I have got a Naim power supply - an old one from the "olive green" era - that I have been trying to sell. Not just trying, in fact, but succeeding - twice - on Ebay. But unbelievably (to me, at any rate) on both occasions the buyers rescinded the sale because the power cable was not the original Naim item. Once this happened before I boxed it up and sent it, the other time the buyer discovered the awful truth upon taking delivery. He cancelled the transaction and sent it back to me!

Now, I have no idea what an original Naim power cable looks like and no idea whether I ever owned the one that belonged to this power supply (which I bought second hand). I just used it with one of the standard 3-pin 13 amp to IEC plug cables that I have at home, and I assumed that the next user would be happy to do so. Not so, it seems. For a self-respecting Naim owner, it's got to be a Naim cable.

So anyway, I have bought one now, to give myself a fighting chance of making a sale that sticks. And guess what? It's a kettle lead with a separate white 13 amp plug screwed onto it! And if you didn't know it was full of magic Naim smoke, you would say it was just a really ordinary item.

What goes through folks' heads, really? What level of obsession is this? What are they doing with their kit - listening to it, or is it standing on a dais under a spotlight in some Hong Kong apartment being ritually worshipped?

I give up ...
IB