Is this really Polk's doing?

tugboat

As some of you might know, I purchased my 1.2TLs from a friend years back. I helped him install them when they were new and after they were given the boot by his wife, I took them off his hands for a song. Anyway, I never did anything to them except clean them up a bit and connect them to my system. Today I decided to check out the jumper wires for corrosion and such and was shocked by what I found! I called my friend to ask if he changed the jumper wire and was told he never touched it. I've attached a picture of the wires I removed.

Now with all the quality components Polk uses in it speakers (expecially it's SRS), why would they resort to using 16ga lamp cord with standard tin crimp rings and then cut 1/3 of the loop off so it would go over the lug? I guess I know what my next small project is. Time to get some decent wire and gold plated spade connectors.

Hmmmm.... Anyone else's jumpers look like these? If it's not Polk's doing, then I wonder if the place where he purchased them did it. I know they had them up and connected for him to listen to before he took possession of them.

shack

Those are homemade IMO.

tugboat

shack wrote: »

Those are homemade IMO.

To me as well, but he said he never touched them. Maybe they were made on a Friday or Monday, or, the bin with the jumpers was empty when my speakers made it to that build station.

Ricardo

They look exactly as the jumpers I had in my 1.2 TL's.

tugboat

What if I stripped about an inch of insulation off about 4" down the speaker wire, twist it and crimp/solder on a banana plug, then strip the end of the wire and put another banana plug on the end? That would get rid of the jumper and feed both inputs from the same speaker cable.

Just a thought.

John in MA

Those are stock as far as I know. My 1.2TLs came with them and they're all-original. Speaker wire voodoo gets more attention from consumers than manufacturers, especially 20 years ago.

tugboat

John in MA wrote: »

Those are stock as far as I know. My 1.2TLs came with them and they're all-original. Speaker wire voodoo gets more attention from consumers than manufacturers, especially 20 years ago.

I'm not a big believer in high end speaker wire. I am running Monster Cable XP (I believe its between 16 and 18ga). The only reason for MC is because it was free, otherwise I'd be using the 16ga wire from Home Depot or Lowes. I was using Monster Cable Original (10ga) and found no difference in sound going to the XP cable. My main concern is in the connections. Gold plating and a good solder job will help keep corrosion away and give the best connection. The connections on these jumpers don't have much contact surface and the wire is discolored, so it's time to update them.

zingo

I would just make some little jumpers like you were saying and be done with it. I used to have 4" jumpers with bananas on each end. I would run straight wire into one set of the binding posts, then plug the banana jumpers over the top and it worked like a charm.

candyliquor35m

I've done away with all my jumpers by extending my speaker wire (10 ga romex) thru both sets of binding posts. Works like a charm.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13369

heiney9

tugboat wrote: »

I'm not a big believer in high end speaker wire. I am running Monster Cable XP (I believe its between 16 and 18ga). The only reason for MC is because it was free, otherwise I'd be using the 16ga wire from Home Depot or Lowes. I was using Monster Cable Original (10ga) and found no difference in sound going to the XP cable. My main concern is in the connections. Gold plating and a good solder job will help keep corrosion away and give the best connection. The connections on these jumpers don't have much contact surface and the wire is discolored, so it's time to update them.

I'm not debating this or turning this into a bashing thread. My only serious question is; have you ever tried different types, grades, brands of wire to make the statement above? Not saying one is right or wrong. Just wondering you have ever even tried to do a long term, logical comparison with which to base your statement.

FWIW, I used to be the same way until I seriously started demoing different cables and I don't believe the way I originally did anymore.

H9

tugboat

heiney9 wrote: »

I'm not debating this or turning this into a bashing thread. My only serious question is; have you ever tried different types, grades, brands of wire to make the statement above? Not saying one is right or wrong. Just wondering you have ever even tried to do a long term, logical comparison with which to base your statement.

FWIW, I used to be the same way until I seriously started demoing different cables and I don't believe the way I originally did anymore.

H9

I've tried different non-exotic cables and never heard a difference. I'm not saying that other brands, sizes or compositions wouldn't / don't make a difference. It's more along the lines of I'm happy with the way things sound as they are. So my statement about not hearing a difference is correct and factual based on my experience with the cables I've used in the past. Not everyone needs or wants to get every last nuance out of their system. I've always believed that music should be enjoyed and I enjoy it on my setup.

That being said, I'm am big on making sure my connections are good. Doesn't matter what wire you use if your connections are weak.

heiney9

tugboat wrote: »

That being said, I'm am big on making sure my connections are good. Doesn't matter what wire you use if your connections are weak.

That is a very true statement. I'd either make new jumpers or at the very least trim the ends on the ones you have. After 20 years I bet the copper is starting to corrode/oxidize.

If you use some high quality OFC you should be set for quite sometime.

H9

tugboat

heiney9 wrote: »

That is a very true statement. I'd either make new jumpers or at the very least trim the ends on the ones you have. After 20 years I bet the copper is starting to corrode/oxidize.

If you use some high quality OFC you should be set for quite sometime.

H9

I have some gold plated spades around here somewhere as well as some 10ga Esoteric Audio wire (OFC and hundereds of fine strands). I'd try the 2ga I have, but the wire is bigger than the binding post!

zingo

tugboat wrote: »

Not everyone needs or wants to get every last nuance out of their system. I've always believed that music should be enjoyed and I enjoy it on my setup.

Amen. That's a great place to be in.

Deadof_knight

Amen to enjoying it ....however on any set up I had you can hear diferences in quality and gauge .... I went from 16 gauge to 10 gauge and its very apparent... but this has been discussed hmmm a million times here on this forum. copper oxidizes like he said^ and new cable should sounds better as well.....

F1nut

Those jumpers could be stock, but I recall mine had a complete loop at each end, those look to have been cut for some reason. You would do well to replace them.

Actually, connectors make no difference, IMO, as long as they make good contact. Quality cable, on the other hand, makes all the difference in the world and I'm not talking about xx gauge copper wire.

SDA SRS 1.2

F1nut wrote: »

Those jumpers could be stock, but I recall mine had a complete loop at each end, those look to have been cut for some reason. You would do well to replace them.

Actually, connectors make no difference, IMO, as long as they make good contact. Quality cable, on the other hand, makes all the difference in the world and I'm not talking about xx gauge copper wire.

That's correct - complete loop at each end on mine also.

zingo

....

tugboat

F1nut wrote: »

Those jumpers could be stock, but I recall mine had a complete loop at each end, those look to have been cut for some reason. You would do well to replace them.

Actually, connectors make no difference, IMO, as long as they make good contact. Quality cable, on the other hand, makes all the difference in the world and I'm not talking about xx gauge copper wire.

Do the ends of your posts screw off completely? Mine don't, so that must be why they cut up to half the loop off.

F1nut

tugboat wrote: »

Do the ends of your posts screw off completely? Mine don't, so that must be why they cut up to half the loop off.

Don't know, got rid of the stock posts years ago.

tugboat

F1nut wrote: »

Don't know, got rid of the stock posts years ago.

What do you think of the flat bar jumpers? I know they are used on my RT800s. They're flat bent pieces of gold plated metal. If those kind of jumpers work well, I can make something similar. If they're not good, then I need to also make a couple of decent jumpers for my RTs.

Thanks!

F1nut

IMO, the best jumpers are made from high quality speaker cable.

dbnh

tugboat wrote: »

I'm not a big believer in high end speaker wire.

I've got a different opinion, within my budget. To each their own; whatever works for your ears is the way to go, lots of ways to get to audio nirvana.

Happy listening.

bikezappa

candyliquor35m wrote: »

I've done away with all my jumpers by extending my speaker wire (10 ga romex) thru both sets of binding posts. Works like a charm.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13369

This is clearly the best solution thats costs you nothing but some extra work.

I think I would add solder to the bare wire to make the lowest resistance and best connection.

IMHO I bet you will hear NO difference in sound, but that is you the listener's decision.

ben62670

Any one near tuggy? It would be nice if he could try some nice cables without having to buy.
Ben