Lost metal jumper. Workaround?

Democritus

I have a CS400 I bought years ago. During a move, The metal jumper plate between the two (-) binding posts was lost. Do I have to find another one to make it work or can I do something like string a piece of stripped speaker wire between the two posts as a workaround? Bi-amping is not feasible in my situation.

Thanks.

McLoki

speaker wire will work fine. (just strip the ends under the posts, not the entire length.) I am sure you could call Polk customer service and get some more if you wanted it to keep the factory look though.

Many think that there are sonic benefits to removing the jumper (on purpose) and using some quality speaker wire in its place.

Michael

ben62670

Take a piece of speaker wire and wrap it around both terminals. Some people acutually prefer this to the stock binding plates anyway.
Welcome to the club

Ben

F1nut

Good quality speaker wire will work and sound better than the plates anyway, so do all your speakers that way.

edbert

Uh, yeah. What they said. If they are the same ones that are on the monitor line of speakers, you can have mine if you really want the originals. Just pm me your address. I think I have 6 total. Otherwise, just use speaker wire.

Democritus

Thanks, everyone! I didn't expect such a quick reply. I'll give it a shot...

Polkie2009

Just bought a used CS400 to see how it will work as a center channel speaker to my SDA-SRS 2 mains. I noticed there are 2 sets of binding posts on the CS400 so I hooked up the speaker wires to the lower set of posts. First thing I noticed was that the tweeter wasn't working and one of the mid range speakers was louder than the other. Tried hooking the wires to the upper posts and the tweeter works fine but no mid range speakers. I'm going to guess that I need to make some jumper wires to go between the upper and lower posts. Like I said, got this thing used , as is. Thanks in advance!

ViperZ

Polkie2009 wrote: »

Just bought a used CS400 to see how it will work as a center channel speaker to my SDA-SRS 2 mains. I noticed there are 2 sets of binding posts on the CS400 so I hooked up the speaker wires to the lower set of posts. First thing I noticed was that the tweeter wasn't working and one of the mid range speakers was louder than the other. Tried hooking the wires to the upper posts and the tweeter works fine but no mid range speakers. I'm going to guess that I need to make some jumper wires to go between the upper and lower posts. Like I said, got this thing used , as is. Thanks in advance!

Yep, just use a 12-AWG insulated wire to connect red to red and black to black. Then just use the banana plugs for the main speaker cables.

On the other hand, I paid like $5 to Polk for a set of new jumpers for my CS400. lol.

Polkie2009

Thanks for the tip ViperZ, this is what happens when I don't get an owner's manual,lol. The banana plugs will go into the bottom speaker terminals,or does it really matter?

VSchneider

Connect to either set of terminals with the jumper in place; it doesn't make a difference, so use whichever ones are easier to reach with your placement.

Polkie2009

Works like a champ,thanks guys!

Hillbilly61

Hey Polkie,

How does the CS400 sound with the SDAs? I was shopping for them heavily a couple of months back for my SDAs and settled for CS350s. 'couldn't be more happier! It matches so well that I've occasionally trotted up to the speaker early on to listen if they were working. That seamless. The center sound always sounds like it is ... coming from the center.

Hillbilly

Polkie2009

It seems to blend in well, I'm not sure if I have the CS400 or the CS400i. I know the tweeter is supposed to be different in the CS400i.

ViperZ

Polkie2009 wrote: »

It seems to blend in well, I'm not sure if I have the CS400 or the CS400i. I know the tweeter is supposed to be different in the CS400i.

CS400 has black cones, CS400i has blue cones.