Is it safe to remove metal strip between spring-loaded speaker-wire terminal?

[hifi newbie]

Hi everyone, I need some help. I hope that I can get sound advice - pun intended

I bought an AVR from Onkyo which uses spring-loaded speaker-wire terminals. I'd like to use a 4mm thick (12 gauge) speaker wire, which requires the the addition of a banana pin to insert into such a terminal. However, in the photo you may see that there is in fact a strip of some sort that seems to be between the positive and negative sides. This is lapping over the hole a little, and blocks the banana pin from entering.

I am wondering what this does, and if it is safe to remove it entirely in order to fit the banana pins (NOT banana plugs) in there. Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

 

[Vladimir]

Best to use bare wire no bigger than 2.5mm. You wont have a good connection with banana jacks into spring terminals.

 

[hifi newbie]

Hi Vladimir,

I have just edited my original post, would you mind to have a look at the picture?

I will be using the thin type banana-pins, not banana plugs. These are the correct connection for using low gauge wire into spring loaded terminals. I've already bought the 4.0mm cables so would really like to use them.

That metal strip is blocking the pin from going in though. I want to know why it's there, and can i remove it?

Thanks,

Rob

 

[Vladimir]

Did you try gently with a tip of a small screwdriver to push the metal bracket up or down to see if they flex?

Angled pins usually fit in those.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

No bigger than you can safely fit into the connectors provided.

Don't stick a screwdriver in a hole unless you like electric shocks!

Mess about with the unit and you could invalidate your warranty.

Bare wires should (putting my asbestos underpants on now) just as good a connection as banana plugs, provided you don't plan on connecting and disconnecting over and over again.

And 12 gauge wire is probably overkill for anything other than large 250 watt plus speakers or very very long cable runs. 2.5 mm2 39-strand speaker wire should be fine.

 

[Series1boy]

The metal strip terminates the speaker wire to the AV receiver I.e. Connects it. If you take this out, you'll get no sound because the speaker wire will just be touching the plastic clip, and there won't be a valid/live connection.

 

[hifi newbie]

Thanks for that info. This was precisely what I needed to know, and the idea to remove that strip will cease right now.

Thanks everyone for your other advice too, I appreciate that. Maybe I shouldn't have bought the 12 gauge wire for 120w speakers and amp. Just not necessary really eh?

The set-up doesn't really move, so I may just try to get the 12 gauge wire into the spring loader hole this one time. Wish me luck!

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

The quickest I could come up with at work and comparative figures only I suppose.

www.electrovoice.com/cableloss.php

120 watt 8 ohm amp driving 120 watt speakers through 10 feet of 12 AWG (3.31 mm2) cable gives a cable loss of 0.03 dB or a little under 1 watt.

Dropping down to 14 AWG (2.08 mm2) cable increases the loss to just 0.05 dB or 1.5 watts.

Dropping down to 16 AWG (1.31 mm2) cable increases the loss to 0.09 dB or 2.37 watts.

Bottom line: 1.5 mm2 cables should be all you need and you can get quite reasonable cables on Amazon.co.uk starting at 10p per foot (although I wouldn't recommend this stuff for anything other than a car stereo or perhaps surround sound speakers). No doubt people will chime in with their own recommendations on cables to suit your pocket and equipment.

 

[Benedict_Arnold]

Oh yeah, and putting the asbestos underwear back on, you can always "tin" the ends of your cables with solder (I would use "silver solder" as it corrodes less - DO NOT use plumber's solder whatever you do) to stop the ends fraying.

You'll need a relatively heavy duty soldering iron and some solder from Maplin or somewhere or get a mate (or the bloke in your hifi shop) who knows what he's doing to do it for you.