Wiring a subwoofer to a HiCap

Was a 2m cable from Flashback. About 10 yrs ago. Never sounded right.

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Interesting, thanks for sharing. No idea why there would be such a different experience.

Will try both the HiCap output and speaker cabling route to my sub. Who knows, could be terrible or worthwhile, will keep an open mind. I suspect it’s going to tell me that I really need to do something better with room acoustics!!

For me the difference between high and low level connection was small, so I could have lived with either.
I would wait until you have made a final decision on the exact location of the sub first, as getting this right can make a huge difference to the sound. Not much point using a long slugged RCA lead if the sub ends up near your speakers where short, cheap lengths of speaker cable would work well.

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Hi Stevo

Interested in what you’re looking to do here as I have a HCDR (powering SN2) and 2 subs currently connected by high level to each speaker. And I’m also confused.

The HiCap is a power supply so how exactly does it carry an audio signal to the sub(s) and what would be the benefit in this approach?

Probably a no-go here anyway as one sub is 5 metres from the Hi-Cap but still curious as to the what, why and how here.

Hi @Catcat,

On my HiCap socket 1 & 2 are outputs, which I don’t use as my NAC 72 is connected to socket 4. Learnt recently that you can connect either to a sub. Not sure if you can connect 2 subs using sockets 1 & 2 though. Maybe send a message to Naim support to ask.

Naim use to sell cables for this purpose, but no longer. Here a link to some fairly inexpensive cables Naim Audiophile 4 Pin Din to Dual RCA Lead. Pre or Power Amp. Mogami 2965 Cable..

All the best
Steve

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Btw, doesn’t the SN2 have a subwoofer output?may be your best option is so.

Not an option for me with my NAÇ72/HiCap/NAP160 combo

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Taking the output from the Supernait sub outputs with two single RCA cables would work. 5 metres should be OK. I wouldn’t bother if you have a high level connection already set up, though.

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Flashback sold a subwoofer cable with a resistor installed specifically for Naim gear. But alas Flashback are out of business now.

It does have a sub output but never tried it. Also have an Atom where I did try the low-level sub output, and the high level connections sounded noticeably better.

Each sub is next to the speaker so I got my own, short, high-level cables made up and they’re connected via spades to the speaker terminals.

All quite neat - but was interested in what you’re looking to do and whether there’d be some benefit in that approach.

Yeah it was just a case of trying to understand what benefits/value there might be in connecting to the Hi Cap.

Though I’m still confused as to how a power supply can output an audio signal.

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Now I know.
That plains why I’m driving a REL - thanks.

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It’s an oddity of Naim amps that the audio signal goes from preamp to power amp via the Hicap, so the signal output to any power amp, including the one in your subwoofer, is taken from the Hicap. The reason for this is explained in the FAQ in James’s post above.

Thank you. Still a bit confused despite the explanation :slight_smile:

Thank you James, after 30 plus years of ownership, i’m just leaning about the audio signal passing through the HiCap :rofl:

I’ve always had my HiCap connect to socket 4 of my NAC 72 pre amp with a SNAIC 5 and NAP 160 to the output of the NAC 72 via a SNAIC 4.

This may well be a naive question, but am I better off connecting the power amp to HiCap? Also via SNAIC 4.

The manual seems to show both options, but doesn’t say which is better so always had connected via the NAC 72.

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The only time a power amp such as the NAP160 is directly connected to the pre-amp is when there’s no dedicated power supply being used - the pre-amp instead being powered by the power amp’s internal supply. The correct way to connect the NAP160 when powering the pre-amp with a dedicated power supply is via the power supply, as per the manual (see below).

Screenshot 2023-08-28 at 08.55.10

Otherwise, quite apart from impaired performance due to sub-optimal system earthing, you end up feeding the pre-amp with both dual rail power from the power supply and also single rail power from the NAP160, which can over-stress the regulators. Not a good idea!

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Thank you Richard, that’s so helpful. Don’t recall the dealer ever expaling this, but a long time ago.

The image you shared doesn’t seem to be in the 1989 manual that I have and the NAC 72 has RCA aux inputs on mine.

So I connect the 4 pin snaic to HiCap socket 2 to 160 and socket 4 to the 72 using the 5 pin snaic?


Yes, exactly.

This extract from the '89 manual explains the connections;

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Thank you, much appreciated

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