I don't know if Rhodium delaminates easily but it's a bad choice for low conductivity and hardness. The low conductivity is self-explanatory. The hardness means it's harder to grip. Softer metals deform under pressure and provide better contact.
Using non-terminated speaker wire?
From all that I have read here on A'gon, my speaker cables should be several feet shorter; but that's not my question. If I was to shorten my speaker cables and then simply wrap the bare wire around the posts of my speakers, wouldn't that make a better connection than either bananas or spades? I did read the "bent banana thread" going on here on this forum, and i did a search on the AQ banana terminals, and I could definitely go that way, but just wondering about the wisdom(?) of using bare wire versus terminals.
Showing 3 responses by erik_squires
Yes. There's a lot of left outside the part that is inserted so good to have it well insulated. Plus it looks nice. :)
I don’t think so, unless the total gauges is bigger than 10. If you find it doesn't feel like it's gripping all of it consider crimp-on sleeves like they use for WBT and Furutech. Relatively cheap here. |
The biggest issue for me is that most speaker connectors come undone very easily. The lightest movement of the speaker cable, whether you use bare wire or a spade and the nut comes loose. For this reason and others I always prefer bananas and I like Viborg for the combination of cost and the way the banana pin and spring are shaped a great deal. Needs a hot air gun to finish installation. In fact I like bananas over spades by far. Basically I’ve come to not trust 99% of the speaker nuts (the part not the person). The threads are not fine enough to grip well and reliably over time. I’ve literally never had a banana come undone like I have had so many bare wires and spades. |