I’ve read that 3.5M is the minimum length recommended for speaker cable for Naim equipment. What would be the effect on the sound of shorter speaker cables? It sounds daft but there is a reason for asking. 
The 3.5m length is specific to NACA5, its actually applying an inductance load & as NACA5 is 1uH/m, the 3.5m cable length will give 3.5uH inductance load.
Its more important for the old style classic amps, the integrated & the new all in ones are not that fussy. Just avoid the very high capacitance types, these will be woven (plaited), litz or some other fancy construction
A friend has 2m per side of TQ Blue on his Atom & it sounds perfectly OK to me
Just to be clear, the advice still applies to all current separate power amps, not just ‘old’ ones. Naim do not give the same advice for integrated amps, or Unitis of any age.
Thanks both, it sounds like I don’t have to concern myself too much with a Uniti Star
I’ve just bought new NacA5s for my Atom (2x5m; with Atom plugs on amp ends and with Chord standard gold plugs on speaker ends). I bought them to replace my old Qed-xt40 speaker cables (2x3m).
Actually I bought this length because I thought that 5m is the most recommended length for Naim equipment. But seems it is very controversial question.
Seems that cable length recommendations are only valid for old Naim ampllifiers. And if these recommendations are NOT valid for Atom, the rule of thumb is to make cables as short as possible as other amplifier manufacturers recommend for their equipment. As I understand Atom should follow this recommendation also…?
So I’m confused. Should I shorten Naca5s to 2x3m for the best audio quality or leave as it is (2x5)?
Don’t shorten them. 5m of Nac A5 sounds better than shorter lengths. I believe 7 to 10 metres is the optimum.
Isn’t this true only for older Naim amplifiers?
Don’t you believe me?
Quote “Everything I say three times is true.”
No. Naim power amps need a minimum of 3.5m to meet the inductance requirements. There is more flexibility with the integrateds and AIOs. This is all covered in the FAQ section of this forum.
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I think this information is only for Power Amps and not for new all-in-one players like Atom.
I find it depends on ambient temperature and pressure 
I’m not aware of any “rule of thumb” that speaker cables should be as short as possible on the Naim all-in-ones and integrateds. Yes, they are more tolerant of a wider range of cabling, and they will probably be fine with shorter lengths of NACA5, but I still find I prefer the performance with longer lengths of cable.
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And how does longer length cables change the sound on say a Supernait? I currently run 2x2m Chord Clearway and think it sounds great and no issues at all. Just wondering if I should consider buying say 2x5m of the same cable instead if it would improve the sound. The amp for sure seems to handle it. Have used 2x2m cable on my integrated Naims for +5 years (5i, XS2, Supernait)
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If your dealer is any good, they might lend you some longer cables to try.
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