I have a vintage Naim system that has been in storage. It is a FlatCap, nap90 nac62 and nac03 cd player with musical fidelity Mc-4 speakers. When I set it up, I could not get any sound out of the left speaker. There is sound coming from right speaker. I have jumper cables in the speakers with spades and bananas. i do not believe any of the cables are faulty. I am trying to determine if the speakers or the nap90 is faulty. I would like to try SOLELY plugging left speaker into right connection on the nap90 and see if left speaker will work. Also trying SOLELY plugging right speaker into left connection on nap90. Am I likely to damage any of the components by doing this test if I ensure the equipment is all powered off before making any changes?
And yes, follow Fatcat’s good advice. As it’s been in storage, turn it all off and then unplug and replug every connection between 10 and 20 times. It may be that one of the connections is a bit grubby. Even if the speaker swapping test suggests it’s the 90, it’s worth doing. It would be odd for an amplifier to go wrong while sitting in storage.
I cannot agree that your proposed test by swapping L and R channels is safe.
A possible fault is that one a channel on the NAP90 output is faulty and is dumping DC current into the speaker. This could damage the speaker, which is very likely to cost more to fix than the faulty amp.
Swapping the channels could, in this case, cause the same damage to one speaker that it has already done to the other, meaning that you would need to replace the damaged drivers on two speakers instead of one.
At the very least, get the amp checked out before you try the proposed test. Once you know that the amp isn’t faulty the test will be safe.
If the original din cables are being used … how did you narrow the problem down to NAP90 or speaker? Surely the problem could be with any / all of CD player, Preamp, Power amp, speaker, or any of the connecting cables - ? (You can eliminate the flatcap by setting up the system without it and testing the result). I think you’d have to subsitute each component one by one and see which replacement removes the fault. Your proposed test would narrow things down to “speaker” (or its connection) / or “system”. Apologies if I’m missing something .. it’s late … (I won’t insult you by suggesting playing with the balance control … )
If at all possible, just try the non working speaker connected to any amp and source. This will at least show if the speaker works.
As previously mentioned, if the amp has a problem and has blown one speaker, connecting it to the other speaker will blow that one too.
I think you guys are over-thinking this. Connecting the non-working speaker to the working channel will immediately reveal whether it now works (which means the problem is in the amplifier) or doesn’t work (in which case the problem is in the cable or speaker on the non-functioning channel).
I don’t think there is any risk at all in trying that.
I take it you have never experienced the strong smell of smoke emanating from a loudspeaker that has been connected to a power amp that has a faulty output.
That’s why I said to connect the non-working cable/loudspeaker in place of the working one. I didn’t say to connect the working cable/loudspeaker in place of the non-working one.
The problem with connecting the non working speaker in place of the working one is that it doesn’t necessarily confirm that, if the speaker now works, the problem is in the amplifier. All it does is show that both speakers and speaker cables work. As well as an amplifier channel it could be that one of the snaics between the three Naim boxes is dodgy. That’s why I suggested multiple plugging and unplugging of the cables. I wonder why the IP has not yet done that. It would be odd for something to fail while in storage, hence why a connection may well be the issue. Doing this avoids a potential, but unlikely, disaster by plugging a speaker into an iffy amplifier channel. That’s how I see it anyway.
Apologies I have been absent. I have been dealing with a multitude of medical appointments.
I want to thank you all for your input and suggestions to my issue. As I mentioned, I am definitely the novice here so I am grateful for everyone who has taken the time to offer up suggestions. Some I had not even considered. And, as it so happens, I do have another amp! Forgot about that! Not Naim though. Also been in storage and as an option, i will resurrect that and see if I get a win.
I managed to find a brief opportunity to unplug and plug 10-20 times, no difference. I did manage to get some beautiful sound out of the left speaker by swapping to right channel. Maybe left channel of the amplifier??? Need to dedicate some quality time to investigate
I will also look at Flatcap as suggested. Could be a few days before I get back with an update for anyone REMOTELY interested
Thank you everyone for taking your valuable time to offer up advice
… (I won’t insult you by suggesting playing with the balance control … )