Just relocated from London to my native Antwerp, happy enough to find a house where I'll have a dedicated music/fire/reading room - of quite large proportions : 7 by 5 meters.

Have installed a plastered ceiling to contain new lighting and ... loudspeaker cable tubes. They are 20 mm wide on the outside, leaving a mere 17 mm on the inside for loudspeaker cable to be pulled through. Now you probably now that NACA5 is about 15 mm wide. So no issue ? There are some 90-degree turns in the tubes... they measure about 13 meters... which means I'll have to replace my current 10 meter cables for something considerably longer.

I sincerely doubt that NACA5 will allow itself to be pulled through the tubes. Somewhere I still hope it does.

Any with any experience ?!?! Please advise ! What alternative would be good ?

Thanks!
(CDX2/282/200/N803)

Yves

You might try sourcing naca 4, it is considerably more flexible.

I think you could possibly get it round the corner, once its turned its OK, if you know what I mean, but are you intending getting two lengths down the tube or just one?

Also and please excuse my ignorance why does it need to be in a tube?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by YvesD:
(CDX2/282/200/N803)

I was told that B&W 803 needs a 250.2 amp minimum to really shine. How do they sound with a 200?

Garyi,

Thanks. It will be hard for me to make any concessions on quality. Any experience on pulling Kimber cables through ? By the way, the tubes are installed through the intricate framework that holds the plasterboard.

Edouard, nonsense: any Reference series NAIM amplifier should be able to handle any speaker - if not, there is something wrong with the design of the speaker. The 200 does fine.

Yves

Yves,

I may have the same problem if I finally decide to install Naca cable in my new home. The tubes are also 20mm. My dealer says that getting Naca through tubes, especially ribbed ones (as most of them are), and with 90 degrees turns, is somewhat of a challenge. However, I know that you can try to make the cable temporarily more flexible by carefully heating it with a hair dryer. Also, the installer told me that they do have tricks to run cables in tricky situations, such as guides ("souris"), or starting by running some kind of string first in the tube, all the way, making it come out on the other opening of the tube, and then attaching the cable to the string on end in which you insert it, allowing it to be pulled by the string on the other end, or sharpening the cable (making it sort of pointy), making it easier for it to travel through the ribbed tube. I am not sure I am explaining all of this very clearly, and it figures because I have never tried any of this personally, but the point is : ask an electrician, or an experienced installer, and he may find a way to solve the problem.

Let me know how you do, as I may be going through this shortly !

Edouard S.

Getting NACA5 through tubes of this diameter is NOT going to be easy. You mention 90' bends.. ouch! just get the diameter of the bends as big as you can. 1 cable through a 20mm tube, possibly, 2.. nigh on impossible.
Any way you can get the cable in before you install the tubes??
At best you must install some thin rope to pull the cable through with, and as indicated, wrapping the first few inches (50 -60cm) with electrical tape will help in pulling the cable round bends & avoid ridges.
You are going to need a deal of patience with this one..
Took me a few days to feed 4 x 5m scarts, 1 x 5m component (30mm thick!) & 5 x 10m 'A5' through an assortment of 4" drain pipes under the floor.

I pulled my NACA5 through ribbed, plastic conduit. I replaced my NACA4 with it.
No easy job, and I didn't have any sharp bends (I know because I installed it when I put the room in).
There are some lubricants you can use, called locally "Rhino Snot" (due to its consistency) and it won't damage the insulation on the NACA5.
You might consider buying a metal snake and running it through backwards and pulling the cable with it. Unless you have some serious string, you'll end up breaking it and having to start all over... Frustrating.
And, leave a string in the conduit when you're done, you never know what else you might want to pull through there (though not ideal nor recommended, you could run another signal cable in there if it were adequately shielded -- an optical cable would have no impact, for example).
Just hire an electrician to do it, they have much more difficult installations than that.
Good Luck!
David

Thanks to all. The "Rhino Snot" is hilareous... what a name !

I feel relieved. I'll be pulling a single length of the loudspeakercable attached to a single strand of electrical wire (which is currently in the tubes) through a single tube which is smooth and not ribbed. It seems like I might be able to stick to NACA5. !

I might get the dealer to join me to perform this trick. He is one of two (!) in Belgium. As alternative cable, he recommended "ProAc" which I have only seen in the local utilities store (not quite the Ecosse/Townshend/... of this world). Any other suggestions out there ?

Yves