Well it's true. I never really believed that speaker cable would need to burn in v much. I replaced my NACA5 with Chord Signature about 8 weeks ago, after demo at the dealers. The guys at Loud and Clear said it would take a good six weeks to burn in.

And it does! Just over the last week or so the music has really taken off. I guess since I'd had some used NACA5 from the dealer before, I'd never gone through this stage.

So now I'm a believer.

Cables are a very personal sort of thing - like speakers. There are those on the Forum who take the view that you are not listening to a Naim system if you are not using Naim cables or Naim speakers. I can understand and respect this point of view. However, I believe that Naim electronics are so far ahead in performance when compared to Naim speakers and cables that you are not really taking advantage of the full potential of those black boxes if you don't have a listen to other cables/speakers. Naturally, you will get a very good result with what some describe as the 'Naim Sound' when you use Naim cables and Naim speakers. However, there is little harm in experimenting with other cables (especially if you can borrow them !) to see whether you prefer the changes made in the sound characteristics.

I also use Chord Signature speaker cable in preferance to NACA5, but that's just my taste given the ART Emotions that I drive with my NAP 500.

Joe

I would say it needs even longer to burn in. It has been said that it takes at least three months to give its very best,

Regards

PB

PB/Joe,

Does the "minimum length" thing still come into it with signature?

Regards,

Steve

Nah....I bought two 2 meter pieces because at that price I wasn't going to fork out for more than I needed. Sounds fine and the newer series boxes don't seem bothered.

regards
Geoff

quote:

Originally posted by Polarbear:
I would say it needs even longer to burn in. It has been said that it takes at least three months to give its very best,

Regards

PB

Will look forward to further improvements over the next few weeks.

AB

I'm on a similar time line to you - the journey has occasionally been peculiar thus far albeit some of that is no doubt down to some poor cd's or lp's rather than the cables.

Daft question if I may, but I've assumed the arrows should be pointing to the speakers. Please don't tell me I'm wrong!

Peter

The arrows direct the path of the music and therefore should point towards the speakers.

I am not aware there is a minimum length of cable required for Signature. I believe that was more to do with the older Naims, the newer stuff is more tollreant,

Regards

PB

I thought the 500 was a little fussier beause of its bridged operation, or have I got something wrong?

i was advised 3m minimum using a 500

neil

quote:

Originally posted by AB:
The guys at Loud and Clear said it would take a good six weeks to burn in.

And it does! Just over the last week or so the music has really taken off.

That's totally my experience with several Chord Co cables as well; it applies to my Signatures, Athem 2's, Chorus, Odyssey etc. I've got no clue as to why, but it's really easy to hear!
Another factor I've noticed is that whenever a Chord cable is suspended from duty for a while, the same need to burn-in reappears; but the required burn-in time might be shorter than when brand new.

At the moment I have a run-in Anthem 2 and a brand new one; both exactly identical. Even my grandmother would hear the difference. From the kitchen!

I think the need to burn-in might be one of the reasons why some Naim-users reject Chord cables after a shortish home trial..

Regards

I guess I should really upgrade my CDS3 to 82 connection. Everyone raves about the hiline, but Chord of course make a Signature interconnect. I'm sure there were threads about this before, but any further thoughts?

ADRIAN

Chord used to say they could not terminate the signature interconnect with DIN plugs because it was too thick. I don't know if that has changed recently.
I had a demo of an RCA terminated signature interconnect via the RCA sockets on the CDS3 into the RCA's on my 552. We compared it with Anthem which CAN be terminated with DIN plugs, though for the demo the Anthem was also RCA terminated.

The result with Signature speaker cable also in place was a clear win for the Anthem interconnect. all 3 sets of listening ears agreed the signature interconnect seemed slow and too rich. The Anthem had a more open and pacy sound.

This was before the Hi-line came on the scene. To give that a fair contest now you would need to consider the new Indigo interconnect Chord now offers as it's top flight cable at a price to match.

BTW Neil..I ran 2 meter lengths of signature on a 500 with good results. I don't think it is necessary to buy 3 meters unless you really need it.

regards
Geoff

geoff

the advice came from hq

neil

quote:

Originally posted by AB: So now I'm a believer.

OH MY G . D! Another round earth audiophile bullshit convert! They are the worst kind!...


Seriously, EVERY cable has a brake in period. IC, speakercable, power cord, everyhing. The 'heavier' (more metal) a cable is, the longer it takes. How people can say they don't believe, IE don't hear this is beyond me.

It's no hocus pocus. MIT (the other, not the cable brand) looked into this a few years ago. They used an electron microscope to make pictures of a new piece of wire and from the same wire after being used for 1000 hours. The metallic structure was clearly changed. And it's measurable too. Among lots of other things, skin effect and signal overshoot changed significantly. This info is/has been online somewhere too.

R.

quote:

Originally posted by KTMax:
How people can say they don't believe, IE don't hear this is beyond me.

What? Sorry! Could you say that again, please?

Just done a quick search for this cable and thought it looked good possible easier to work with than the naim cable - but then I found the price!

I think I need a better system to warrent the upgrade!

adymcd: listen before you buy anyway - not everyone agrees it's a worthwhile all-round imrpovement on the Naim stuff, much depends on your system, room and personal tastes.Cheers

Mike

If you want a speaker cable that is both inexpensive, easy to handle, and still sounds 100% naim, try Paul Speltz Anti-Cable. More PRAT than the Chord cable I have tried (Epic Twin) and better stereo image. If you are worried about any electric mismatch in terms of inductance and capacitance take a look at their technical specifications and see if this should not suit a naim amp quite well.

quote:

Originally posted by adymcd:
Just done a quick search for this cable and thought it looked good possible easier to work with than the naim cable - but then I found the price!

I think I need a better system to warrent the upgrade!

adymcd



Try some of this its supposedly what Chord repackage as Signature. I'm thinking of trying some soon so I'll let the forum know how it sounds.



Dean...