Most definitely not! Looks as if you could almost pull the wire right off the plugs on some of those!
Might as well ask, are these ok? Just did them myself
Changed from these
Have now listened for a short while. Seems to sound a bit different. More composed and with less harshness.
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Iâd suggest that anyone whoâs interested Google âCrimp or Solderâ hereâs one quote:
Crimping tools are designed to create an air-tight seal between the cable and the connector. ⊠Soldering uses heated metal to join the cable to the connector. Over time, this filler metal will degrade, which may cause the connection to fail. Most electricians will agree that crimping is also easier than soldering
Arguably the BEST connectors made are WBT they use crimping. Thereâs been lots of discussion on various forums about crimp vs solder⊠The consensus has been that solder degrades sound quality simply because the signal is passing through extra metal. Of course crimping isnât always feasible such as on circuit boards.
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This is a very interesting comment, and right now I am looking for some info relating to âcrimp vs. solderâ because I just bought a pair of the Linn K200 from my dealer and the banana plugs are crimped instead of soldered. I tried this pair for a couple of days and SQ is kind of dull compared with my previous cables which are soldered terminated, so I am not sure what causes it.
They look great. A nice job.
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I have BlackLink on my system but I want to change
WitchHat Phantom or Tellurium Q Black II can be an upgrade ?
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My WitchHat Phantom have the AQ 500 series connectors (that was customized for me). They are a crimped connector.
Nice, I may want to try those on my new Linn K200 speaker cables.
My experience is that different solders sound different, Silver being the best, But solder does add brightness. Put a 100 or so hours on the new cables I think itâs new cables more so than the connectors.
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Thank you HH! They really sound different to the bananas I removed. Itâs an easier listen which feels more balanced than before. I got the cables with termination when I bought my now departed Supernait and they have stayed with me through all my upgrades.
At the speaker end the cable is terminaler with wbt 0610 nextgen.
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If it was me Iâd find a dealer who has experience terminating with WBT plugs and crimp sleeves. One needs the WBT Crimping tool, and the correct sized crimp sleeves. But IMO itâs is the best. NexGen !
The Crimping Tool was a Xmas Present to myself⊠a Bit Pricey
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Those are the ones I have at the speaker end.
Whatâs on the Amp end??
Almost looks like my former Naim dealer - though a little cheap on the portion size. Just needs to be put under the broiler for 30 minutes to get it nice and charred crispy brown - well done.
Maybe add some Hollandaise sauce as well
Interesting so Naca5 is bunch of small gauge solid core copper wires ( doesnât look like any thing special like Six/Nines or OHNO) in a basic polyethylene jacket. The Stiffness Iâm guessing comes not from the jacket so much as that the copper is not annealed which would make the copper less stiff and maybe sound better. Of course this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
See earlier post
Edit: sorry, I looked and itâs actually these
WBT FP 202 Rhodium
No solder or crimp but a screw that connected the cable.
The stiffness is from the jacket - itâs pretty unusual, and IIRC is made from Polyethylene and feels more like teflon or something like that.
Much has been written about NACA5 over the years and I think you can still find Art Dudleyâs write up from Stereophile online.
Also worth reading Martin Colloms more recent assessment;
What I find interesting here is that MC confirms what I have long suspected; that NACA5 needs to be well terminated (Naim recommends soldering to their SA8 connectors) and takes absolutely ages to properly run-in. However, youâll know when it does because the sudden increase in dimensionality (i.e. depth, width, overall sense of space and place) is profound.
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Anyone interested in Witch Hat Phantom speaker cable? Witch Hat are offering 10% off all cables over the Easter period.
This is a little simplified for my taste.
Crimping adds an extra layer of metal (the sleeve), likely more, as most sleeves are plated. These can be more conducive than solder and most will be, but itâs not given per se. It also assumes a perfect or at least nearly perfect crimp. To achieve this youâll need perfectly sized sleeves, which arenât available for all cables, and the right tools to apply the right amount of pressure. Otherwise youâre going to have space between the strands or, more likely, between cable and sleeve. Too much pressure will cut through some strands. I have seen examples of both.
Soldering can give equally bad and perhaps worse results.
With small and solid core cables I prefer soldered contacts, otherwise crimped ones.
By the way, my favorite WBT connectors are soldered: Next Gen binding posts and cinch plugs 
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Aaaaah! Just ruined those trying to solder them. Couldnât get the heat upp with my tiny iron. So mad! I had excellent sounding cables. Now they donât even work since the bananas are ruined and one didnât even stick. No cables, no musicđ©