Audioquest speaker cable re-termination

pkquat

I got some used Audioquest CV-6 speaker cables a while back. There are 3 stiff solid copper wires going into the banana plug. One of them has broken. I can't find it on here, but someone said to check with Audioquest about an RMA to get them fixed. I found out what I suspected, the ends had been re-terminated once before, so Audioquest would charge $$$ to reterminate them.

Any recommendations for re-termination? I have some new crimp on spades I picked up on a clearance sale a while back, but they were a better name brand, Vampire maybe. Would those be good to use and then add some solder afer crimping or not? I have some ok banana's with a set screw clamp. Would those be better?

Clipdat

I believe @msg recently went through this.

msg

Yeah. I just converted a pair of CV-8 bi-wire to full range. Just one so far, haven't finished the second, nor had a chance to test it/them.

Are the existing bananas crimp on or screw down?
Do you have a heat gun and heat shrink and stuff?
If not, yeah, might be better off just sending them in.

Max posted up on my CV-8 t'read that he had his re-terminated affordably through AudioQuest.
http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2368485/#Comment_2368485


When I did the one, I just fed the wires into the barrel and screwed them down. No solder. Mixed perspectives on that, so take your pick. If I were using crimp on connectors, I'd probably solder them after. Vampire Wire spades should be decent. Some crimp-on connectors are brittle or don't get enough clamping force, and the wire just pulls out. I've started crimping with the dimple on the solid side, not where the legs come together.

sgmsmg

All the Audioquest speaker cables I have owned just use their terminations that have screw down barrels. Depending on the cables the strands are twisted a certain way and coated with either a copper or silver paste (depending on cable material). There are some PDF documents on-line that show examples of their bulk wire termination.
http://www.audioquest.com/resource_tools/downloads/literature/learning_modules/AQ-Rockets-Spool-Termination-Manual.pdf

rooftop59

I’ll be following this as I am in the same situation. Since my PSB imagine minis cannot take bananas, I am considering just converting mine into bananas on one end, bare wire one the other. Any idea how hard that would be?

sgmsmg

What cables do you have? If AQ the terminations come off pretty easily. Just an Allen wrench and screwdriver are needed.

msg

Paul, do you have the same cables?
The problem with having them bare is that they're solid conductor, not stranded. Might be difficult to "collect" the conductors and properly cinch down in a 5-way binding post hole.
The other thing I noticed is that when the conductors are of different gauges, it's difficult to get a nice twist. The smaller conductors tend to just wrap around the thicker ones.

rooftop59 wrote: »

I’ll be following this as I am in the same situation. Since my PSB imagine minis cannot take bananas, I am considering just converting mine into bananas on one end, bare wire one the other. Any idea how hard that would be?

sgmsmg

AudioQuest make these:

msg

You are becoming my AudioQuest guru.

rooftop59

msg wrote: »

Paul, do you have the same cables?
The problem with having them bare is that they're solid conductor, not stranded. Might be difficult to "collect" the conductors and properly cinch down in a 5-way binding post hole.
The other thing I noticed is that when the conductors are of different gauges, it's difficult to get a nice twist. The smaller conductors tend to just wrap around the thicker ones.

rooftop59 wrote: »

I’ll be following this as I am in the same situation. Since my PSB imagine minis cannot take bananas, I am considering just converting mine into bananas on one end, bare wire one the other. Any idea how hard that would be?

Kid has the flu so I am at home and decided to get out the cables and see what can be done.

@msg I have the type-4, so does that make a difference? Can’t those be purchased as bare?

sgmsmg

The Type-4 can be purchased bare by the foot
http://www.audioquest.com/star_quad_bulk_spools/type-4
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AQT4B

Audio Advisor also has some versions of the Type-4 with budget terminations.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AQT4NF

msg

Type-4 will be 2 conductors per connector instead of 4, I believe. I think this is the same stuff DannyLightning bought bare, yes, and made some SCs.

You could probably get two conductors into a binding post. I haven't read up to see what the effective gauge is.

But I like those pin connectors sgmsmg posted up above. Not sure how they work, whether like crimp tubes or require solder?

sgmsmg

I found this on the conductor sizes:
-four solid, pure copper conductors
-two 17-gauge and two 20-gauge for full-range signal transfer
-conductors arranged in cross pattern to minimize mutual interference
-current-carrying equivalent of a pair of 15-gauge conductors

pkquat

Thanks for all the info.

It took me a while to find where I hid the spades. They were indeed Vampire. In the process I found some more screw down banana's. I think I will start with those and see. I assume the bias cables get included in the wrapping with everything else.

Any recommendations for a good stiff cable jacket. I assume that is one of the benefits of the original cables, and would reduce the strain right at the connection.