The Naim New Classic range - Part 1

Hi Biggles thanks for reply was just curious how far apart they were. Mine are 900 mm from wall like yours and 2.15 apart so somewhere similar to most others on here with a small amount of toe in.
By rake i mean tilting back away from you so speakers are pointing upwards more.

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You can set safety limits per-zone in Roon -

While on the zone you wish to set, click on the volume icon, then the gear-cog icon and choose “volume limits”. There you can set comfort and safety limits.

Comfort allows the slider to work so far, then one must use separate clicks on the +/- keys. Safety sets a hard limit to protect equipment (it can be overridden deliberately by returning to these settings, of course, but can’t be accidentally exceeded).

I have mine set to allow pretty loud, but not speaker/amp damaging levels as standard. Can always be overruled for a bit of Rage Against the Machine… :sunglasses:

Slightly off topic, I know - why does Super Lumina speaker cable come is a minimum length of 3m, rather than 3.5m?

I know there’s an argument to say that it could be used in a non-Naim amplified system, so 3m would be fine in those situations, but that’s probably less likely.

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The 3.5m minimum is specific to NACA5. All other cables will vary depending on their inductance and capacitance.
Also amps will vary in their sensitivity to this issue. Super Lumina was designed to match Statement.

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Thanks for the information (and Skeptikal too).

New to Naim - so all I’ve been seeing is 3.5m minimum in most cable related threads.

When I was ‘researching’ speaker cable and noted the 3m minimum length for Super Lumina - thought it was a odd discrepancy, but there must be a reason for it.

Ah thanks for the link-back, appreciated!

Given it’s no longer a stability issue, longer cables giving better SQ seems odd? Generally speaking the longer the cable the greater the chances of signal loss and noise pickup, no? Is there an explanation as to why longer is better with Naim amps?

All explained by @110db earlier in the thread. I’ll try to dig back later but I have a big lunch to prepare for now…

I’ll also add to the FAQ at some point.

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Hi @RobGoodison
I use Kudos KS-1 @ 3 metres and all is great. :+1:t2:

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Hi @Skeptikal

That’s good to know. Kudos KS-1 is on the audition list, and as I can see pre-terminated lengths in whole metres only, knowing I can go down in length, rather than up (i.e. get 3m rather than 4m) will save a bit of money, and I’ll have less cable to dress. Bonus.

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Using 8m KS-1 here……no problemo….:blush:

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Ah i see. No, no rake.

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I recall 110dB referring to increased inductance on longer lengths making the amp’s feebavk circuits happier - too stable = boring, unstable = edgy. But it’s a little enigmatic - how much longer, and what is the optimal length to make the feedback circuits most musical?

My concern here, if there is an optimal, long, length, would be the requirement to have metres of excess speaker cable lying around in order to optimise SQ. UK living rooms do not tend to be large enough to warrant more than around 2.5m each on the speaker runs, assuming the equipment rack is placed centrally…

When we did some listening tests at the factory, albeit on the Classic kit (IIRC, I used a NAP250 and a NAP500) with different lengths of NACA5, I felt there was a definite sweet spot that started at around 5m per channel and was even better at 10m per channel. By contrast 3.5m per channel made me feel a bit “itchy” and I didn’t feel so much at ease listening to it. So, at home, I use 10m per channel of NACA5. Hope that helps you a bit.

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If that’s true, I hope the new classics Nap 250 doesn’t require it to sound at its best.

To be honest, I’d find that very offputting - what is one to do with the extra several metres per channel of unnecessary cable lying around?

Sounds messy.

I suppose the other solution would be to use a different speaker cable to NACA5, if it’s that sensitive in terms of its length? In which case, is it possible to calculate its inductance (which I understand to be the critical factor re: feedback stability) at 5m and 10m so that one can choose a different cable which possesses that inductance at the length one requires?

Naim have traditionally recommended a combination of low capacitance and moderately high inductance. See the FAQ here. Of course, it would appear from what Steve has said that any cable is safe to use with the new amp but that’s not the same as what will perform best, hence his recommendation of NACA5 of at least 3.5m.

There’s plenty of speaker cable discussion on many threads so probably best to have search and read and then perhaps start a fresh dedicated thread. Also have a chat with your Naim dealer and perhaps listen to some options. The one thing to bear in mind here is that with Naim, shorter doesn’t necessarily translate to better when it comes to speaker cabling, and from what Steve has said, that does still seem to be the case, although without having tested with the new amp for myself…

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Probably a stupid question and one that might already have been covered in this huge post but here goes…

Can the NSC 222 be used as a Streamer-only and plugged directly into an existing pre-amp / power-amp set-up? Or does it always use its own pre-amp stage?

Thank you, Richard. I’ll find the serial number, then start a new thread.

You can’t bypass the preamp. You could connect it to, say, an integrated amp if you have one but you will have two functioning volume controls and two preamps in the signal path.

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