Audiolab Minax

[guydarryl]

Good idea regarding using 1.5 or 2.5mm mains cable, especially if it's from a reputable manufacturer (what Quad did for years!). Got to be better than QED or similar...

Hi,
I have seen several negative comments regarding QED cables.
Do they use poor quality copper?
I thought most cables came from BIIC? or some major cable manufacturer and were branded for a particular supplier (hence problem with Linn and Naim a few years ago - Nac a4 and Linn cable both the same?)

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Not NVA, they don't.

[_D_S_J_R_]

Good idea regarding using 1.5 or 2.5mm mains cable, especially if it's from a reputable manufacturer (what Quad did for years!). Got to be better than QED or similar...

Hi,
I have seen several negative comments regarding QED cables.
Do they use poor quality copper?
I thought most cables came from BIIC? or some major cable manufacturer and were branded for a particular supplier (hence problem with Linn and Naim a few years ago - Nac a4 and Linn cable both the same?)

When QED was distributed by 'Veda products,' the margins were poor (half that of Chord Co. and Cable Talk), yet prices were higher than good quality mains cable (1.5mm) and the ever-winning (WTF!) Silver Anniversary was absolutely dire! You can always tell a sh*t cable, as it sounds worse and worse the better the system gets. Chord Odyssey was another one. Fine in 'lazy systems' (with or without Naim amps), it showed its true scrappy colours in a big Krell (FPB and equivalent) type of system. this is when I first heard the VDH 'The Wind' used well spaced and untwisted...

Way back when the Naim A4 cable came along, there was the Absolute Wire and 'Ariston' labelled equivalent with a softer dialectric. Levinson in the US came a long with a 'mega-strand' cable in a non-reacting grey coloured jacket and it seems that Linn's K20 used the same material, but with the classic 42 thicker strands of the other BICC cables.

We then discovered that the Naim A4 could go off over the years. Lengths of demo black A4 exhibited severely blackened copper strands after several years, although white A4 seemed to last better and K20 didn't go off at all. Naim's A5 was a different thing altogether, although still made by BICC I believe (as were Cable Talk speaker cables). The dialectic is hideous to part and strip and stiffens the cable noticeably. The copper inside is still 2.5mm I think, but using 19 strands of thicker wire. I found this cable sounded great with 'gentler' sounding amps such as Quad and 'traditional' valve amps. How it's gone from £5/m to around £25/m in twenty odd years I really don't know, but there you are (does it really cost ten times more from the supplier than Cable Talk 3.1 - New talk 3 is different but still 2.5mm and £4/m).

By the way, current Talk 3 follows the pattern of the old 1.75mm? CT Theatre 2 cable, but using 2.5mm gauge and dialectric similar to the CT 'Simflex' jacket I think. great value for the price and making the Naim A5 more expensive than ever!!!

Sorry to drift. Just had the thoughts above I wanted to post... NVA speaker cable is better than all of these IMO!

[guydarryl]

Sorry to drift. Just had the thoughts above I wanted to post... NVA speaker cable is better than all of these IMO!

my fault for the drift! but thanks for the information.

[Fretless]

Bass ports sealed from the inside with Jam-jar lids !! Found two that fitted perfectly over the inner port rim and have smeared a load of excess glue from the outside to hopefully ensure an airtight seal.

Drying overnight, listening tomorrow.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

That was a bit Jam - my

[_D_S_J_R_]

Can I say that 'some' speakers designed for ported boxes can lose midrange fine detail if the box is sealed (cone suspension too stiff) and I remember my very first incarnation Epos ES14's were just like this, the ports deadening the mid too much. the answer here was to reduce the magnetic flux slightly, let the cone assembly 'flop' a touch more, use a soft sponge bung (which I liked fitted sideways) and this was the start of this model's popularity (the main driver was modified again and this model's fame then established, but this was later on).

Speakers really are art-forms as well as a mature science. I'm just saying - try these mods and see what you think, just don't expect it to be automatically better in every case Cheaper cost-conscious boxes are one thing, but some of the more expensive models did have a lot of thought and listening go into them right from the off


P.S. I'm really not trying to stir the pot, but see here - wadding in boxes isn't done for fun..

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/full-ran ... inets.html

[AshM750.]

Exactly what I was thinking, generally enclosed speaker maindrivers do have more Travel, dont they? If you enclose a ported speaker the driver hasnt got enough travel, therefore causing certain issues in sound and mechanically.

Just a theory.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Here we go back into theory again

Sorry if I get irritated again but I get so fed up of it, and from dave all this about speaker companies and the desire to worship them. There is only one reason speaker companies do anything and that is to sell more speakers and make more money. Some of them USED TO think that good music was what sold loudspeaker but just about all now have woken up to reality - bullshit reviews and dealer selling is what sells loudspeakers, and ports allow them to make cheap cabinets with WAF appeal that LOOK good enough for people to want to buy them. Why the hell do you think that just by applying some common sense to them (Doc Mods) they are improved out of all proportion. Including speakers from the worshiped companies that are supposedly too sacred to alter

There is no theory there is only ears and music. There are no *God* speaker companies, in reality probably Royd was the last, like Goodmans they are all bust or now owned and made in China, in the UK there are now only profit margin spivs like Linn Products

[AshM750.]

FFS Doc, I slipped up, sorry. I have just realised what I've said