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Spades and Cabasse speaker terminals

This question is similar to one posed in another thread, but the difference is significant (or so I think). My problem is this:

I have a pair of older (1985) Cabasse speakers that have fairly sizable post-type terminals. I guess the idea was to simply use bare wire, which is what I'm using now (some cheap Synergistic Research cable), or huge spades. The terminals have a nut that screws off. The nut has a square peg in it that slides into a groove in the binding post. That way, I guess, the nut and this peg thing screw down on the wire, which is placed in the groove (make sense?).

I am wanting to try out some other (used) speaker cables (Analysis Plus Oval 9, Acoustic Zen Satori, etc.), but the spades on these, even the seemingly huge spades on the Oval 9, are too small for the Cabasse.

So, what are my options? The Cabasse are not fitted for banana plugs, so that's out.

If I must go bare wire at the speaker end, can I (gulp) cut off the spades? This does not seem to be an option with Oval 9, because the cable is more or less a braided, flat ribbon. No way to get that mutha' around a binding post!

I'm not a DIY'er, so performing surgery on the cables to install larger spades is not my forte.

Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!
128x128cpdunn99
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cpdunn99's avatar
cpdunn99 OP
639 posts
 
Alex,

You're having a hard time envisioning because I'm having a hard time describing!

There is not a hole in the post, rather a split. It's almost cut in half, lengthwise. The nut that screws onto the post has a square peg inside that fits neatly into the groove. I tried to remove the peg, but it's permanently attached (I thought if it was removable, that banana plugs might work). No such luck!

I might try Twl's suggestion or buy some speaker cables with oversized spades. Or have the Cabasse posts replaced, as you suggest, or....

Thanks!
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I'm having a hard time envisioning what the posts and nuts on the Cabasse look like, but is there a split or hole in the post large enough to fit just one of the spade's tines into, rather than trying to get the whole spade around the post? If so, you could do it that way, with one of the spade's tines hanging outside the post shaft, and then tighten the nut down (but not over-tight) on the tine going through the shaft. If none of what I or Twl has suggested seems feasible/possible, my first choice would be to have the speaker binding posts replaced with a more conventional design. Whatever you do, don't mess up your cables modifying them for these posts, you'll never get back a fraction what you paid for 'em.
twl
3,251 posts
 
CP, you can make an adapter fairly easily. Just take a sheet of heavy gauge copper, and cut out a strip, that is "U" shaped to fit on your binding post on one end, and has a hole or "U" shape cutout in the other to match the spade shape on the cable. Make it short. Then get a copper bolt and nut that is like about 1/4"-20 by 1/2" long, or something like that, and bolt the cable spade to the "U" shaped end of the adapter together, like a clamp. Then your speaker cable has this adapter held onto its spade connector by this bolt/nut as a clamp. The other end of it can fit right onto your speaker binding post. This way you don't have to permanently alter either the speaker or cable, and you have all copper pieces in the adapter, for good conductivity. No soldering, and you can do it all with tin snips. You can cover the exposed copper with shrink tube or electrical tape. It may not be a perfect solution, but it will work, and save the resale value of both speakers and cables, and the copper should allow it to sound pretty good.
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