Banana Pins for RM7 and RM8 speakers

aask87

I bought some banana pins for my Polk RM7's and 8's speakers from Monoprice but unfortunately they do not fit for a couple reasons. The first is that the pin could not go into the spring clamp very far and the second reason being that since the hookup is at the bottom of the speaker I need some sort of a right angle pin. Does anybody who own the RM series have any luck finding any connection pins for the speakers. I have 14 gauge speaker wire. I bought some banana plugs for the receivers and they work perfectly. Any suggestions would be grateful.

wutadumsn23

Hey aask, welcome to Club Polk. IIRC the RM7's/8's have spring clip connectors and thus you won't be able to use banana's with them. Your best bet with the wiring if you are having trouble getting the wires in there is to thin it out a little bit and go from there. With 14AWG though, you should be alright without having to thin it out. Good luck.

-Jeff

Nickel II

I just came here with a similar question on the RM7's. I haven't rec'd them yet, but just read some reviews that state a 12g wire will not fit in the spring connector. I just ordered 300 feet of it to wire all the speakers in my house, including 2 RM7's and 1 RMC7.

I was thinking what the poster above states, to thin out the cable at the connection point to make it fit.

My question, however, is how does that effect sound quality? Seems silly to run 12g wire for 50 feet only to trim it down to 14g size or 16g size to make it fit. I would also think the wire would start to fray.

I am wondering if I should cancel the order to get something with 5 way posts.

I bought 12g Belden cable from bluejeanscable.com if that helps with an answer. I have never run wire this far before so this is a new issue to me. I never suspected the spring connectors wouldn't accomodate 12g.

wutadumsn23

You make a good point about fraying and thinning it out too much that you could have just bought a smaller gauge. I would see what the return policy is, if you can test it to see if it will fit and if it doesn't you can return it, I would just wait. If not, try to cancel the order and get a smaller gauge. Or go get a couple of feet of some cheapo wire somewhere that is 12AWG and try it out. That's about all I got, good luck and welcome to Club Polk.

-Jeff

Nickel II

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

You make a good point about fraying and thinning it out too much that you could have just bought a smaller gauge. I would see what the return policy is, if you can test it to see if it will fit and if it doesn't you can return it, I would just wait. If not, try to cancel the order and get a smaller gauge. Or go get a couple of feet of some cheapo wire somewhere that is 12AWG and try it out. That's about all I got, good luck and welcome to Club Polk.

-Jeff

Thanks Jeff.

Ya, I just don't know enough about this stuff to know if thinning it out at the point of termination causes loss of sound quality. Both the speakers and the wire are already shipped and due to arrive next week. It is for a house we just bought and the wood floors are going in first and the contractor is routing the speaker wires for me around the moulding. That will be installed before I even get the speakers. So I am more committed to the wire then I am the speakers.

I'll get the speakers and try them out. If the 12g doesn't fit or the sound stinks after thinning it out, I'll just return the speakers for something else.

It is a shame on Polks part. These speakers get really good reviews. Even the manual says to use 12g wire over a certain distance. If it doesn't fit, why even recommend it?

Other option is to splice a 14g or 16 gauge wire at the very end, shrink wrap it. That way the 12g is making a solid connection with the 16g for just 4-6inches before terminating into the speaker.

Would love to hear some feedback from others. Thanks.

Zeros

What about tinning the end of the wire with some solder? Then you could bend it at a 90 degree angle and connect it to the spring clips?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8576321670041105097#

ikolbyi

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

Hey aask, welcome to Club Polk. IIRC the RM7's/8's have spring clip connectors and thus you won't be able to use banana's with them. Your best bet with the wiring if you are having trouble getting the wires in there is to thin it out a little bit and go from there. With 14AWG though, you should be alright without having to thin it out. Good luck.

-Jeff

Yo Jeff, (sorry for my Big Apple accent)

I had the same issue with the RM's and 14 gauge wire when I installed them, I was unable to easily insert them into the speaker. My only remedy was your suggestion, to thin out the wire slightly enabling me to be able to insert it in. My recommendation to Polk is to ensure all speakers can easily support 14 gauge-plenum rated wire so customers do not have to 'thin out wire'. Little things like that go a long way with your customers.

Just my 2 cents.

ikolbyi

Nickel II wrote: »

I just came here with a similar question on the RM7's. I haven't rec'd them yet, but just read some reviews that state a 12g wire will not fit in the spring connector. I just ordered 300 feet of it to wire all the speakers in my house, including 2 RM7's and 1 RMC7.

I was thinking what the poster above states, to thin out the cable at the connection point to make it fit.

My question, however, is how does that effect sound quality? Seems silly to run 12g wire for 50 feet only to trim it down to 14g size or 16g size to make it fit. I would also think the wire would start to fray.

I am wondering if I should cancel the order to get something with 5 way posts.

I bought 12g Belden cable from bluejeanscable.com if that helps with an answer. I have never run wire this far before so this is a new issue to me. I never suspected the spring connectors wouldn't accomodate 12g.

Just a recommendation, using 14 gauge-plenum rated wire should be good enough for your long runs. I purchased the following from Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xr5/R-100001123/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 and I used this wire for my installation. I have runs up to 150 feet without any noticeable sound degradation. That said, you may want to reconsider using 12 gauge since 14 in-wall will meet your needs.

wutadumsn23

Zeros wrote: »

What about tinning the end of the wire with some solder? Then you could bend it at a 90 degree angle and connect it to the spring clips?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8576321670041105097#

This is a good idea too, didn't even think of that.

-Jeff

Nickel II

Just an update. Finally moved into the new house and have the R7's setup with 12gauge wire. For me, the speaker wire is fitting into the clips on the speakers. I had to be very careful to keep the wire round. I suspect if I pull the wire out that it won't fit back in cause it will have flattened out just a tad. But again, my 12gauge wire did fit.

I also found these that I am thinking about trying out as I still have in the back of my mind that one day my kids are going to pull the speaker wire out of the backs of the R7's and I am going to go nuts trying to get it back in:
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Modular-Speaker-Cable-Termination/dp/B00004Y3TN/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2

dorokusai

It's wire guys and not everyone is hooking up 14g cables to their satellite speakers....actually 99% of the ppl buying them aren't....just as an educated guess.

It would be cool if they accepted a larger gauge but they currently do not and that's based on more than just what was handy. It was designed to be small, unobtrusive and sound good....easy to do whatever with and they work just fine, to rated specifications, on 18g cable.

The tinning idea sounds like a great suggestion and will most likely negate the loss of wire by creating a larger contact surface. Otherwise, don't worry about it, there's bigger issues in audio.

Imspun4u

I third the tinning the ends with solder. Those little wire fray's sure are agravating if your trying to stick through those small terminal holes. I unscrewed one wire nut too far and it fell in the bass tube hole. Had to remove a speaker to get it out. What a pain. By the way, on the Rti8's for sure they use push on connection's for the speaker terminal's. I'm thinking about eventually soldering the wire strait to my terminal.

Audio292

Wait, i have the RM7's also so would these not fit?

http://www.av-cables.net/connectors/connectors-29781.html

K-daugh

just throwing this out there monster brand flex pins? or monoprice pins

TECHNOKID

xcapri79 wrote: »

It is easy to tin, if you dip the twisted wire end into some flux first then apply solder.
It will act as a wick and take up the solder nicely.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049774&CAWELAID=37896050



I agree though that it is unfortunate that the RM7 and 8 rear terminals were not enlarged slightly to accomodate the standard speaker pin. C'est la vie.

Well, it is very hard to please everyone. In fact I was reading old reviews on the earlier RM series (RM10, RM20 & RM30) which used binding posts and one of the cons according to the reviewer was that Polk was using binding posts and should use spring clips instead. Now that the newer RM series uses spring clip speaker terminal people still complain

However, one problem that applies for both types of connectors is the fact that the connectors are recessed which makes it a little difficult to install the wires however,while this is a small problem it is totally out of the way after installatiion. I know for a fact that 14 gage fits fairly easily, the 12 gage is also suppose to fit but I thing the problem is the recessed spring connectors along with multi strands wire that make a little difficult to install. What I would suggest is that single strand (hard core) be used since there will not be any problem with frayed strands and can also be bent and used as pin connectors or you can tin the stranded wire which again will make it easier to install in the spring connector

Pins. Pin connectors may either be straight or angled. They work with spring clip speaker terminals, as well as with binding posts.

Spring clip speaker terminals
Spring clip terminals are a type of connection used for amplified, speaker-level signals, usually found on lower-priced speakers and lower- to medium-priced receivers. Spring clips accept bare speaker wire, as well as pin-type speaker wire connectors. To make the connection, just push the spring-loaded lever, insert the wire (or connector), and release. Spring clips are sometimes also referred to as "push terminals."

Each speaker (or each output channel on a receiver) uses a pair of spring clips for a single connection: a red one for the positive speaker lead, and a black one for the negative lead.

The minimal size to be effective is at least 16 gage at 8 ohms with 14 gage being ideal for most speakers at short distance so why would one try to use 12 gage? You are just running for trouble, one must also realize that most satellite speakers will use the smaller wires.

Distance between speaker and amplifier
Speaker Wire Gauge

Less than 50 feet
16
50 to 100 feet
14
100 to 150 feet
12
more than 150 feet
10

Gauge 16 is the minimum we recommend with short runs and often represents the best option for moderately priced systems when speakers are placed close to the AV receiver. Gauge 16 speaker wire is relatively inexpensive, apart from being thinner, which makes it easier to work with e.g. to pass along door frames and under fitted carpets.

Using the length factor as a guide to help you determine which speaker cable gauge to use should generally suffice under most applications. However, we suggest using the next thicker gauge to that indicated in that above table with lower impedance 6 and 4 Ohm speaker loads. And in the case of 2-Ohm speakers, gauge 12 is the minimum we recommend for distances up to 30 feet.

Wire recommendations from Polk are 18 gage minimum up to 12 gage maximum.