Banana plugs and vintage Polks
Nightfall
Posts: 10,084
Do banana plugs fit into stock vintage Polks? It seems like the posts on the vintage Polks are about half size of new speakers and I'm thinking that only about half the banana plug will even fit, or am I way off base here?
Lastly, is bare wire better than pin type connectors for spring loaded terminals such as on the Monitor 4's? My logic says yes because the area of contact on the pin would be much smaller than bare wire squished down as well as it seems the pins could move around/fall out easily, or am I way off base again?
Lastly, is bare wire better than pin type connectors for spring loaded terminals such as on the Monitor 4's? My logic says yes because the area of contact on the pin would be much smaller than bare wire squished down as well as it seems the pins could move around/fall out easily, or am I way off base again?
afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk
Post edited by Nightfall on
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Yeah, only a little over half of the banana plug fits into the vintage Polk binding posts. If you want ones that accept the whole banana plug and give you a better connection, you'll have to replace the BPs with aftermarket ones.
For the spring-loaded terminals, the best contact, IMHO, can be made with tinned (with a good solder) bare wire ends. -
Is soldering required to replace with aftermarket binding posts?afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
Is soldering required to replace with aftermarket binding posts?
The ones I've used (Vampire and Cardas) have required very basic soldering. I just tinned the ends of the stripped wires from the crossovers and soldered them into the little center cups of the BP connector cores. There are ones out there - lots available from eBay, Parts Express, etc. - that don't require soldering. I think the soldered ones give you a better connection (physical and electrical) though.
The replacement BPs that I used also required carefully expanding the holes in the binding post cups with a drill to get a proper tight fit. -
Maybe it's time for me to learn how to solder. Can you recommend an inexpensive way to learn? Is a solder iron a solder iron or is there a particular one I want?
Thanks for your help teekay.afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
Here ya go, Nightfall:
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?122799-How-To-Solder&highlight=solder
Jim5.1 System:
TCL R613 55" 4K
Front: SRS-3.1TL
Center: CS400i
Surround: Monitor 10B
PSW10 subwoofer
Onkyo PR-SC886P Pre/Pro
NAD T955 5 channel power amplifier
Technics SL-1710 MK2 turntable
Audio-Technica AT14Sa cartridge
Parasound P3 pre-amp
Oppo BDP-103 Blu-Ray
2014 MacBook Pro 2.8 GHz
2.0 Office System:
Monitor 10A (Peerless)
Outlaw 1050 receiver
Parasound HCA-1000A power amp
MacPro -
You're welcome, Nightfall. Happy to help if possible.
I've only done the most basic of soldering on my speakers. I checked out some vids on YouTube and did a little bit of practicing before attempting it. Got a very basic soldering iron at Radio Shack, forget if it's 30 or 40 Watts, along with some solder and some de-soldering braid. Other than that, all you need is a wet sponge and you're set to give it a whirl.
Yes, the nice ones make the soldering jobs go much more smoothly, but the basic ones are fine for the simple tasks.
If you are going to attempt to replace your BPs, Nightfall, you'll also have to remove the hot glue pooled on/around the BPs and replace it after you swap out the BPs. I just cut it out with an X-acto knife and a needle nose pliers.
Hope that helps. Checkin' out for the night. -
The key with soldering is getting what ever device your using whether it be an electric soldering iron,a Weller type gun or a butane powered iron is to get it hot enough so the solder flows w/ ease. If not you do run the risk of a cold solder joint which can lead to a bad conncetion.Also you can go to plumbing tutorial and see in a bigger setting how solder does flow and that's what you want on much much smaller scale. All these examples are at Radio Shack.I also use banana plugs for my 2bs and they work fine and to me are the easiest connection to deal with.Mine are the double set screw type w/screw on collars.2chl- Adcom GFA- 555-Onkyo P-3150v pre/amp- JVC-QL-A200 tt- Denon 1940 ci cdp- Adcom GFS-6 -Modded '87 SDA 2Bs - Dynamat Ext.- BH-5- X-Overs VR-3, RDO-194 tweeters, Larry's Rings, Speakon/Neutrik I/C- Cherry stain tops Advent Maestros,Ohm model E
H/T- Toshiba au40" flat- Yamaha RX- V665 avr- YSD-11 Dock- I-Pod- Klipsch #400HD Speaker set-
Bdrm- Nikko 6065 receiver- JBL -G-200s--Pioneer 305 headphones--Sony CE375-5 disc -
And you have stock binding posts on your 2B's? What brand makes half size banana plugs?afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
And you have stock binding posts on your 2B's? What brand makes half size banana plugs?
nobody some may be shorter but not by much. Leftwinger most likely is not worried about them being not completely flush. I had a Yamaha RX-V992 that would not take all the BP it never bothered me and they worked fine. IF you wanted to you could get BFA banana's and trim down just a bit but I'd think that would just make more work for you.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bfa+banana+plug&client=firefox-a&hs=isK&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=0ZInUrC3FdKyygGT4IH4BQ&ved=0CE8QsAQ&biw=1440&bih=794 -
I've used very vintage Pomona dual banana plugs with my Monitor 7As since the late 1970s :-)
