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Speaker Pins & Cross Termination

post #1 of 15
7/20/09 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 
I have a Yamaha RX-V565 receiver, which uses binding posts for the main speakers, and push-button terminals for the surround speakers. My speakers are Polk Monitor 60's in the front, Monitor 30's in the back, and a CS2 center. Everything that can be hooked up using Monoprice banana plugs is done with those, and now I want to use Monoprice speaker plug pins for the push-button terminal connections.

My question is whether or not those casings are "live". Since push button terminals are always so close together, it's inevitable that these will be touching each other, which would short out my speakers if they were. The product feature indicates that it "Prevents cross termination." I'm thinking this implies that the casings are not live, but I want to check with people here to make sure.

Receiver:


Pins:



Thanks in advance.
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post #2 of 15
7/20/09 at 12:31pm
as long as they are metal, I would assume they are electrically "live". I would just bare about 3/8" of copper conductor on each speaker wire, fan it out slightly (more flat than round) and clamp it in the snap terminals, right up to where the wire insulation ends. Did it that way for years before the industry went to 5-way screw type connectors.

PS: I really like Yamaha a/v equipment, but with the Vx65 series, using the old style snap lock terminals has to be the most "bone head" bean-counter decision a major electronics company has made. Really, save about $0.75 a connection and cheapen the whole rig ?????
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post #3 of 15
7/20/09 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
@vanmeter, thanks a lot for the reply. I'm really happy with the receiver thus far, but for the life of me I cannot understand the snap terminal decision either. On top of that, this year's models are on average 8 pounds lighter than last year's! They're definitely cheapening out the insides somehow.

My problem with the terminals is that I bought 12 gauge speaker wire (maybe a stupid idea, but it was $11 for 50 feet at MP and I figured I might as well get the best quality). So even when spun tight, not all of it will fit in the terminal. Thus, some of the copper bends and squeezes out... not a pretty connection at all. I'm not too knowledgeable about whether or not all the copper needs to be in there, or if bending matters at all, but I just figured the pins would solve the problem altogether.

Also, just chatted with an MP tech rep, and he told me the casings are actually not live. I wonder how that works -- they look metal to me.
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post #4 of 15
7/20/09 at 1:18pm
I would still go the bare wire route, flatten it out and just trim the exposed wire strands in from each side until you get a good fit. Absolutely no difference from forcing the 12 ga. into the pin housing and just having contact on either side of the pin.....well, actually it would be better...more copper in the snap connector with trimmed strands than with the pin.

The monoprice guy was smoking something....the pictures show a direct metal to metal contact where the pin screws into the barrel. Should the + pin touch the - pin you have a dead short on the amplifier output.
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post #5 of 15
7/21/09 at 8:23am
Thread Starter 
Update: I emailed Monoprice to verify the info I received about the pins, and it turns out the tech I chatted with was wrong. The casings ARE live, and the new tech recommended heat shrink tubing around the pins to prevent cross termination.

I think I'll stick with bare wire into the terminals.
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post #6 of 15
7/21/09 at 9:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by awrhodes84 View Post

Update: I emailed Monoprice to verify the info I received about the pins, and it turns out the tech I chatted with was wrong. The casings ARE live, and the new tech recommended heat shrink tubing around the pins to prevent cross termination.

I think I'll stick with bare wire into the terminals.

If you want the ease of the pin connections, the heat shrink idea is a good one. It's cheap and very easy to use.
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post #7 of 15
7/21/09 at 11:27am
Thread Starter 
What heat source do you use to shrink the tubing?
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post #8 of 15
7/21/09 at 12:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by awrhodes84 View Post

What heat source do you use to shrink the tubing?

Before I had a regular heat gun (like the kind you might use to strip paint), I used a regular blow dryer set on high. Now granted, my girls have one that goes to warp nine on the heat setting and creates gail force winds.... but really, as long as it gets fairly hot it will work just fine. It may take a little longer, but it will still work.

I used it on most of my current DIY speaker cable. In your case, I think I would use a tubing that shrinks to a ratio of 3/1 rather than 2/1 due to the need to get tubing that's large enough to fit over the outside of that connector and still shrink down tight over the speaker wire. 2/1 may do it, but I'd probably go with the 3/1 just to be sure.
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post #9 of 15
7/21/09 at 3:49pm
The nicest speaker cable terminations I have used are the gold plated tapered locking banana plugs on my Straight Wire Rhapsody Cables.
Haven't seen any of these on other wires, and these came directly from Straight Wire.
Next time I move one of my speakers, I will take a picture and post it.
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post #10 of 15
7/21/09 at 7:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JJHXBR View Post

The nicest speaker cable terminations I have used are the gold plated tapered locking banana plugs on my Straight Wire Rhapsody Cables.
Haven't seen any of these on other wires, and these came directly from Straight Wire.
Next time I move one of my speakers, I will take a picture and post it.

That's all fine and dandy.... but he can't use bananas locking or otherwise. They are too big for the spring loaded connectors on all but the front two channels. He needs to use either bare wire (like we did in the 60's and 70's) or use a pin type connector like he's contemplating.
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post #11 of 15
7/21/09 at 7:44pm
OP.... rather than the big bulky pin connector, you might want to consider something like this: http://www.summitsource.com/speaker-...06-p-6261.html Much smaller and already insulated, plus they will work with your 12 AWG wire.
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post #12 of 15
7/21/09 at 7:47pm
Get the pins and tubing and go for it. Nice clean simple no hangging wire no worries. Not that big a deal to use the heat shrink.
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post #13 of 15
7/21/09 at 7:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by quadriverfalls View Post

OP.... rather than the big bulky pin connector, you might want to consider something like this: http://www.summitsource.com/speaker-...06-p-6261.html Much smaller and already insulated, plus they will work with your 12 AWG wire.

Nice find!! Even easier!!! Perfect solution and cheap!!
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post #14 of 15
1/15/13 at 7:02pm
Just found this thread, after receiving my monoprice pin connectors, and worrying that they'd short out. I wonder what application they could be used in that they wouldn't short out (as is without some kind of protection)? I guess since I've already got these, I'll go the heat shrink route.
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post #15 of 15
1/16/13 at 4:43pm
if you don't want to use heat shrink tubing, just wrap the exposed metal with a good electrical tape like 3M brand. And to really get fancy get a roll of red tape along with a roll of black and you are all set.
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