Replacing jumpers w/PartsExpress spades....

stereo55

Hi peeps ,

Looking to get rid of the stock jumpers on my RTi's (as many here suggest) .
I think the Partsexpress spades should do me fine HERE .
I just want to check if anyone here has used these spades ; and if they like them and if they will fit RTi/4/6's .

TIA

Tour2ma

What are you using to terminate your speaker wire runs?

In part asking because to trade solid, flat metal, stock jumpers for flat metal spades with four additional contact points (spade to wire), does not stike me as a good trade.

Consider banana plugs for the speaker runs and bare wire for the jumpers.... Just a thought...

RuSsMaN

Yeah, what he said.

Cheers,
Rooster

dkg999

I used spades from bluejeancables.com and some from partsexpress and they both worked with my Rti70/6/4/28. I think the spades from both places are the same. I made my jumpers from Belden 12awg from bluejeancables and used their banana plugs on both ends of about an 8" piece of cable. It made a real improvement in sound. I think you get a lot more contact area with a banana plug than a bare wire connection. The bluejeancables banana plugs were much better than the Dayton banana plugs from partsexpress.

Tour2ma

Originally posted by dkg999
I think you get a lot more contact area with a banana plug than a bare wire connection.

True for the speaker posts, but you still have to connect the wires to the bananas...

stereo55

Ok , to clarify things abit ; I already use bananas for the initial speaker hook up , but just am wanting to replace the factory metal jumper(s) with 12g wire and spades .
Ive read quite a few people here at the forums recommend ditching the factory metal jumpers to (possibly) improve the highs and mid-range a tad .
So .... hence the question on the quality and fit of the PE spades in this requard .

dkg999

To clarify my reply a little bit more ..... I used the spades to connect the amplifier to the speaker, then use two pair of banana plugs to make the jumper connection.

gidrah

I'm a fan of bare wire terminations. 6 rigs going and not a terminal in the bunch except for the RCA plugs coming off an old Philco receiver.

You even connect the top and bottom terminals with the same length you use coming off your receiver. Just strip off a little extra on the ends, cut the coating down to the wire about 3-4" down and slide it up a little. Wrap the first bare spot around the terminal then connect the other bare spot to the other terminal.

Here's a makeshift diagram:
The ==== is the encased wire and the---- is bare wire and the/ is where you should cut through the casing.

========/=====

---

Then slide the tube up the wire until it looks like this.
========

---

=====----
This is obviously not to scale and you should measure distance between the terminals then add about 1/4" for safe measures.

Tour2ma

... and if you slide the tube back and forth a few times, it makes the wire easier to insert into the post's hole(s)...

stereo55

OK , found the thread I was looking for to illustrate my plans for the jumper replacement .
This THREAD shows a pic of PulkThug's very nicely done jumper replacement .
I too want to do the same as Thug , but want to use PartExpress spades as opposed to using Monster ends (as the cost for the Monsters is 5X greater and I really can not justify the added cost just for my mear HT bedroom setup ) .

(by the way ...thx for all the great suggestions )

Early B.

Another vote for bare wire jumpers. I tried some DIYers last night using 16 ga. wire and Monster pin connectors -- the kind you twist-on. Didn't sound quite as good as bare wire, but I couldn't tell the difference between bare wire and the stock jumpers on my Lsi7's. I'll keep experimenting, though.

dkg999

On my RTi70, CSi40, CSi5, RTi6, and RTi4 there were small but perceptible differences when I switched to jumpers made from wire and banana plugs, and used spades to connect to the amplifier. I used both Belden 5000 12awg and some KnuKonceptz 12 awg. The difference was most perceptible on my RTi70, CSi40. The RTi6's definetely opened up and the high-end was better. The RTi4's, probably not worth it for the barely perceptible, probably mostly in my mind change! The CSi5 did also open up and have more depth.