Hi all,

This is a question to the forum and to the guys from Naim.

I was reading through an old copy of the Absolute Sound (yeah, very round earth I know...) and came across an interesting article on closing unused inputs & outputs of pre-amps to improve sound quality and keep them clean. According to the article sensitive in- & outputs can pickup airborne interference (and there is a lot of that in our year 2000 atmosphere) and compromise sound quality. Does sound kinda possible to me...

Would it be a good idea to close off unused in- & outputs on a (highly sensitive) Naim pre-amp? Could be done with a closed version of the locking rings as used on the current interconnects. At least this would keep them nice'n clean.

Any ideas?

Richard.

Richard,

I have used shorting plugs on the unused inputs (when there are any) on my Exposure preamp for years. The difference is not huge, but there is a subtle reduction in noise. The shorting plugs are easily made from cheap RCAs, with the positive and negative leads soldered together. I would imagine that a similar plug could be made for the inputs on Naim preamp.

Ross

Ross,

Not sure shorting the inputs is a good idea in a Naim pre amp but having some form of shielding which I think Richard was suggesting is a good idea if you are in a high RF area.

Jason

I would be VERY wary of doing this with any Naim amp except the new 112 or NAIT5.

All other pre-amps in the range do not switch the earth channel - so you would be coupling the input stages of four or five unused inputs into the earth circuit.

Martin

I don't think shorting is a very good idea either. The idea is only to close the unused in- & outputs. This could be done with a locking-ring as used on Naim connectors now albeit a closed one.

This would prevent (of lower at least) any airborne interference picked up by the in- & outputs.

The trouble is, where do you get such a closed locking ring??

Richard.