How do you change speaker terminals ? (1 Viewer)

[Bob Sheen]

Hello everyone,

My rear centre channel speaker is built with spring clip speaker terminals. I'm using 12 gauge wire and it is difficult to insert it in there effectively. I'm worried that the connection seems loose and not solid.

I would like to change the spring clip to a banana plug set-up. I took the terminal cap off to investigate. Keep in mind that i'm a rookie at this and was surprised to see the crossover glued directly to the terminal. I was expecting the crossover to be screwed to the speaker enclosure and then connected by wires to the terminal. Oh well, worse case scenario is that i learned something.

How do i unplug the crossover from the terminal ?

Can i try to cut through the glue qith and exacto knife and then just pull on it gently ?

Or do i have to get another crossover and start over completely ?

Are all terminals and crossovers built to some type of one size fits all standard ?

I'd like to keep the original crossover, not to avoid the cost of a new one, but for matching purposes.

Anyone have advice on how to do this ?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Bob

 

[Allan Jayne]

There has to be something more than glue holding the spring terminal on the crossover assembly, otherwise there wouod not be a good electrical connection. So long as the spring terminal is stuck securely you should not ahve to remove it. If by taking the plastic terminal cap off, a reasonable amount of metal is exposed, yuou can leave the terminal as-is and either fasten or solder a short length of stranded wire onto the bare metal. Then you can attach a banana socket or even the main speaker cable to the other end of this short pigtail.
Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/video.htm

 

[Chuck_C]

It should be able to come off without much of a problem. Are you sure that it is not soldered onto the terminal. If it is glue, is it hot melt type glue? That can be remelted.
If you are just having a problem with your 12 ga. wire connection, you could solder the last centimeter (you are metric in Canada ) of the wire and then flatten it a bit with a hammer. It should insert into those spring clip type terminals without any problems.
Parts Express have all kinds of audio parts if you need a source.

 

[Bob Sheen]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the advice. I think that i'll leave the spring clips alone and just manipulate the wire to fit better.

Bob