Glad you got it fixed. I also found that there is no universal spec for speaker posts. I had spades that worked fine on most speakers but wouldn't fit others (Paradigm runs big). I am not talking by a lot though, maybe 1/32- 1/64 too small. Just enough so the spade doesn't slide on.
If you have to do this again next time try using an appropriately sized drill bit that is just slightly larger than the spade. Hold the uncut round end perpendicular to the spades "tongs" and gently tap the rod in with a small hammer till the tongs spread and the drill rod almost bottoms out. This method is a lot faster and neater than filing and it will not damage the plating (if plated).
I would not be concerned about cracking a quality spade. If your
spade is made from hard brittle brass it should be upgraded anyway.
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Thanks for all the responses on this....the Dremel solution worked really well. Only took a few minutes and now the connection to the amp's binding posts are rock-solid. Now I'll do as the Doobies suggested and listen to the music. |
Hi discnik,
That amp is a keeper. I had the Accuphase E450 integrated amp years ago and you can’t get rid of that, that thing sounded fantastic. The problem is the speaker connection on the Vandersteen’s. They use what’s called a barrier strip. Richard Vandersteen is convinced they sound better. In my opinion HCM dropped the ball, they should have asked you what amp you have and which speakers you have and they should have called you to say here’s what you need, got your approval and asked you can we proceed. That’s what a reputable dealer would have done. If those barrier strips sound better then many more speaker manufacturer’s would use them. If you like the Vandersteen speakers and you are owing to keep them, then I would ask your dealer much it would cost to install some good Cardas or WBT 5 way finding posts on the speakers. I know it sounds crazy but it’s worth looking into. The only other thing you could do is bring the speaker wires back to HCM and have them re-terminate them properly (like they should have done in the first place). Good luck.
Scot
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“Why does Accuphase conceal the highly relevant fact that their gold-plated connectors are still idiosyncratically designed for bare wire entering the third decade of the 21st Century CE?”
My guess would be they spent a small fortune doing randomized controlled prospective blinded listening tests along with a meta-analysis of other published studies and came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter if you used spades, banana plugs, or shoved the naked wire through and tightened it by hand.
Hey, at least they threw you a bone and gold plated it. |
Make an adaptor. Once you modify a component people may not to buy it when you are ready to sell it. Buy spades that will fit it, get some wire and connections to fit your current wire. Use that as an adaptor if you get what I mean.
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Just don't walk around with
a S. eating smile on your face. Also don't tell Eddie |
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Why not spring for some quality binding posts for the Accuphase so that you can connect a properly terminated cable to it!
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What’s wrong with bare wire?
Good question celtic66! |
With a good quality power amp you should not have this problem.Good luck though!! |
Thanks sonvolt…..you must have gotten time-off for good behavior and be back in the game. |
Discnik, I'll swing by this weekend with a dremel tool and I'll also bring a rat-tail file. Some good suggestions here so we should be able to figure it out in short order.
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What’s wrong with bare wire? Had some LAT International banana terminated wire. Banana broke, so I clipped and stripped all ends. Wire sounded way better bare. |
Thanks for all the responses/ideas....I'll go with the Dremel tool and test my patience in taking things slowly. In fairness to Accuphase, I should have stipulated I bought an older model amp (P-450) from another Audiogoner, but the newer amps may well have the same speaker-post design. The amp is flat-out beautiful and a joy to use...getting the spade issue solved will lessen my anal-retentive audiophile idiosyncrasies. |
shielded bare wire or dremel. the fewer contact point in a chain the better. 10 awg copper is very nice but dremel is easier considering your investment. keep in mind if the spades are 'coated' in gold, you'll be drilling that off as part of your contact surface so maybe bare wire again is better...or send the wire back and say then need to make it fit your equipment, not their tooling presses. the afficianados will say all the electrons will get cramped struggling to find the gold surfaces for jumping off....and well, it's not like its Rhodium. |
+1 for the rat tail file suggestion.
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I am using WBT spades (speaker wire) and banana’s (REL subs) connectors, both hooked up simultaneously to my Accuphase Integrated dual binding posts, no issues at all. I simply love the oversized binding posts. |
Why does Accuphase conceal the highly relevant fact that their gold-plated connectors are still idiosyncratically designed for bare wire entering the third decade of the 21st Century CE? |
I did mine the old fashion way, used a rat tail file and was able to accomplish in short order with good control
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Yes, use a dremel tool. I have had to do this several times. Just work slowly and carefully checking for fit periodically. If the spades are not very thick you can carefully widen with needle nose pliers being very careful. Thin spades are easy and safe to widen this way. The thick ones are much harder and not as flexible so the Dremel works best here. |
No, the amp won't accept bananas....that's the problem. I thought of the spade to banana adapter, but I'm running into the same problem. It's hard to find an adapter with a spade larger than 5/16". Thanks for your suggestions, lowrider57.
I do have access to a Dremel-tool, testpilot, so I'll try that and shave a bit off the inside surface of a spade and see how that works (I think that's where you were going).
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