Amp & speaker connections

[Dcf1]

Hi all,

I am in the process looking to improve my system, new TT, existing amp, speakers etc and have been on a number of the SN forums and received lots of helpful info so far and now the time has come to seek some diy help.

My question relates to connecting my speakers to my amp. I currently have some 16awg speaker wire I got from bunnings but the idea of trying to make some cables myself is very appealing as I've seen some very nice looking home mades. My amp and speakers are from the 70's and the amp has a small (5-7mm) brass thread with a circular nut that screws to hold the wire, I guess it'd be called a binding post and the speakers have a spring loaded connector that you feed the wire into. Are these good connections?

I was thinking of spades to connect to the amp and maybe replacing the terminals on the back of the speakers to accommodate another type of connector. Any opinions, suggestions or ideas regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[henry218]

unless its dirty or corroded, replacing the post wont improve anything.

bare wire usually the best also, banana and spade just for convenience

[pete_mac]

Hi,

The TA-1055 can most likely be fitted with modern binding posts in a 100% reversible way, provided that the original screw can be fully screwed-out from the original fittings. I've used binding posts with a 0.7mm pitch and 5mm diameter on a Sansui AU-101 as a direct fit, which is a ver similar situation to yours:

These allow the use of bare wire, spades or bananas.

Of course, you can definitely use cables with spades on your existing screw-style binding posts, or even ring terminals if you can completely unscrew the fittings. Some of the fairly standard crimp-style ring terminals are actually prett decent, being solid copper in construction rather than brass like many spades.

The speakers can certainly be converted to binding posts, but it all depends on the design of the current speaker connections. Some of the spring-fit connections actually work quite well with standard fine-strand copper, but IMHO you always get a better connection with 5-way binding posts where you can apply more pressure onto the wire, or by using a firm-fitting BFA or locking-style banana plug, or spades.

Edited July 15, 2013 by pete_mac

[Dcf1]

Thanks guys,

It was more a convenience thing and I was also concerned with the wire being exposed at the back of the amp and possible corrosion.

I had read that bare wire was best but I think at my end of the spectrum it wouldn't make much of a difference.

I like the look of that Pete, very neat and would make things much more orderly back there. I was always worried about a short occurring with all that bare wire. Is that part something I would be able to find easily?

I've not had a lot to do with forums as such but I'm glad I decided to jump on SNA, always an informative and interesting read to be had.

Thanks again.

[pete_mac]

The binding posts that I have used are these ones:

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1pair-Binding-Post-5A-600V-Copper-Alloy-Nickel-plated-all-Red-Black-Soldering-/130749615442?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e7148cd52

 

On your amp, I seem to recall that the standard speaker binding posts have raised plastic in a grid-pattern to separate each of the binding posts. This might make it tricky to fit binding posts, so it would be worth taking a quick measurement from side to side of these raised plastic sections. I can then measure the binding posts to verify whether they'd fit between the raised sections and will fit flush with the mounting panel (if you get my drift).

[Dcf1]

Wow nice memory on that one, I own it and I had to go out and check what it looked like. A quick measurement showed about 14mm and I checked the specs on those plugs and it said they were 13.8 so it'd be tight I'd think. Internally the screws are flattened at the ends to stop them coming right out so it'd be a bit of tinkering to get them out. Might be worth going with spades and keeping these untested hands out of where they don't belong......for now.

[pete_mac]

Yep, in that case, go with spades. You'll need to find ones that suit smaller diameter binding posts, as the openings on some will be too large for the factory binding posts.

[pete_mac]

Also, you can fit adaptors such as the ones below, but you need to ensure they can't twist and short-circuit against each other. Personally, I'd look for the correct size spades in the first place.

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AK-4-pcs-Banana-Plug-SPADE-Adapter-Fisher-McIntosh-Eico-Amp-Speaker-plug-New-/271231135202?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f26a2ade2&_uhb=1

[Luc]

Cameron's supposed to be getting these lovelies in soon. Click>>>

[Dcf1]

Someone really has thought of a solution for everything it would seem.

Luc, I take it the above would be for the spring loaded terminals? It certainly looks like I have some options available and don't need to change a whole lot.

I'm off to research and hopefully I find some spades small enough. The posts are only about 3-4mm.

eBay is another area I'll have to look into Pete, Yeah I've been hiding under a non technological rock letting it all pass me by. Maybe I could get my 13yr old nephew to teach me.

[Hifiplus]

Spring terminals on the speakers? Why not replace them with bananas while you're at it.

[Dcf1]

Replacing them was what I was leaning towards but I just thought id get some advice as to whether what I had was that bad to begin with...if it ain't broke, and that sort of thing.