Wiring

[toddalin]

You could do what I do on my heavy gauge speaker wire. Strip back the insulation and roll/twist the wires tightly together. Solder the bundle of strands together and use a wire wheel to polish the extermal face of this bundle to a bright, shiny copper finish. If and when corroson accumulates (in umpteen years) simply re-polish the exterior of the bundle. Makes a good contact and you never end up with frayed ends.

[audioaholic]

i have KEF Q55''s and i to have had problems with the binding posts. the lock downs are made of plasic and when i used spades i went to tight and they cracked. now they are useless. so i made my own set of bi-wire cables and use bananas. as far as the soldering the ends, what kind of solder did you use??

[randy]

Masher,<br />Cut off a little and restrip the wire to expose fresh and try the bananas. This gave me a lot cleaner hookup especially on the receiver (all wires run straight out the back instead of the clutter I had when using bare wires). Also the little rubber end thingies you put on to cover the banana/wire connection may help keep out some air and avoid corrosion. I used Monster XP at my old house with bare wire connex and when i tore everything apart for the move I found (underthe clear insulation on the XP) the entire length of the cable had turned green. It is for this reason and this reason only that I will probably switch to speaker wire with factory terminations that are shrink wrapped to the end. This is probably still a waste of money and I should stick with what I got.<br />good luck,<br />randy