Should I tin speaker wire ends? (1 Viewer)

[Alan F]

If I tin the bare ends of speaker wires with solder (they are going into binding posts, don't see the need to spend $$ on banana plugs), is that bad? I don't like the way bare wire tends to ravel, but I don't want to spring for nice cable and then do something to degrade the connection.

Thanks

Alan

 

[JohnRice]

If you are talking about tinning the ends and then inserting them into the end of the posts in place of actual banana plugs, that is really not going to work very well. You wont have much good tension in the posts and you also won't have very good contact between the surfaces. You're much better just using untinned bare ends connected the traditional way.

 

[Alan F]

No, not to replace the plugs. The binding posts have holes through the diameter of the threaded part, you put the wire through that and tighten the collars down.

 

[JohnRice]

In that case, I still would just stay with bare ends. You will get better contact.

 

[Lee Bailey]

If you just tin the ENDS of the wires together, and leave the rest bare, that will work fine. The bare wires should then be what is contacted when run through the hole in the binding posts.

 

[JohnRice]

Actually, Lee does have the best answer.