Hi Debs, thank you for the advice, but I would like to know if the Kudos KS1 cable is configured well with the Naim NAP 250 since Naim recommends using only its cables. Then there is a lot of talk about this WitchHat N2 or Phantom cable, what do you think? 
AQ says cold weld. In any case, the cables sound better than the NACA5 I had before them.
My advice is not to worry too much about speaker cables, your classic system should sound fabulous using naca5 which is great value for money, and at the classic level of components you have, iād be content with using the standard naim interconnection cables too.
Spend money on a hi-cap and NAP250 service if itās not been done for 15 years or more.
Spend money on a good audio component rack if you havenāt already done so.
The Kudos KS-1 cable is proving to be very good, affordable, and very flexible, but what it sounds like in my system and room may not be a good guide to go by what it would sound like in your room with those Kefs.
This is where a good naim audio dealer comes in very handy.
Are you happy with your Kef speakers?
Iām wondering what a 4 Ohm speaker would be like, and itās effect on a NAP250 (?)
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The 250 and 300 work just fine with 4Ī© speakers. Thatās all Iāve ever used with them. What would be your concern about it?
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I wonder if a 4Ī© speaker is better than an 8Ī© 
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My Kef have 4 ohms.
A NAP provides more power to a 4Ī© speaker, but the speaker may also need more. Mine are 4Ī© but they are also somewhat inefficient and love lots of current. Moving from a 250DR to a 300DR made a huge difference for them, and thatās in a smallish (11ā x 17ā) room.
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I asked Joe Harley about it. He worked for AQ for decades and just retired from there as a VP. Here is what he had to say about the 500 series cold weld connectors,
āSo the actual connection between conductor and plug is made with a high-pressure crimp. The screws are holding on to (or digging into) insulation, not the actual conductor. Their purpose is to hold the bundle rigidly so that the cable canāt turn within the plug, in other words for strain relief.ā
How? How can the conductor (stripped cable end) be mated with the plug by a high-pressure crimp? The screws are the only ones the hold the stripped wires in place?
Please see this demo from AQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJgGP-yqJm0
But thanks for the info, anyway.
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Iām just relaying what Joe told me. He was with AQ since 1983, is a friend, and I trust what he tells me. Disregarding all of it, it still sounds better than my NACA5 did for half the price. Thatās good enough for me.
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Been watching this thread with interest. Iāve always wondered if Iād been getting the best from my NACA5, it seems not. The soldering job in the plugs looks pretty shoddy and the plastic casing has never been snug. I have a good friend who is a whizz with a soldering ion so I will ask him to reterminate with new naim plugs.
Not wanting to hijack the thread but could anyone advise on the best way to set up speaker jumper leads? Mine, again look pretty shoddy. I have a spare set of naim plugs which fit exactly the terminals on my neat motives. If I use these for one of the terminals and purchase spade connectors at the other end can anyone recommend a good quality spate connector and should it be gold plated and soldered. Do I need anything fancy?
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The jumpers look fine. You could terminate them, but itās not necessary.
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And what about Vertere Pulse X mini Speaker Cable ?
does anyone test this product ?
there are also snaic4 and 5 from them
Sharing my experience on speaker cables, to serve as a warning to othersā¦ I was using fairly expensive speaker cables from Transparent, which generally bring out more detail and slightly warmer mid range though not as fast or punchy compared to the NACA5. When I upgraded from 250DR to 300DR about 7 weeks ago I kept the Transparent speaker cables until I found 2 days ago that my 300 was running quite hot (this was in the morning, not having listened to music for past 12 hours) and when I started to listen the right speaker wouldnāt produce any sound ! Then I turned off the amp for 1mn, turned the system back on and same issue : sound coming out from left speaker only ! I was obviously very worried and turned off the amp for 10mn, switched back on and reverted back to NACA5 and everything went back to normal, including much lower temperature on the 300ā¦
After playing with the NACA5 for 2 days (they had not been used for about 1 year) I realised that sound staging issues that I had blamed on speaker positioning were now totally fixed ! I may have lost a bit of detail (though not that obvious), but sound staging is significantly improved and the music has found back its lost punchy energy that I really enjoy. Very happy to have reverted back to NACA5 !
As you may wonder, the Transparent cables I was using were of course not recommended by Naim and though they donāt exactly fall into the category of high capacitance to be avoided, they are not the low capacitance high inductance that Naim recommends.
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IIRC there is a minor advantage of using Naim plugs at the speaker end if you have Naim speakers as the prongs on them are made of the same metal/alloy as the connector sockets into which they fit.
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Thanks Jimdog probably not much advantage in using them
I could have told anyone years ago Transparent speaker cables donāt work well at all with Naim amps. I have them in my HT system and tried them on the 250DR I had and they sounded horrible. My Naim/Transparent dealer confirmed what I discovered. They match Nordost to Naim. The Transparent power cables arenāt such a good match either. Again, my dealer matches Nordost. OTOH: I use a Transparent Ultra RCA between my non-Naim phonostage and 252 and that works quite well.
The surprising thing is that it started well on my 250DR and it seemed to have deteriorated progressively over months, which made it hard to find out what the issue was. Iām glad I finally found out and removed them from the system. The 300DR was the revelator !
Just bought 8 AQ 500 series banana plugs to try on my Linn K200, sound much better than the old ones that were soldered on by my dealer.
It is expensive, $200 for 8 of them, but they are worth it.
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After seeing your post, I too asked a very nice man at Cymbiosis to make up a 4m pair for me to replace the Kimber cable I was using. After a very quick turnaround, I installed the KS-1 earlier this week. It really is very thin cable but it made the job of routing it through the pipe behind the fireplace a doddle. Early days but my feet are tapping much more so Iām very pleased.
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