Hi All, new to the forum but have a critical question that needs answering.
I’ve just ordered a NAP300 DR to replace my aging Densen amp (will be hooking it up to a valve preamp) and have the system configured in a unique way. I have a pair of Stax headphones that are being powered by my amp via an energiser box (a Woo WEE). I use a 30cm pair of speaker jumpers from the amp to the energiser and from there run a 2m pair of Chord speaker cable to my speakers.
My question is: could this cause problems with my upcoming 300DR? Naim make hay about using long speaker runs and at 30cm this is the antithesis of that.
Would the Naim see a 30cm run, or is the total speaker cable hooked up between amp, energiser and speakers (30cm +2m) the load presented?
I really hope it’s the latter. I don’t want to damage my shiny new 300DR or severely hamper the sound. Nor do I want to shell out for 3m+ of extra speaker cable to add to the current set-up.
Whilst 30cm + 2m of Chord is not ideal for NAP300, I’m more concerned about the Woo WEE. What Inductance & Capacitance or anyotheer factor does it add to the NAP300 speaker output.
Then what is the Wee WOO load on the NAP300 when just the headphones are being used.
I’ve searched www but don’t find anything.
As Klout10 says, I doubt very much that anyone has experience of this, but I suspect it will not get the best out of the NAP300.
Also the 2m of speaker cable will only be in the circuit when not listening to the stax.
So you’ll have: when using speakers, 30cm + woo + 200cm + speakers
Or: 30cm + woo + headphone cable + stax.
This sort of arrangement with a speaker driven energiser can sometimes cause problems with Naim amps. Best here (for the Naim amp) would be to take the speaker level feed off the speakers themselves, much like with a sub and Naim, that way the amp won’t “see” the additional cabling.
Does the energiser not have a line or pre level input?
Hi, the problem that Taake is going to have then is the energiser has a built in speaker/stax switch, effectively disconnecting the speakers when listening to headphones.
Running off the speaker terminals is thus going to be problematic.
Here’s the inputs; it basically is designed to sit between the amp and its speakers.
I guess a different energiser is needed.
Yes, I’m familiar with this sort of thing from my days with Stax Lambda Pros. The energiser allowed you to switch between headphones or speakers, but i would think it’s not something you would want to use with a Naim amp.
Better to just run off the back of the speakers and connect the speakers directly to the naim amp.
So it seems that the general consensus is to remove the WEE entirely out of the system. I do have a Stax SRM-007tII that I van use to power my 009 but it will be quite a step down from using my pre and power amp.
Guess that’s the price to pay to use my 300DR to its fullest, sigh.
Can the OP not run a longer cable to the Woo WEE - I know that all but 30cm would be excess and have to be folded up somewhere, and an extra cost, but if sufficient length and correct characteristics that should load the amp appropriately, just as if the Woo WEE were attached at the a speaker end of the speaker cable.
Hi IB, yes the first section would really be better with a full length of speaker cable of at least 3.5uH.
My concern is what the WooWEE adds, or the effect of it on the NAP300 output load.
It will add something, it might be very minimal, but we just don’t know.
Hi Mike, indeed, to which I alluded, however the same would be the case if connected to the speaker terminals, though then in parallel with the speaker load not switching between them.
So I could buy another set of speaker cables to lengthen the distance between the Woo and the 300DR. I would like to keep the length to a minimum if possible without impacting overall sound.
Say I bought a 2m pair, that would mean:
Energiser switched to speaker: 300DR sees 2m +2m run (4m in total)
Energiser switched to Stax: 300DR sees 2m +2.5m speaker cable run (4.5m in total)
The total run length would solve the 3.5m minimum load the Naim amp would prefer, right?
FWIW, the Woo WEE energiser seems invisible in regard to impact in the chain, at least when plugged between my Densen amp and speakers I heard no difference in sound VS direct into my speakers.
It’s not actually 3.5 metres of cable that Naim amps need, it’s a 3.5uH inductance load.
3.5m of NACA5 will give the required inductance as it’s 1uH/metre.
3.5m of e.g. Chord will not, you will need something longer, but what depends on the actual cables spec.
So to be clear, you suggest to run speaker cable directly from the Naim to my speakers and if I want to power my Stax, hook up a second pair of speaker cables from the speakers to the energiser, correct?
I’m guessing speakers are fine having two sets of speaker cable on the one pair of binding posts?
