Thanks again everyone. Perhaps to help someone in the future: I did find the Deltron banana plug mentioned here from two good US electronic suppliers: Mouser and Newark. The nickel ones are $3 each and the gold plated one $6 (each).
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This thread is perfect.
I also need new banana plugs on my nana 5 cable. The old ones came a bit loose.
I know the deletion ones.
But what about these
They get crimped only with a special tool. Sitting rock solid - a dealer showed me.
You can crimp the Deltron ones with the Airloc tool and theyâre a lot cheaper.
Is crimping as effective as soldering?
Youâll probably get a 50/50 split of answers to a question like that!
Personally, mine are crimped and Iâve used them that way for a long time including those QED Airloc ones.
The one benefit of it being itâs much harder to make a mess of it (vs a soldered joint) and quicker.
A skilled pair of hands with the right tools will produce a superior result with a soldered plug, the matching of materials between the male and female of the connection is also important, the Naim SA8 plugs are Nickel plated to match the material of the NAP speaker outputs. Most speakers will use brass terminals that are gold plated and so the speaker end will require material matching accordingly.
Any of the options will work but if you want to do it properly, match terminal materials and solder the plugs!
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I bought NACA5 from TomTom Audio for the NACA5 on my Nait 50/Falcon LS3/5A system. It came terminated with Chord banana plugs on both ends without me specifying anything. I have no idea whether the plugs are crimped or soldered.
Thanks a lot.
The plugs are for kudos 606.
Seen a pic of the crossover - so golden will be better! Did not know that. .
As I really do not want to pull the cable out (dressed behind the rack) it will be the best option to ask my dealer to come by with airlocks and crimping tool.
Laying on the floor and soldering could be less optimal 
By the way - what is the diameter of the copper lead in naca5
As Mr. M indicated you are going to get a split on your crimp vs. solder connections. Iâm in the camp that says it doesnât really matter which method is used provided the joint between the plug and wire is made well. For crimping this usually means having to use the right crimping tool for the connector. Crimping with a generic tool or with something like a pair of pliers often does not work out well. For soldering I have found that a big help is to have some sort of simple DIY jig that firmly holds the cable and connector in place while you solder it.
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Naim have always advised to properly solder plugs to NACA5.
I did once compare some NACA5 at the factory that had arrived with crimped gold plugs on the end. It definitely sounded off compared to the lengths with soldered SA8s on. Of course, the gold plugs were probably partially to blame here.
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Crimping is better. This assumes correct crimping. Solder adds more material to the connection and can over time fracture. A proper crimp is gas tight. And many believe it sounds better. Both WBT and Furutech use crimped connections. There are of course exceptions, RCA plugs, XLR plugs⌠AC power is always crimped, most connections in cars and so on
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Thanks you both - that is the 50/50 situation mentioned above 
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Youâre welcome, itâs a pleasant distraction from moaning about Class D if nothing else 
I got my nac a5 5m pair from Signals UK, I requested Sa8 on amp end and banana plugs on speakers end, when received I got surprised to see the audioquest suregrip 100 on speakers end which was neither soldered nor crimped, As a biggest naim dealer in UK I was hoping to get the cables soldered as always educated by naim itself.
So the dealer did not follow your instructions?
I assumed as a dealer they will solder the speaker end as well, I didnât have the idea about prior confirmation for soldering.
One should never assume anything in these scenarios. Iâm sure you know the old management training line - never assume because it makes an ass of you and me. You should either have agreed it at the time of ordering, or sent them back for soldering when you received them if you werenât happy. It seems a bit unfair to post negatively about the dealer after the event, when they have no right of reply.
For what itâs worth, Signals supplied my Kudos KS-1, with Naim SA8 plugs at the amplifier end, and Deltrons (soldered) at the speaker end. All done quickly, efficiently and to a high standard.
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Naimâs recommendations do of course come from the angle of a complete head to tail Naim system - i.e. amp, cable and speakers. Dealers are free agents to do what they like or feel is best. And of course when you have different speakers using different terminals then other solutions might be better. It may just be that what you got on the speaker end is what your dealer feels is the best solution for the particular connectors on your particular speakers.
Also worth bearing in mind that the downside of soldering is that only the best can get it consistently right, and so i can understand how some would prefer other methods and also favour use of their own favoured brands of connector and cable. Itâs best to be very clear from the start as to what you would like and what they can or will deliver.
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But you asked for SA8. You didnt get them. ( i requested sa8 on ampâŚ)
Are you sure? Kudos donât use gold plating on their connections, so I would choose plugs to match.
Some years ago I was chatting to Derek Gilligan of Kudos at a show, and he mentioned that he had a strong preference for silver plating on just about everything, which probably explains his choice of Chord cables, then the introduction of their own KS1, all of which use silver plated wire.
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