I have reterminated Rocket 88, the wires are four solid core , but not too difficult.
Please help me clean up this stupid speaker cable mistake
I ordered off Ebay yesterday a pair of new fifteen foot Audioquest Rocket 88 speaker cables, the single bi-wire type with banana plugs for $650. It seemed like a good price. There are two banana plugs on the amp end of the cable, four banana plugs on the speaker end of each cable. They are for my new back ordered Magico A3’s, due for delivery by the end of this month. My stupid mistake is you cannot bi-wire Magico A3’s. So I have to combine recombine the biwire leads into single leads, which you would think would be simple.
I called Audioquest and spoke to a tech there. I asked him if the existing banana plugs on the Rocket 88 could be unscrewed. I could then twist two bi-wire leads together and place them back into a single banana jack if they would fit. Either that or replace them with spades, hoping the individual connectors on the Magicos were big enough to accept two spades. The tech didn’t know if they could be unscrewed. Do any of you know if they could be unscrewed and if so would the existing banana plug be fat enough to accommodate two leads.
His suggestion was to buy a set of four Audioquest 500 series spade or banana connectors, and replace the current ones. He though they would be wide enough to accommodate two combined leads and I wouldn’t have to solder them on which I’d like to avoid. They use Allen head screws to hold the wires in place. They go for $70.00. Do you know of any comparable quality screw on banana or spade connectors that aren’t so pricey? I was trying to be frugal in the first place with this purchase without sacrificing quality. The ones that are on the Rocket 88’s are silver plated if that’s relevant.
Sorry for being so long winded and thanks for any suggestions.
Mike
I called Audioquest and spoke to a tech there. I asked him if the existing banana plugs on the Rocket 88 could be unscrewed. I could then twist two bi-wire leads together and place them back into a single banana jack if they would fit. Either that or replace them with spades, hoping the individual connectors on the Magicos were big enough to accept two spades. The tech didn’t know if they could be unscrewed. Do any of you know if they could be unscrewed and if so would the existing banana plug be fat enough to accommodate two leads.
His suggestion was to buy a set of four Audioquest 500 series spade or banana connectors, and replace the current ones. He though they would be wide enough to accommodate two combined leads and I wouldn’t have to solder them on which I’d like to avoid. They use Allen head screws to hold the wires in place. They go for $70.00. Do you know of any comparable quality screw on banana or spade connectors that aren’t so pricey? I was trying to be frugal in the first place with this purchase without sacrificing quality. The ones that are on the Rocket 88’s are silver plated if that’s relevant.
Sorry for being so long winded and thanks for any suggestions.
Mike
38 responses Add your response
I did hear back from Magico today. The A3’s do not have an extra hole on the binding post you could a place a second banana plug into, or a bare wire for that matter. So back to square one. I’ll most likely re-terminate one banana plug on each cable with a spade. I’ll then connect the remaining banana plug termination to the banana plug receptacle and the re-terminated pace connector to the spade receptacle on the binding post. The 500 series spades Audioquest suggested using have screws that clamp down onto the bare wire, so it should be simple to switch them out, no soldering involved. Is there anything more to re-terminating this type of connector other than stripping back a bit of the wire and then putting it in the new termination to be screwed in place. If the wire is stranded, I’d suppose I’d twist the strands together before inserting them in the terminal, unless someone here indicates otherwise. Again, Thanks for all your advice, Mike |
Creekmaster, thanks for offering to send a pic, but I'm good. I emailed Magico asking if they had a similar binding post setup to what you describe, but got no response. I'll just have to wait until the A3's arrive to see if they have the extra hole in themas you describe. I bet they do, but you never know. Kymanor, I have, thanks. Mike |
audiorustty and folkfreak. thanks for your suggestions. They may just solve this problem at zero cost with no rewiring necessary. I’ve yet to receive shipment of the A3’s, so don’t know exactly what the binding posts look like to confirm if I can do as you suggest. I tried to find a picture of the binding post online the other day but no luck. The online instruction manual didn’t show them either. I’ll put off buying any parts now until the A3’s arrive so I can see your suggestion is workable on their binding posts. You would think they’d be the same as what’s on the other Magico’s that folkfreak has and wired that way. My old Dahlquist’s DQ-10’s have only that hole in the binding post and have been hard-wired since the seventies. You are both my heroes now. Thanks a lot. Excellent ideas. Mike |
@audiorusty is correct. For years I used a pair of Nordost cables wired shotgun into Magico V3 and Q3. Open up the binding post and slot one banana into the bare wire hole, then tighten enough and slot the other banana into the banana hole at the end of the binding post. Voila problem solved. Nordost do use z-plugs which can be cinched for a tight fit however |
I maybe showing my ignorance here and I do not know anything about Magico speakers but every binding post style of speaker connector I have ever seen has a hole in it so you can insert an unterminated wire through the hole. Can't you simply remove the banana plugs from your cables and connect via the hole? |
markalarsen and dill, I purchased them from a guy in California whose been selling on Ebay for five years and has a 100% rating, so I think I’m okay. But you never know. Appreciate your concern. millercarbon, the guys not likely a dealer, so a refund or exchange probably not in the cards. It should not be that big a deal to re-terminate them anyway or get banana spade adapters, so I’ll keep them for the nice price I got them at even with the added expense. Synergistic may well be better as you say. I based the purchase of Rocket 88’s on that being what Magico was using with their A3’s at show demos a few months ago. I figured I couldn’t go too wrong that way with what little knowledge I had of various cables. tomic60. I had no expectation or desire for Audioquest to re-terminate the cables. I’m not so lazy I can’t do that myself. I just hoped they’d offer to swap the new in box single bi-wires for new in box full ranges straight up. Thanks for offering to send some silver spades to complement grannyrings kind offer to re-terminate them, but I should be able to take care of that myself. You are both "the man" and will get some good karma for the offer alone. Thanks again. glupson, how are you? David, thank for the info on WBT. lukeaske, appreciate your info on Pure-cable as well. Mike |
Audioquest offers free counterfeit inspection, just ship them the cables - they destroy them IF counterfeit and issue a certificate of authenticity IF they are good. Skyscraper - while I happen to think you are wrong in expecting AQ to reterminate cables purchased off ebay for free, I think your Magico and you deserve better listening Karma...I would flip them and roll the dice on something else. I think you should take Grannyring up on his fantastic offer, I keep a healthy stock of silver AQ spades and low mass copper Anticable spades that I can send Grannyring gratis, because I need a Kahmic boost.....say the word, pick a size and get Granny to Pm me a shipping address..... |
David, What does WBT mean? WBT is a German company that makes connectors for electronics and is known to us for their Speaker Binding Posts, speaker cable connectors, etc. They make other audiophile connectors as well. "WBT-Industrie GmbH Industry sector: Mechanical engineering - Precision engineering Main focus: Electromechanical connectors designed for the entertainment electronics, high-tech medical equipment and measurement technology" |
Refund. Or at least return for exchange. Preferably refund. Synergistic probably has half a dozen cheaper better choices. I'm being very conservative here. My personal experience, I was able to sell Audioquest at used prices and buy Synergistic paying new, with money left over and much better sound. |
I have to disagree with you there Bob. These Rocket 88’s are supposedly brand new in the box. I haven’t received them yet to be sure. It’s my mistake I bought the bi-wires instead of the full range, and I didn’t ask Audioquest for any favors or returns. But it wouldn’t have cost them a penny to offer to exchange them instead of asking for $100 right off the bat to rectify my error. Good customer service buys you good will and future business. But as you say, it’s my mistake, not their’s. I’ll pay for it, but won’t be rushing out to purchase more Audioquest products, because you should take care of your customers better than that. They missed a good opportunity to go out of their way to do so and ensure my customer loyalty. To belabor the point, I recently purchased a Shunyata interconnect after receiving some great customer service from them when inquiring about a second hand Shunyata Denali power conditioner I ended up purchasing from a third party. I even got an assurance they would honor it’s warranty. What comes around goes around. Anyway, I’ll stop whining now. Mike |
Thanks again Thomas. I hadn’t ordered yet, so I’m good. I was only wondering if matching the metals made any difference. You never know what might be important when it comes to cabling. mental, I was hoping not to have to waste any more money on correcting a stupid mistake after dropping $650 on the speaker cables already. But sometimes you do have to pay for your mistakes, literally. tubegb, if your ears can’t tell the difference I’m guessing mine won’t either. David, What does WBT mean? The reason I can’t pick up another properly terminated cable after spending $650 on these is that I have other non-audio related things I’d like to purchase and not an unlimited budget. Sad but true. maxima, I can’t return these as it was an Ebay purchase from an individual and not from a store. That’s what happens when you think you’ve found a bargain sometimes, and rush a purchase. From what some of you are saying about adding additional connectors to the signal path, maybe I’ll just suck it up and re-terminate these with Audioquest’s recommended 500 series spades. It’s a $69 dollar lesson, could be worse, for four replacement spade terminals. grannyring so nice of you to offer. The 500 Series terminals simply screw on so I’m comfortable doing that. If I’m lucky I might be able to reuse one of the bi-wires banana terminations to house two wires, but I’m guessing Audioquest doesn’t make them so they can be disassembled, reused or refit like some manufacturers do. It’s difficult to believe, now that I think about it, the tech I spoke to didn’t know if they could be or not. markalarsen, Audioquest wanted $100 to terminate them plus shipping back and forth. I simply don’t want to throw away any more money on my own stupidity. Since these are brand new the least they could have done was offer to exchange them. I’m guessing they’re not worried about repeat business.either. Thanks all for your input. Mike |
I believe the speaker posts are WBT (?). I would check with Magico regarding which WBTs and then ask Audioquest and WBT for their recommendation on material pairing. Also, given your spend on the A3s, don't 'cheap out' on the connectors. Any reason why you cannot pick up a correctly terminated speaker cable? Seems like the easiest, and perhaps smarter approach (?). All the best with whichever solution you choose and the resulting performance. |
| Post removed |
ttps://www.ebay.com/itm/2Pair-Blunt-Silver-Screw-Spade-Fork-Banana-Plug-Connector-for-Speaker-Wire-Cable/25... If you want silver, then you can order the above. But I do not think that will make much difference |
https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-8Pcs-Set-4mm-Screw-Spade-Banana-Plug-Speaker-Wire-Cable-adapter-Gold-Pla... Mike You had better try this if you had not placed an order on Amazon. I also placed order of this one minute ago. i also need those for secure triple connection of speaker cables. Thomas |
Not to throw a damper on this suggested solution but I own
several sets of those adapters. They are designed to fit older/vintage barrier
strip or small screw-type terminals. The spade portion of the adapter is likely
not wide enough to fit on the modern/large post of your Magicos. Conceptually
it will work but I’d recommend finding a similar adapter with a wider spade. I
hope this makes sense.
|
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0122SZIYU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc... You can order above and fit two spades into your speaker. |