another bi-wire question

jdannyj

I bought a pair of bi-wire cables from cobalt cables, with spaded endings.
The problem is, my speaker cables end in banana plugs that are to big for the bi-wire cable to fit. The hole on the terminal is down towards the bottom where i insert the banana plug, so i would have to try and jam the spaded bi-wire cable under it, which i know i should'nt do. Am i "S O L", or is there another way i could try and do it.?? sorry no pics.

janmike

If you just bought them can you exchange them? I assume that they are terminated with spades at both end. You could clip the spades and use bare wire, but I would go for the exchange. Or sell those, take a little hit (after all they are brand new) and purchase a properly terminated pair.

hearingimpared

jdannyj wrote:

I bought a pair of bi-wire cables from cobalt cables, with spaded endings.
The problem is, my speaker cables end in banana plugs that are to big for the bi-wire cable to fit. The hole on the terminal is down towards the bottom where i insert the banana plug, so i would have to try and jam the spaded bi-wire cable under it, which i know i should'nt do. Am i "S O L", or is there another way i could try and do it.?? sorry no pics.

Can you post a picture of the bi-wire cables? I may be able to take them off your hands.

Joe

jdannyj

Is there a way i can connect the bi-wire cable by attaching the spaded end ontop of the banana plug and then tightening the red/black nut down? I'm just worried about the spaded ending touching the banana plug from my speaker wire connection. or would that matter?? I'm really trying to make my csi5 sound better, and i'm running out of options..

danger boy

loosen up the nut on the speaker end.. and slide the spade under it (under the black and red nut) and tighten.. it's not tough. the binding posts that Polk uses can accept spade, banana plugs, bare wire, pins, etc.. so many options.

I can't see how spades would not work on your CSi5? I'm confused. It's nearly impossible not to be able to hook up anykind of wire, bi wire or not to a Polk Audio binding post.

janmike

Are spades too small? They do come in different sizes.

JKnPA

Biwiring........ the only connection problem you should have is at the receiver end, not the speaker end. The receiver should get two wires at each 'center' post, and the speaker should have one wire per post, after you remove the 'jumpers brackets' from those speakers. See figure 5. in section par.1.13. Note the 'jumpers' are removed( shown as dashed lines).
http://sound.westhost.com/bi-amp.htm#bi_wiring

If you have problems at the receiver end with the wires...... you may want to remove the spade terminals and insert the bare wire in the hole with the banana jack cables( assuming they have the miniature pins).
JK

danger boy

maybe this will help explain it.. guys are visual beings you know.

two sets of binding posts.. two black (neg) and two red (positive) for you to use. This is pretty typical of Polk speakers.

in the pic you can see (picture 1) where spades are used along with banana plugs on the same 5 way binding post.

Picture 2 shows one way to bi wire your speakers.. notice the metal strap removed.. still using banana plugs and spades.. or you can use all spades, or all banana plugs, or bare wire too.

At your receiver/amp end it could have two red's and two black ends.. or just one black and one red. Either way.. they all go to the same place at your receiver end.

hearingimpared

Nice job DB.

sidespin

sorry, didn't mean to hijack.

jdannyj

OK..I know I've asked some stupid questions, so here is another...
I have'nt been back home to try this out, so i thought i'd ask first

In order for me to hoke up my bi-wires, would i be able to plug my speaker cable through the top of the speaker terminal screw, once the screw is screwed all the way down?? I don't even know if that's is possible.. When my speaker cable is inserted through the holes in the terminals it does'nt alow enough room for my bi-wire spades to fit. I'm just trying to figure out another way to hook these suckers up.

danger boy

jdannyj wrote:

OK..I know I've asked some stupid questions, so here is another...
I have'nt been back home to try this out, so i thought i'd ask first

In order for me to hoke up my bi-wires, would i be able to plug my speaker cable through the top of the speaker terminal screw, once the screw is screwed all the way down?? I don't even know if that's is possible.. When my speaker cable is inserted through the holes in the terminals it does'nt alow enough room for my bi-wire spades to fit. I'm just trying to figure out another way to hook these suckers up.

if you haven't been home to try it out. then you'll never know for sure or not. We can only guess from your questions, that it may work.

I did an excellent job earlier showing and explaining all the different ways to hook up wires, cables, spades, banana plugs, etc. and you still don't get it.

leave your spades on the bottom. and tighten it down nice and firm. use banana plugs for your bare wire, that's the only way to attach bare wire to the top of the plug if the bottom of the plug is used already. Capiche?

Holy cow.. i'm done with this thread.. you're on your own now dude. I figured it out, so can you. :mad:

JKnPA

DB,
I give you an 'A" for effort. There are others reading this post, so you may have helped someone!............;)
JDJ,
Unless I am completely mis understanding your problem.......
there should be only one wire per speaker terminal not two. You remove the 'jumper bracket', so you seperate your tweeter &woofer inside the CSi5. Therefore you have one wire going to each of the four terminals.

Your connection problem should be on the 'RECEIVER' end, where you have to connect the four ends, 2reds and 2blacks going to your amp.
If you can't make that connection....... I would forget about the
bi-wire scheme!

jdannyj

thanks everyone...I finally figured it out. next time I will try all options before asking pointless questions. i just did'nt want to f up the speaker.