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Why terminations on speaker cable?

I'm wondering why using bare leads with speaker cable is not more common. There is really never a case when any kind of terminator is going to result in clean conductivity since even if said terminator has more surface area to contact the binding post, it is still soldered to the wires at a single point.

Are speaker cables terminators just audiophile baggage?

I'm going to try some unterminated cables for my speakers.

At the very least I think it will likely be an improvement with HE speakers where voltages & currents never get very high anyway.
paulfolbrecht

Showing 3 responses by paulfolbrecht

paulfolbrecht OP
603 posts
 
I should have mentioned I like solid-core wire. Stranded would indeed pose some issues.

I see that Mapleshade sells a nice, simple, unterminated speaker cable. Silver-place solid-core copper. Cool!
paulfolbrecht OP
603 posts
 
Elizabeth, rolling my own is exactly what I did back in college (and I am talking about speaker wire).

I really do not think bare wire causes any greater chance of shorting - some spades I've had are so big that on some amps one rotating can cause it to contact the other spade!
paulfolbrecht OP
603 posts
 
FYI, I am now running a pr of Clear Day solid-core silver cables, unterminated, and they are GOOD (and cheap).

I won't say what they are replacing but they are substantially better and considerably cheaper. Noticed smoother mids and especially better bass articulation.

(This wire is quite thin and possibly only really suitable for high-efficiency speakers. I can't be sure about that though.)
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