attaching wire to speakers? (1 Viewer)

[BradleyS.]

I know this is a very simple question, but i ahve never seen this done before. How exactly do you attach your wire to your reciever and speakers? Do you just strip the rubber casing off the wire and wrap it onto the bindings? I think I have heard of banana clips, or something like that, what is the advantage?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Bradley,

First, welcome to the Forum!

Yes, you strip off a little of the insulation (the rubber casing), about 3/8”, and expose the bare wire. For attaching to the receiver, some have spring-loaded clips that accept the wire. Others have binding posts. With binding posts, the round red and black knobs are unscrewed to expose the metal post underneath. There will be a hole in the metal post that the bare wire will go through. After that, re-tighten the red and black knobs.

Regarding banana clips, they can only be used with the binding posts. The speaker wires can be connected directly to the banana plugs; typically there is screw-down clamping to hold the wire in place. Then the banana plug plugs into the end of the black and red knobs.

Don’t forget to be mindful of polarity. This means that the wire connected to the red terminal on the receiver has connected to the red terminal on the speaker.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Wayne's right on.

Just like to add to the very last part of your question as to the advantage of banana plugs, or spade lugs, etc. Mainly these are for convenience. It's a pain in the a** to deal with stripped wire if you are unpluggin/plugging things in all the time. Banana plugs are very easy to switch out if you need to.

Other than that arguments as to any sonic degradation or differences between connection methods won't ever end. The main thing is just convenience. Don't worry yourself about that, people with $1000/foot speaker cable can worry about that sort of thing.

 

[BradleyS.]

Thanks alot for you help! I have a question about polarity. I have my speaker wire running through the walls to my rear surrounds and how do I know which side to connect to the speaker? Will it cause harm to your speaker if you connected red to black?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

It won’t hurt anything, Bradley, but it can have a negative effect on the way things sound. Every speaker wire should have one of the leads marked someway – a red stripe for instance. The marked lead typically goes to the red terminal on both ends.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[BradleyS.]

Thanks again! People on this forum are so nice and helpful!

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I always find this easier when dealing with bare wire.

After you measure down the 3/8" and free the plastic from the rest of the wire, do not remove it! Instead, pull it about halway off and then twist. Keep on twisting while gradually pulling on the 3/8" plastic cover, moving it to the end. When it comes off, your wire is nicely twisted, and if you are doing the bare wire or lugs, it will go into the appropriate 'hole' a lot easier.

Glenn

 

[JawhnM]

About polarity. The marked lead can be a small raised line, colored non-raised line or even a different color wire (copper/silver). Sometimes you have to look very carefully. Usually it doesn't matter which goes to + and which goes to -, as long as they are the same on both ends.

Remember GhostBusters? "Don't cross the streams!" You won't like the results.