Should i terminate my speaker cables

I would probably go for the dealer option as cheaper than the factory and if the OP wanted to do it himself he wouldn't be asking which is better value but where to buy a decent soldering iron. David, I and I don't think anybody else on here begrudges a hifi dealer earning a living.

It is not at cost, but why should it be. As I stated before you guys have to earn a living. So I think it's a fair price. I rather wondered about Chord factory termination -- is it any good and worth the additional money? DavidF, have you seen Chord's termination? Are there any advantages of factory-termination as compared to so-called "after-market solution" chunkier plugs screwed on; not the slim ones they put on in the factory?

Thanks David -- much appreciated. I might then go for Chord's factory termination to be on the safe side. Mar 23, 1, 19, www. Hi Timo What speaker cables are you using please?

All the best Rick Musicraft. Deliriumbassist Well-known member. Apr 27, 49 21 18, May 1, 1, 19, I'm shocked no one picked up that the quid Chord on their own site wants to charge is a mistake?

Please do yourselves a favour and go to futureshop. I've bought from them. You must log in or register to reply here.

Post thread. In a Dilemma. Location: Bare wire all the way. If you must use banana's or spades, properly soldered connections are the only way to go as they provide the best termination over any kind of crimp connection.

Chops , Jul 10, Location: Sunshine State. I used bare wire for ages, but I changed to banana plugs this year. I like the convenience. Location: Melbourne, Australia. I have found bare wire sounds best with new cables, but oxidation and other chemical agents in the atmosphere will have a big impact over the long run. Spades are my preference for long term connection. They give the most secure connection with the best contact.

I find banana plugs to give a much poorer connection, and in my system I can hear it - more grain. Location: Silverton, OR. Bare Wire always less material to material transistions. Mark W. I'm thinking of getting some semi-decent speaker cable which can be routed easily - thinking one of the QED cables or similar. Anyway, getting these terminated with bananas especially the Airlock type pretty much doubles the price - so I wondered whether it's such a bad thing to simply wire the bare wire to the speakers.

I've done this before but don't remember whether it's a good or bad thing, so would welcome comments as I could get a much better grade of wire if I buy it unterminated. JTC , Nov 27, I did get a mail from a guy at a cable company a couple of years ago stating their preference as bare, spade then bannana. If the cable fits through the hole in the post and you tighten the nut properly you should be fine with wire. Try it. You can always save up for the connectors and add them later. Milan , Nov 27, I find it a bit strange for a cable company representative to recommend bare wire connections for speaker cables.

Most of the affordable speaker cables use copper as conductors and, over time, exposure to air causes the copper to oxidise forming a layer of greenish cuprous oxide. Cuprous oxide is nowhere near as good a conductor as pure copper, so the oxide film that forms over time can result in poorer connections at the terminals to which a copper wire is attached.

This can be addressed when required by cutting off the oxidised wire ends and re-stripping, but prolonged use of this approoach may shorten the cable too much Spade and banana connectors are usually either gold-plated or manufactured from metals that either don't oxidise, or if they do, the oxides have similar conductivity properties as the pure metal.

Rhodium plating is one example. With copper wires, if the connections to the cable are soldered to cover the bare wires, then oxidisation is inhibited, which will maintain the quality of the connection. So, my preference is to use decent spade connectors which, due to being clamped tighter than bananas, make for a better mechanical contact connection, and then to strip the insulation, insert the fresh bare wire into the holes on the spade connectors and seal the connection with solder.

I hope that helps DevillEars , Nov 27, I tried spades once before but found them difficult to work with at the amp end. Termination enables the user of the cable to fiddle with the system without fear of damaging the cable — and utlimately stripping off more and more of the casing in the process. Whatsmore, terminated cabled look much smarter. The options you have are fairly straight forward, and will be good for use with most amp and speaker systems. Most commonly referred to as a banana plug for the male and a banana jack for the female, the banana plug is typically a four leafed spring tip that enables a single wire to be connected firmly to the equipment.

These have been in common use for speaker-to-amp connectivity since the mid to late s. Shaped like a crab claw, the spade connectors — commonly referred to as spade lugs — are the next most common type of speaker cable termination. Spades are a popular choice, owed to their tight fit, and expansive surface area. They not quite as easy to swap around as banana cables, but still offer heaps of convenience over bare wire.

Much less common — but still worth a mention — are BFA connectors, also known as Deltron plugs. Although use of these connectors has gradually fallen out of favour, you will still find them in use in Cyrus and some older Linn units.

Some brands, such as Naim, offer their own specially designed connections and terminations on their products too, which is certainly worth looking into if you are the owner of such a product.

Cables are highly customisable lets face it, they have to be! When selecting your wires, you can chose from either single-wired, or bi-wired.