Audioquest- bare wires to speaker?

xandra

HISTORY: I recently bought a pair of Type 6 Audioquest speaker cables from Audiogon.
got at a good price and Sounded GREAT... BUT:

1 of the nanners was VERY funky - took brute stregnth to get in - concerned and too weak - actually had to enlist aid of strong male to remove (thinking I'd exchange)

Unfortunately: no more available and nothing similar available at such a good price.

THE QUESTION:
So... I'm considering cuttting of the nanner at the speaker end, and just using the bare wire... Will I be able to strip and attach this to speaker -- or are these solid core wonders too stiff and difficult to work with..

thanks

steveinaz

It can be done, but you'll have to handle with care getting the insulation off. Get a good set of wire strippers that hold/cut and pull the insulation off in one movement. Avoid repeated bending of the solid core copper and you'll be fine.

Here's an "acceptable" stripper--I've seen better:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=360-627

xandra

thanks steve: would I be better off using nanners than attempting to bend the wire in the posts?

steveinaz

If you have 5-way binding posts, you could easily use bare wire--just don't bend it back and forth too much.

You can't fix the funky nanner? Is it bent or something?

xandra

You can't fix the funky nanner? Is it bent or something?

Amazingly No... Have visually inspected - no burrs or bends apparrent -- my guess: it's just slightly out of round (not at all visible to human eye)- the nanners on these fit very tightly so the teeniest deviation (gotta say I'm real warry of getting it stuck in speaker again...)

WilliamM2

Could these be locking banana's? And it's not unlocked?

scottnbnj

i have no idea how audioquest's cs goes, but i'd talk to them to see if they had any ideas. if i read right, audioquest also has spades that fit over bananas. i'd probably spring for those or something similar rather than mess with factory terminations (if that's what you have).

)

xandra

Could these be locking banana's? And it's not unlocked?

don't seem to be locking type that you'd tighten after insertion(near as I can tell just have set screws to hold wire in place).

I'd add a link, but audioquests site is pure java (no way to copy paste link) you have to go to http://www.audioquest.com/ click the Speaker Cables tab, then choose 'Connectors' from pop-up. Mine are type CF-UST

So Here's a pic:

If i read right, audioquest also has spades that fit over bananas

You're indeed right (would be a great solution) - but if the nanners don't fit in speakers post holes, doubt they fit the spade adapter.
--aside: hadn't realized you could use spades with Polks 5-way binding posts (guess that's the 5th way)

zingo

If you think it's just a little out of whack, I'd use a vice and pinch it until it fits. I've manipulated a number of things this way.

xandra

THE UPSHOT....
I tried the nanner in an old broken Monitor speaker - good tight fit.

Retried again in both negative posts on RTi10 -won't go in all the way (this time won't force) -- so it seems that the problem is that the holes in the 10 are slightly smaller (or not entirely straight). I'm willing to bet this particular cables' nanner is just slightly large... The combo disasterous.

Must say I'm somewhat astonished how poor the tolerances are with all this stuff most especially the audioquest nanners - each possible connection is a tinge different - for example the
left cable:
Speaker Positive: perfect
Speaker Neg: way too tight (way too tight on RTi 10, good tight fit on Monitor)
Amp Positive: a little loose (a slight tug -- pulls it partially out)
Amp Negative: a little loose ""

The Right Cable seems to fit ok all around.

I'm trying another cable (an audioquest snake - problems not severe but still, amp end is a tinge loose - this time on right cable) Sound quality doesn't seem as good (or at least it's quieter)

This is the first time I've forked up for 'good quality' cables, kinda makes me yearn for coat hangers...

ZINGO: I really don't wanna mess with these, in case I they'll still let me return.

AGH....

Willow

I'd say if you can't get them to fit, cut the nanners and use bare. AQ solid core speaker cables are a very good cable.

Face

I have a set of nanners that are sometimes tight.

Try using a little deoxit on them.

xandra

THANKS All -- first spoke with AQ then took Scott's advice, got some replacement nanners. I think once things are more settled (ie when I'm not rehooking daily) I'll go with the bare wire.

Face: What's deoxit???

Again - thanks to all, can finally sleep at nite. (yeh, I was fretting about this that much).

scottnbnj

yeah, i can feel that. you get something new and you can't hook it up for whatever reason. good luck with the new ones.

deoxit cleans terminations and whatnot. it's worked well for me and hasn't messed up anything yet. radio shack has it.

btw, how did your experience with aq's customer service go? i mean, were they interested at all that their cables didn't fit and try to get to the bottom of whether the inconsistency was something with their terminations or what you were plugging them in to? did they recommend a different type of termination or anything?

)

xandra

Scott: AQ's customer service was really quite good. Spoke with human in fairly short time.

were they interested at all that their cables didn't fit and try to get to the bottom of whether the inconsistency was something with their terminations or what you were plugging them in to?

well don't think they were terribly concerned -- but then the focus of the conversation was really just about how to fix things.
I really was fortunate that the plugs were one of the 'UST' types - as these can be replaced just by removing unlocking screws, would've had a much trickier operation otherwise.