I currently own a Unitistar and am in the process of upgrading to a pair of Spendor A7’s. I was just wondering what people’s thought’s or recommendations for speaker cables were. Many thanks in advance.
What are you using now? If you can live with the stiff NACA5 i would stick with it and call it a day 
Just for the anecdote: i auditioned Spendor A4’s with a Uniti Star (had a Star before) at a dealer last year and while i liked its dynamic capabilities i always felt that the speaker sound a bit veiled. After changing the cable to NACA5 this veil was immediately taken off - it was quite a revelatory experience. I don’t know exactly what cable was used before but i think that you will be hard pressed to find something better than the NACA5 for its price to match Naim gear.
1 Like
Just some thick unbranded stuff I bought years ago. The best cable I owned was Goertz m1 between Audiolab amp and Marantz KI 67 Signature CD player years ago. Made the mistake of going down the AV line and not been happy with my music set up for about 20 years now. Just concentrating on 2 channel now, hence the Uniti star and Spendor. Dealer sells Chord and NAC, but was interested to hear anyone else’s opinions/ experiences.
Cheers Conlegno,
I have had the Uniti Star for about a year, alongside a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 8’s. Home auditioned the Spendors for a week or so and were far more detailed, open etc than the MA’s. The dealer had lent me a set of Shawline X. Whilst I did like its presentation I wasn’t too sure as I wasn’t “experienced” enough with the Spendor sound.
I’d go with the NACA5, and if you are able to compare it with the Shawline at the dealer’s that would be the best.
From what i have read from other users regarding the Shawline and its characteristics - i am not sure it is the best match with Naim and your Spendor speakers. My approach is always to use a baseline as a reference first before making any changes further down the road. The baseline with Naim gear is the NACA5. You can use it for a few years and change it to something else later if you feel the urge to do so.
1 Like
Hi
Or WH N2 - 14 day money back if not completely satisfied. Many use the WH cable(s) on here & are really happy (inc me) 
2 Likes
While not exactly A7s, I own the Spendor D7 and can quite emphatically recommend the Tellurium Q line, specifically the Silvers (V1 or V2): ‘fast’, detailed, balanced (its highest virtue), refined, non-fatiguing; but I understand the Black are also quite revered. I know nothing about the UnitiStar, but my speaker cables are magnificent with the SN2.
2 Likes
+1 for naca5
1 Like
I have a pair of Spendor D7.2s and am quite happy with the Witch Hat Phantom cables.
2 Likes
I looked at those before settling on the TQ, but was impatient and didn’t want to wait for shipping to the US. They seem quite popular and for good reason from what I gather.
Yes, it took rough six weeks.
Speaker cable is a good second hand buy - NAC A5 lengths are readily available. I even got my Witch Phantom (which I prefer to NAC A5) from Ebay. The new price of A5 is extortionate considering how long they have been selling it unchanged.
2 Likes
Using WH Phantom between Nap 250 and Spendor a7 - fabulous
1 Like
I had a very nice uplift in SQ switching from some fairly decent but budget priced copper strand 4mm cables to the much less costly (than Phantom) Witch Hat N2.
Would have gone for Phantom but price for 2X4m would have made the cables almost as expensive as my pre-loved Spendor SA1. Which seemed a bit mullety in the circs.
2 Likes
I’m pretty happy with Naca5 cables. What will the Witch Hat Phantom bring to my system?
Have 82, Supercap 2, 2x 135s, NDS, 555PS, CDS3, XPS2, Linn Lp12 into Focal Aria 936 speakers.
They look reasonably priced. I have witch hat N2 speaker cables going into Beresford speaker/amp switch from the 135s. Then Naca5 going into the speakers from the switch. Then another long stretch of speaker cables going into another room feeding a 2nd set of speakers using Linn K20 speaker cable.
The switch also enables me to use my speakers with an AV amp. So I can switch between 2 amps and 2 sets of speakers as required. It is a superb set up, but will know doubt annoy purists!
It all works very well. So looking at potentially upgrading the Naca5 and N2 cables to 2 sets of 3.5m witch hat phantom cables. One set to the switch and other set from the switch to the speakers.
Your thoughts please. And before you say anything the switch is not powered and just provides a good connection point and does not diminish sound quality! Have heard it all before!
I use NACA4 and then NACA5 exclusively for over a decade in my system (252/SC/300DR) and was always very happy. As I upgraded my system–especially DR and recap of my 300, system started sounding edgy and harsh, especially listening to CDs (CDX2/555PS). While still working on my system, I am now using a biwire set of Townshend ISOLDA speaker cables and IMO they are very superior to NACA5. The ISOLDA cable is very flexible (ribbon design), length can be only what is needed and unequal, since the small matching box on each end of the cables provided required load for Naim amps. One set/ch worked perfectly, but I did have a problem when I upgraded to a biwire pair; biwiring sounded even better than the single pair but the 300 didn’t like the load–fan was always running even when not playing music. Max Townshend supplied me with a pair of small biwire boxes which presented the amp with the correct load. Now I use the biwire set of ISOLDAs – in unequal lengths – and my 300DR runs cool with no problem. The Townshend cable is superior in every way to NACA5. I plan to look into having my CDX2 serviced next (14 years-never serviced) but have bought my last pair of speaker cables.
I did not directly compare WH Phantom with NACA5. From my perspective, it was worth trying the Phantoms for at least four reasons:
- More flex/easier to work with than NACA5.
- Risk free given right to return.
- Less expensive than NACA5.
- Generally favorable reviews (including comparisons with NACA5) on this forum.
I’m long past the return period and am quite happy, but that’s not to say I (or you) would be unhappy with NACA5.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.