BillA Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 Howdy all, Just got my speaker wire (12 gauge sound king 100' from partsexpress). Seems like really nice stuff & nice to know I am finally getting my home theater put together with proper wire, upgraded speakers etc - all thanks to some help from the Klipsch forums here! Wanted to know which you all thought would be better for these wire ends (to connect to my RF-35's and my RC-3 Klipsch's). To strip the wire end, twist by hand and heat up wire and solder and coat the exposed ends with what I have here which is 60/40 solder http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=370-034 My thinking is so that the ends are more solid and one piece vs just exposed wire, and so it might help reduce the speed of corrosion? Or if I should go buy some spade lugs from Radio Shack like these www.radioshack.com/searchsku.asp?find=278-311 also does anyone know if they will even fit our Klipsch terminals? I wonder also how a "snap" connector works, guessing it's a crimp type? I decided to go against banana type connectors and will either just use the hole on the terminals (with or without solder depending on responses) or I will go buy some spade type connectors to make the connections with... Just was hoping to clarify the solder thing (should i or not) and or find out if those spades from radioshack (which are WAY more in my budget vs those $10 each ones from Monster etc) would work well or not. Seeing this is the actual first time I will be using good wire and hooking up nice new upgraded speakers and such figured i should ask and do it up the best I can... Or if there is a specific spade type terminal I can buy that is good quality yet doesn't break the bank to buy a set lmk what you all use... Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelerFan Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 Are you dead set on spades? I like bananas myself, so easy to connect and disconnect. Radio Shak has some that screw down tight on the wire. I don't remember exactly what I paid but they aren't expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 Those RS spades are not large enough for the binding posts on Klipsch speakers, I tried. If your installation is permanent, I'd go with spades for the speaker ends and bananas for the receiver ends. I just got my bananas (gold-plated screw type) from radioshack at $6/2. They are nice and take 12 gauge wire. The spades that fit large binding posts have been difficult to find for me, and I settled for getting Monstercable screw-type spades from compusa at $20/4. I wouldn't recommend soldering anything unless you really know what you're doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 Here is my recommendation: http://www.monstercable.com/home_av/connectors/speaker_quicklock.asp or more specifically: http://www.monstercable.com/productPage.asp?pin=1062 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwoods Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 I like cryo'd bananas, stuck on a stick, dipped in chocolate and rolled in peanuts. Honestly though, I use bananas on both ends, and every now and then, unplug & replug to keep a clean contact surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yromj Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 ---------------- On 7/9/2004 5:01:22 PM ironwoods wrote: ...Honestly though, I use bananas on both ends, and every now and then, unplug & replug to keep a clean contact surface. ---------------- That's what I use and why I use them. I use the ones linked to at the bottom of the page. For my surrounds which I can't use bananas on (they won't fit between the wall and the back of the RS-25s), I just use bare wire. I live in central Arkansas, AKA humidity hell, and have had no problems w/ corrosion. John http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=091-1260 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 ---------------- On 7/9/2004 2:48:19 PM BillA wrote: Howdy all, Wanted to know which you all thought would be better for these wire ends (to connect to my RF-35's and my RC-3 Klipsch's). ---------------- Sweet! You got some RF-35's. Those things will be a good order of magnitude better than the Quintets you were using before. That will be awesome when you get it all hooked up. As to which type of connector to use. I personally use banana plugs myself on the front three speakers. Simply because it does make hooking things up a hell of a lot easier and it just results in much neater and cleaner looking connections. I like the one suggestion of using bananas on the reciever/pre-pro end and using spades on the speaker end. Expecially since trying to get bare wire into those binding posts on the back of a reciever is such a pain in derrier since they are usally placed pretty close together. I do use the bare wire on the surrounds for the same reason as "ymoj" does. I could not get any connector to fit between the speaker and the wall. Tinning the bare wire would certainly be the cheapest way to do it (no need to purchase any additional connectors), and of course, is the only way I could get the surround speakers connected. If you are dead set against using banana plugs, then I would suggest going with the spades, at least on your front three speakers. Simply because they are cleaner and often easier to get things hooked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted July 10, 2004 Share Posted July 10, 2004 Howdy Bill and welcome to Klipsch World! Congrats on your wise purchase of the Reference line. They should serve you well for years to come. I personally prefer the banana plugs because I (a) move stuff around a lot ( it gives a more secure connection that won't vibrate out © more contact surface area is always better. My only complaint is that none of my Klipsch speakers with the 5-way binding posts has the spacing to use STANDARD DUAL BANANA PLUGS. If anyone in engineering knows why they do this, please respond. All my amps and receivers use the 3/4" spacing. If space doesn't allow bananas, either crimp on AMP lugs or soldered wire is acceptable. It would take a specialty lug if you can find them, but the advantage again is that you can use larger gauge speaker wire without having to trim it down to fit in the terminal hole, and there is a larger surface area for contact. If using 'bare' wire, I ALWAYS solder the wire together first. Makes a neater installation, the wires won't fray and possibly SHORT OUT (very bad). With larger wire, you may have to trim away part of the strands, but this makes no difference in the 1/2" the signal travels. Be sure to know which end of the soldering iron to hold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagnumMan Posted July 10, 2004 Share Posted July 10, 2004 I went with the single banana plugs. I got them from Knuconcepts.com. They will accept up to 8 gage speaker wire(which is what i got). The wire goes in the one end, there is a set-screw on side to hold it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yromj Posted July 10, 2004 Share Posted July 10, 2004 ---------------- On 7/10/2004 2:25:05 AM colterphoto1 wrote: ...My only complaint is that none of my Klipsch speakers with the 5-way binding posts has the spacing to use STANDARD DUAL BANANA PLUGS. If anyone in engineering knows why they do this, please respond. All my amps and receivers use the 3/4" spacing. ---------------- Aren't the "5 ways" of a 5-way binding post: 1. Bananans 2. Bare Wire 3. Spades 4. Pins 5. DUAL BANANAS? If so, and the standard dual-bananas don't fit, then they're not true 5-way binding posts. If that is the case, then yes Klipsch engineering or Klipsch marketing one needs to make a change. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skonopa Posted July 11, 2004 Share Posted July 11, 2004 ---------------- On 7/10/2004 2:25:05 AM colterphoto1 wrote: My only complaint is that none of my Klipsch speakers with the 5-way binding posts has the spacing to use STANDARD DUAL BANANA PLUGS. If anyone in engineering knows why they do this, please respond. All my amps and receivers use the 3/4" spacing. ---------------- A standard dual banana plug fits in my RF-5s as well as my RF-7s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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