I’ve decided to go for NACA5 cable with my new Nait 50 after all instead of Kudos KS1. Partly because its very easy to get from my local dealer (within around 40 mins or so walk from our bungalow). One question though. I’ll be using the supplied Naim plugs at the amp end obviously and I’ve got some Deltrons for the speaker end. The JBL 4309’s are bi wirable though so I want some links made up from NACA5. These will have Deltrons on one end and will need spades on the other. But which spades to use? I can’t seem to find anything equivalent to the Deltrons, they all seem to be either gold or silver plated. Any recommendtions on the best ones to use? Thanks.
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Best way to wire up bi wire terminals for single wire is use the supplied links and put the pos to the top sockets and the neg to the bottom sockets
Diagonal wiring.
That way the he current journey is equal.
Naim plugs on the amp and deltrons for the speakers.
KS-1 is much easier to solder. 
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You can go bare wire into the speaker connectors to. No connector. I did that for a while when using Naca5 as jumpers. Worked great.
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Hi Pete,
I’m fairly sure that this has been asked before and that at least someone has had the NACA terminated with four banana plugs at the speaker end. It was called F termination, configuration or something similar. I have tried a search, so far unsuccessfully.
Given the amount of Naim specific knowledge around here, someone should be able to help.
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Yes I recall this, but I think you need to use Naim plug pins because of the soldering angle and also it requires exact spacing of the pins I think. So not that essy to get right. I might be wrong though.
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You mean just leave it as it is then:
And literally just plug in the + and - diagonally? ie. not bother with wire links? I thought wire links were supposed to sound much better than supplied metal links. But perhaps I’m wrong here?
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I wouldn’t spend time on that now. One step at the time and let everything settle 
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Just use the links all the gubbins from spade to pins and the extra connections and multiple metals is a PITA
I’ve tried it many ways F type etc and the best I got was using the bars and diagonal wiring pos to top and neg to bottom
That was I tip I got from Phill Budd the speaker designer at Linn.
It cost nothing and works.
Remember when making the Naim plugs it’s a Siamese pair the polarity pin positions are each way round.
The speakers were manufactured and voiced for consistency using the link bars.
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You may well find that if you open the back you can move the internal wires so that they both attach to one terminal. You can do this with ATCs and don’t even need to solder, as the wires attach with screw tags. It would be worth unscrewing the back and taking a look. It’s free too.
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Thanks. Yes that’s what I’ll do then. The KISS principle and general reduction in system fussiness is what I want now. It did occur to me, as you mention, that jumper cables are increasing the number of interfaces / discontinuities in the signal path which can’t be good.
The other thing that concerns me with using stiff jumper cables, such as NACA5 and our current Chord Signature X, is the possibilty of one of the spades working loose and springing out due to the tension. I have noticed a few times that the spades on our current jumpers seemed to be loose in the terminals. No doubt due to the constant vibration. I don’t know what the effect would be of one channel suddenly going open circuit during loud music but I’m guessing it wouldn’t be pretty!
Thanks yes I suppose I could do that and it’s something that hadn’t occurred to me. If I was still in my ‘tweaky’ phase then I probably would. Trouble is that unscrewing the terminal plate would certainly void the warranty and also frankly you have more b*lls than me because I just wouldn’t risk it. I would be worried of causing some kind of damage. Suppose there’s an air seal gasket around the terminal block that needs replacing if it’s unscrewed? That’s the sort of thing I worry about and why I wouldn’t do it!
Just try unscrewing them. Give the plastic bit a little pull. If it drops out there is no seal and you can look at how the wires are connected. If it’s stuck fast, leave it alone. Biwire terminals are the spawn of Satan.
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Absolutely agree. I hate them.
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That’s getting back to persnickety chasing the proverbial end of the rainbow. As has been suggested leave that for much later as gind tuning if you really want to, but will you really hear s difference and is it worth it?
It would do no harm whatsoever other than affecting your enjoyment of the music. Open circuit does absolutely no harm whatsoever to a solid state amp.The only potential for harm would be if the wire that disconnected fell against the other terminal, but these days amps are protected in short circuit so the most it might do is turn the amp off if that is how the protection works on that amp.
My own favour connection is Will crypto sold into spades, and those clamp tightly, but how effective that remains depends on the terminals themselves, some potentially working loose much more readily than others. I have no idea what the ones on those JBLs are like, but if in doubt periodically tried tightening, and you’ll soon find if there’s a need and how frequently. Potentially you might be able to find a spring washer that you could put between the nailed nut and the spade, but I only bother doing that if it was a problem. If you do clamp the bare wires be aware it can be very tricky if there isn’t a hole through which you put the twisted wire before screwing tight, andeven if there is always with clamped bare wire re-tighten it several times over first hours to days because the wires tend not to squash readily but rather ther settle into position
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Thanks. I’ll just leave the supplied metal links in and just tighten from time to time if required. I’m done with fussing and tweaking. Less is more for sure now. I don’t want to create a monster of a system that demands that everything is ‘just so’ or it refuses to perform.
If you want to reduce the number of interfaces ditch the links and use F-connections. The top connections could be bananas or spades, but Naim plugs are ideal for the lower pair.
Naim plugs can work well with their amps, or they can be a PITA, especially with stiff NACA5, as they send the cables straight down and you often need to put a tight bend in them to avoid the shelf below. In this case ordinary Deltrons can work better. On the other hand they work very well on many speakers, where you actually want the cables to go straight down towards the floor. Spades or right angled Bananas like Naim’s, will do this. Straight bananas will send the cables out and down, putting more strain on the connection.
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they sound the same
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Yes with a stiff cable like NACA5 possible strain on connections and sockets does concern me. Particularly it’s always worried me on the amp. As you say it requires the cable to be bent quite sharply to clear the support surface.
I’m becoming more inclined to get the Kudos KS1 after all. It’s just so much easier to deal with. What puts me off slightly is that I’ve read that although it’s smoother, sweeter and airier than NACA5, it lacks it’s ultimate rhythmic ability. I’ve no idea if this is true or not or how significant the effect is. Lots of people here seem to use it in higher end systems here so it can’t be too detrimental I would have thought. I’d be interested to hear from anyone who’s swapped back to NACA5 from KS1 because they were dissatisfied.
I don’t think bending NACA5 is a problem. You can put a fairly tight 90° bend on it easily enough. I just don’t see the point in putting a 90° plug on it if that means you have to add another 90° bend, when an ordinary Deltron would send the cables straight out in the right direction.
With speakers it’s the opposite. Naim right angled plugs send the cables straight down where you want them.
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