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Yuri | Hi, in order toconnect the banana plugs to the cable I have to use the screw on the plug, this resulting in crushing of the wire(for the plug to stay on tight). Is this ok?, no problem with crushing the wire? any way around this? Cheers |
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Anonymous | Depending on the kind of plugs. If you have this kind of plugs, you can expose the wire for about 1/2 in and wrap it around the hole and tighten the screws. If you have this kind of plugs, you again expose about 1/2 in of wire and insert it in the plug and screw it to tighten it. In either case, you can always solder the wire to the plugs for better connection. Thats perhaps the only way to do it without 'crushing' the wire. Take care not to cut off too many copper strands. Hope this helps |
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Yuri | is it better with plugs or without? or a different kind of plugs? thanks |
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Anonymous | There is always some loss of energy at the connections. I have my fronts on the AR plugs (see above post) and centers on Phoenix Gold and the surrounds on bare wire. I like plugs for the convenience. I live in an apt and have already moved the system twice tryng to get the best sound. Sonically, I found no perceivable difference. If you ask me, I would go with Banana plugs solely for the ease of removal and plugging it in - and on that I would prefer the AR plugs as they are cheaper and good enough. |
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Anonymous | I would take spade ends overall or just go bare wire to terminals... My two cents... |
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Anonymous | what are spade ends? |
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Kar | This |
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Anonymous | They dont fit the normal screws do they? |
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John A. | Crushing the wire. It is OK. But, first, do as any electrician would. After stripping off the insulation, take the multi-stranded, bare, copper core, and twist it tightly, right from base to tip, so the strands are neatly wound around each other, like the fibres of a rope. You can screw down on that twisted rope of copper strands and nothing is lost. If you don't twist the core first, then it can be difficult to get all the strands in the hole. Also, the strands will tend to get separated as you tighten the screw, and you may have problems. One of these problems is lack of strength in the joint. Another is stray, single strands of copper; these can be difficult to see and, by accident, can complete an electrical circuit to the wrong place, and generate hum or blow a fuse or even damage an internal component. All that applies whether you are attaching the copper core direct to the terminal or, first, to a banana or other plug. If you have a soldering iron you can also "tin" the twisted, bare, copper core. The core is "tinned" when all the strands are held together with a nice neat matrix of solder; the bare end looks silver instead of copper-coloured. Take care not to melt the insulation with the heat of the soldering iron. Tinning stops the strands unwinding, you only have to poke one thing in the terminal hole, and is just for convenience, like banana plugs. None of the these convenience methods (tinning; banana plus; spade connectors) makes any difference to the sound compared with a neat, secure, twisted, bare-copper connection, which is just as good and does not require any extra trouble or expense. |
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Kar | Anon: Space should fit normal screws but in most receivers there isnt enough room for the spades to go in. The screws on the outputs are placed too close together for that. However, I am not sure how spades would be any better than plugs... |
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Anonymous | John, If I want to "tin" the tips of the wire should I twist the wire as well before soldering ? or just tin the strands nicely as they are? |
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John A. | Anonymous. Twist the wire before tinning it. Give it a few trials with some short cut ends, you'll soon see. The core may be twisted, a bit, already inside the insulation, but the chances are it will have been untwisted by the action of stripping off the insulation. So twist it nice and tight, whether you tin it or not. Twisting makes a good, strong, solid rope of copper strands. Tinning stops that rope from becoming frayed. That all it does. |
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Anonymous | Thanks |
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| hello, My hi-fi system takes bare wire speakers into the back of it, and i was wondering if there was any way to get a connection so that the bare wire speakers could be connected to my pc. Thankyou very much if you reply because I have been looking for some sort of connection for quite a while now. (It seems a better way than spending up to £100 for a set of pc speakers) |
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Anonymous | I use solid core copper wire. Banana plugs required to my amplifier. Am having terrible time getting solder to stick to the solid core wire, or to make a connection that holds to my (Radio Shack) banana plugs. My soldering iron is an old, cheap one--is that the problem? Or is there a more basic problem with soldering the solid core copper wire to the banana plug? If so, any suggestions? Thanks. |
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MC | Make sure the copper wire is grease-free (as well as the banana plug) before soldering - clean it with alcohol. If twisting wires, score the insulation, slide it off 1-2 mm and use the insulation to twist - keeps it neat and clean. Regarding solder... make sure the right type is used (electrical and not plumbing) -Radio Shack sells silver solder for electronics. Regarding soldering iron... most soldering irons should be able to melt the silver solder I mentioned. I normally drop a bead onto the banana plug, reheat it, then attach the wire. Good luck. |
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Anonymous | Actually, bare wire direct to the speaker/amp posts and screwed really tightly is a superb connection--lots of extra connectors and solder gooping things up don't help the sound. The only disadvantage is that after a while the copper can start to build up surface oxidation, which unlike silver oxidation tends to be lossy. I don't seem to have many problems with oxidation, but others might, in which case I'd just buy my cables a couple of inches long and then cut new ends periodically. Bananas (or other connectors for the matter) are handy for their convenience of mounting and, when done properly, for avoiding the oxidation issue mentioned above. I use them where I need them--helps switch my system from 2-channel to HT--and avoid them everywhere else. Don't tin unless you really need to. |
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| According to the experts at Audioquest (who make some excellent speaker cables), you want to crush the wire - the tighter the better - to create "gas tight" connections. Such connection points that are crushed flat (banana screw to copper wire and wire-to-wire if multi stranded) should not suffer from oxidation thus eliminating that type of sonic loss. Unless the wire is too thick to directly connect to your amplifier/receiver's binding posts, you should attach the bare wire directly to the binding post rather than to a banana plug. Each intermediate connection will impact the quality of the sound. And again, according to a number of highly respected experts, it's the metal under the gold plating of the banana plug that can negatively impact the audio signal (many manufacturers use nickle which makes the gold plating look "nice and shiny"). Most of the messages previously posted offer great advice. For more informative free tips, you can also check out "Audioquest" and "Mapleshade" - both make stereophile recordings recordings as well as sell equipment. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive products that can improve and preserve the quality of your connection but that's another topic. Enjoy. |
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| According to the experts at Audioquest (who make some excellent speaker cables), you want to crush the wire - the tighter the better - to create "gas tight" connections. Such connection points that are crushed flat (banana screw to copper wire and wire-to-wire if multi stranded) should not suffer from oxidation thus eliminating that type of sonic loss. Unless the wire is too thick to directly connect to your amplifier/receiver's binding posts, you should attach the bare wire directly to the binding post rather than to a banana plug. Each intermediate connection will impact the quality of the sound. And again, according to a number of highly respected experts, it's the metal under the gold plating of the banana plug that can negatively impact the audio signal (many manufacturers use nickle which makes the gold plating look "nice and shiny" but " muddies the sound). Most of the messages previously posted offer great advice. For more informative free tips, you can also check out "Audioquest" and "Mapleshade" - both make stereophile recordings as well as sell equipment. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive products that can improve and preserve the quality of your connection but that's another topic. To see the Audioquest discussion do a google search on "Terminating Audioquest Type-6". The Mapleshade wieb site is www.mapleshade.com. Enjoy. |