6 stands to give my B&W 805’s the maximum support with least overhang,
