Speaker binding posts and loss of highs

[butchbass]

In anticipation of receiving some Orcas soon I installed bigger binding posts on my Paramours that would accept the #10 wire that comes with the Orcas. The posts come from Parts Express. I was very surprised when I listed to my system and my highs were significantly diminished. I even bypassed the BSC circuit and the highs are still pretty pathetic. Has anyone experienced this before? With the binding post being bigger the OD of the posts are closer together. Could that cause a capacitive effect that is stealing my highs? Or could it be the metal (gold plated brass) that is the reason? What are some good relatively economical large binding posts the community has had success with?

[RickS]

I know that banana plugs aren

[butchbass]

Ironically I was using those banana plugs prior to putting the new posts in. I just was trying to eliminate a mechanical joint but in this case it surely sounded better. Thanks for the feedback.

[Doc B.]

I don't have have any particular suggestions of what to use, but I would guess it is indeed a material issue. Years ago we used a heavier gold plated brass post (we called them Big Studs). I found that they had a tendency to sound a bit rolled off too.

OK, did a little searching - Tellurium Copper is supposed to be da' bomb. Pomona 3770 looks to be a relatively inexpensive and readily available candidate (hey PB, let's try some). But cross hole is .100" and 10 ga. wire is nominal .10189". 12 ga. at .080808" should fit fine. Rick's idea of banana plugs might be the best of both worlds if you can find good sounding bananas that don't collapse with use.

[earwaxxer]

I cant say that I have identified a sound difference between binding posts etc., although I will admit that I have gone overboard on the paranoia end. Example - with my maggies, I went bare wire to bare wire. The 'binding posts' on the maggies are a hex screw tightened clamp type of affair. I love them. They even sent me a couple extra pairs for no charge. What I did, after I rewired my maggies with silver, was to poke the wires through the posts then introduce the speaker wire in direct contact, then clamp them down together. I sleep good with that. I'm not too happy with crap metal in the circuit. with that said, I should take a look at my RCA connectors!

[butchbass]

I looked at the Ponoma 3770s and they look interesting and reasonably priced. I am very tempted to try those. I also thought of earwaxxer' suggestion to pull the transformer wires up and put them in direct contact with the speaker cable. Options are what make this hobby fun.

[butchbass]

BTW I am listening to Bela Fleck and the Fleck tones Jingle All the Way album. Very cool Christmas music. With my diminished highs Victor Wooten really stands out.

[Jim R.]

You might also try moving the wires at the solder points on the BPs just in case there is a bad solder joint -- easily done with heavy binding posts.

Also, I believe Clark and Molly are now shipping the cables pre-terminated with both those stackable bananas and some other BFA types for the other ends.  Those too should help give a better, more consistent and lower maintenance connection.

They are screw-type bananas, but they solder them so there will be no surprises later on.

BTW, tellurium copper is higher on the IACC scale than brass -- about 60 vs. 30 if I remember correctly, but beryllium copper is way down at somewhere around 10%.  FWIW.

-- Jim

[butchbass]

I was intrigued by the reference to IACC and looked it up on the internet. I could not find it but I did come across the IACS. It says pure copper conductivity is 101%, the highest of any non-precious metal. It lists brass as about 55-65-% and tellurium copper as 90-98% depending on the website.  As you can see I don't have much to do tonight!

[Jim R.]

Oops, I dropped an "S" -- should have been IACCS -- International Annealed Copper Conductivity Standard.  The idea was that annealed copper was to be 100% and everything else relative to that -- perhaps they are considering the OCC wire to be the greater than 100% now.

-- Jim

[butchbass]

I resolved my issue. I cut off the extra stud length of the post and drilled a 3/32" hole all the way through the stud to the termination hole on the top side of the post. I then passed a #12 stranded copper wire through the hole. I left 1" at the bottom of the stud to solder the output wires to. I soldered the #12 wire to the binding post at the bottom using a propane torch. The brass sucks up too much heat for a soldering iron. I then pushed the top of the stranded wire through the hole at the top of the binding post so that the speaker wire lays on top of it when inserted and when the post is tightened I have a copper to copper connection. Much improved sound.

This might seem like a lot to go through but I had enlarged my holes in the top plate for the binding posts  and this was the easiest solution at the time. I would definitely recommend the gold plated Ponoma TeCu posts if you are going to upgrade. Allied Electronics carries them. After this empirical derivation of the superiority of copper over brass I will gradually get rid of all brass RCS connectors.

[butchbass]

Last post should say RCA connectors at the end.

[Jim R.]

Sounds like a nice job -- good recovery!  If you're like me, you'll definitely find things sounding better and better the more brass you replace with copper, and the more copper-to-copper connections you have, meaning copper with no plating, filing plating off tube socket pins where the solder connections are, etc.  No, it's not always practical and it does add considerably to the overall cost of a project, but IMO the sonic results are well worth it.

It also is a bit more maintenance and you should stock up on DeOxIt and ProGold and depending on your local climate, do fairly regular cleaning of all connections.

-- Jim

[danilo]

Erm.. IF having issues with speaker connections you COULD simply solder them :-) Cheap, easy and even superior to Stoopid Priced WBT
speaker posts.
But when has common sense ever played a role ?

[earwaxxer]

I do like soldering everything together! The problem is, when its time to shampoo the carpet, all the crap has to go in one tangled mass of crap. I hate that! I like ORDER, and neatness! To de-solder everything just to move it is a pain.