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Avondale Blacklink speaker wire vs Naim NACA5

I found that the BL was preferable to A5 in as much that I wanted to smooth out some of the fabled Naim "harshness". To a degree it achieved this. I've not since bothered to experiment with any other speaker leads, even though I am no longer using any Naim or even Avondale gear.
Reading the other posts, the concensus seems to be that it does smooth out the top end a wee bit, which some find good & others find to be squashing the dynamics a bit too much.
Matt.
 
manicatel said:
it does smooth out the top end a wee bit, which some find good & others find to be squashing the dynamics a bit too much.
Matt.
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that is in a nutshell, spot-on from my experience too. but I'd also say it undounbtadly added depth to the bass, a tad more detail and its so damn friendly to lay/use in a room.
 
Hi All,

I decided some years ago to give Blacklink a try after using Naca5 for many moons. At the time I was using 140/72 into SBLs. I added the Blacklink while my wife was out of the room. She arrived back before I'd had chance to assess the results. As soon as the first album started to play she asked me if I'd done anything to the hi-fi as it was so much clearer? Then I had a good listen. The bass was more defined and the top end, though less harsh, was far more detailed. Metaphorically speaking it was as though someone had cleaned some very dirty windows.

There is no doubt that the results improved with time/use as the cables "burned in". I wouldn't go back to Naca5 to my ears the improvement is vast. Blacklink allows you, emotionally, to get far closer to the music. I still have Naca5 under the carpet so I've been able to demonstrate the difference between the two cables. No one has yet shown any preference for the Naca5.

I recently changed my 140s for Avondale M130s and tried swapping the cables again. No contest! Blacklink wins again.

Tony. B
 
Have been a BlackLink user for 3 last years. I run Naim amps with Neat speakers and thought the top end was a little uncouth with Naca5.
That said, I did dem my system at the Wigwam Scalford show in March and took both the BL and N5 along just to see what a room with different acoustics might do, and used Naca5 all weekend.
 
2 many boxes said:
I tried BlackLink instead of NACA5 between my A260Z and my SBLs. I found the BlackLink to be better than the NACA5 in every respect except oomph, bounce, dynamics, life, call it what you will.

As I couldn't live without that factor I'm afraid I gave the BlackLink back. Les raised his eyebrows a bit but no more than that.

This is the only Avondale product I've ever returned though :)
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Did you have the black link and speakers in phase ?
i have the naca5 and black link on demo ,naca5 always ends up disconected
i just keep it for demos to prove a point to listeners
 
Believe it or not, I have a run of 6 metres on one side and 10 metres on the other. Not conventional I know, but it seems to work ok. Just needs a little tweak of the balance control.

Regards,
Tony. B
 
Its interesting that those how have had positive experiences are
using fairly long runs of 5.5 to 6 meters. For my space, that is a lot
of wire. My Naim dealer here in the US recommended a minimum of
12 feet (3.7 meters). However, they are using a much longer run in
their show room and there is not even a hint of glare or harshness that
a lot of Naim users are talking about, and this is on the DeVore Super 8's
which I own. I am still in the process of taming this glare with the
Audience PDC. I seem to be on the right track but I have about another
week of break in.

I do have to wonder if 3.7 meters of N5 is long enough.
 
Coming back to my problem i found that my Isobarik's were totally flat with the Blacklink compared with the Naca 5 and i was playing it all weekend at the time. The lengths of both cables were 7.5 mtrs. Is it something to do with the stability of the Naim amps?
 
martin dawson said:
Coming back to my problem i found that my Isobarik's were totally flat with the Blacklink compared with the Naca 5 and i was playing it all weekend at the time. The lengths of both cables were 7.5 mtrs. Is it something to do with the stability of the Naim amps?
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Hi martin
Which models are you refering to ?
old or new ?
 
Isobarik's circa 1983 but sent back to Linn in about '89 for servicing whereby the replaced the tweeters and crossovers which are inside the speakers. Amp is the chrome bumper type.
 
scottmac62 said:
Bob, were you talking about the N5?
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Yes, never tried the Avondale stuff. I remember when I switched from the NACA4 to the 5 way back I wasn't overly impressed with the new cable but after a while I either got more used to it or it actually started to sound better. At first it was a bit edgy and lacked a plumby bass, then after a month or so it started to sound very good indeed. FWIW I also really like the original QED 79 strand, that was a close second to the Naim IMHO.
 
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