Cable dressing is a frequent topic in this forum with guidance to keep them off the floor, do not let them touch, etc etc. This is all but impossible with cables that are so long. Mains cables, if not shortened, get coiled up radiating 50c/s. SNAICS and Burndys cannot be shortened.
In my set up I could cope with cables half the length; certainly no more than 80cm.
To reduce the amount of mains cable and the number of connections created in a mains powerblock set up, I have created a ‘Y’ shaped cable using a simple junction box so two NAIM units can be fed from one unswitched socket.
Am I writing something fearfully heretical or should NAM offer shorter versions of their cables?
FWIW I agree with you. The length of supplied cables are such that dressing them ‘correctly’ is actually really difficult. I assume its performance based, otherwise Naim could save some dosh on cabling.
I read somewhere that the PowerLine length is indeed chosen because of SQ. I don’t know about burndy, SNAIC and interconnects, but knowing Naim it seems likely. Of course there is the complication of having single-rack and two-rack systems (and two-racks with a bit more and less distance), maybe they don’t want the logistics complications. I have just built a narrow two-rack system with all external supplies and it was workable, though shorter cables would have allowed the same order in both stacks, which would have been easier
It would be interesting to hear the conclusion on how a specific length of a power cable make any difference when every person in the world owning Naim have different length of power cable in the wall.
I am grateful to those who have contributed to this topic but maybe I should now rephrase the question for those setting up their systems in a domestic environment rather than a laboratory: “Does the positive effect of all NAIM cables being longer than 1.2m outweigh the negative effect of interconnects being unable to hang freely without touching the floor and each other and mains cables needing to be coiled up on the floor?”
Maybe the base units of FRAIM should have legs 50cm long.
The SNAICs and i/cs are 1.25m long; you wouldn’t want to go shorter than this as it can then cause connection problems when kit is spaced out, and if you go longer than this then you begin to get performance problems, particularly once you pass 2m.