Speaker cables & output inductors

[yairf]

Hi all

Has anyone here tried the output inductor (a-la NCC-200) drill with Naim power-amps? I have a good feeling this is the missing link and an opportunity for massive upgrade to the sound of the Naims.

Here is the background for why I'm asking (sorry, a bit long):

In the last couple of weeks I've given the modded 32/140 some good listening tests. With every speaker I tried, I was always delighted with the results : Naim Credo; Linn Kaber; B&W M801; Alon V (US made monsters) and coming up - Proac 3.8 and Rogers AB1+LS3/5.

I also tried some speaker cable combinations and the results are interesting:
- Naim A5 - easy on the ear, good PRAT, but little details and too "dark" sounding.
- Linn K400 - Truly amazing combination of PRAT, tune, openess and smooth flow of music - so much better than Naim's!
- Cardas - disaster! the Naims sounded like Krells! robust but very agressive, gave me a true headache. The Cardas wires worked amazingly in the line-level wiring, but failed as speaker wires.

However - with the Cardas I also noticed a whole lot of musical details and textures that I haven't heard before... if I could only alleviate the headaches...

My feeling is that the output inductors could solve the compatibility issues with so-called "Hi-Def" cables.

Am I right here?
Thanks, Yair

 

[coredump]

There may be some answers in this thread and in this.

Best regards,

Oliver

 

[rontoolsie]

Yair,
Which Cardas speaker wire did you try out? I am currently trying a twisted pair of the 9.5 ga Cardas chassis wire in place of the NACA5 with some sucess. Smoother, cleaner, more articulate but with less LF punch than the NACA5-although the 200 hr break-in is not but halfway complete at this point.

 

[yairf]

Yair,
Which Cardas speaker wire did you try out?

Hi Ron
I just tried a ready-made cable - one of their commercial products.

I am currently trying a twisted pair of the 9.5 ga Cardas chassis wire in place of the NACA5 with some sucess.

I have used a thinner wire to replace the internal wiring (including ground wires in 140), as well as shielded wire (21AWG) to replace the grey mic cables in the 32 and 140. Worked a treat!

Smoother, cleaner, more articulate but with less LF punch than the NACA5-although the 200 hr break-in is not but halfway complete at this point.

But do you find it more involving than the A5?
Yair

 

[rontoolsie]

My experience with the Cardas wires used in other applications is that they have a far greater degree of break-in related changes than ANY other wire I have ever heard. They sound incredibly dull, lifeless, bandwidth limited and completely unable to carry even the beginning of a tune during the first 12 hours. After that there is a slow dissapation of the lifelessness that eventually equals and then exceeds the other cables I've tried. And then suddenly after about 3-4 weeks there is a sudden and dramatic change that locks in with unflappable poise and great extension.

I went back and forth between the NACA5 and the 9.5AWG Cardas again last night and still found the NACA to be punchier at the bottom but quite colored elsewhere with a decidedly coarser yet superficially more exciting (?agitated) midrange and HF. The very top end of the Cardas at this point is a little too smooth, but I know there are some major changes to be effected through additional running in. I should be in a far better position to make a definitive evaluation in about a week. I'll let you know.