Les Jones

Follow-up with pics: converting raw speaker wires to banana plugs

Monday, February 8th, 2010 | A&E, Dear Lazyweb, Tech |

Last Christmas we upgrade our home entertainment system and moved everything to new furniture. During the move I had trouble with two of the speakers. Re-cutting the speaker wire fixed one speaker, but not the center.

During that trouble I decided I was tired of trying to jam lampcord into screwposts, so I ordered these Monoprice banana plugs and followed their instructions.

Before: Naked Wires Screwed into Caps

After: Wires Formed into Gold-plated Banana Plugs

Much neater, and no more dangling strands of copper that I couldn’t force into the post. The other ends of the speaker wires going into the speakers got the same plugs.

And that problem I had with my center channel not working after the move? This didn’t fix it. I dug around some more and found the problem. During the move the Dolby setting on the receiver had somehow gotten changed from Standard to Music, which doesn’t use the center channel. A click of a button fixed that.

The banana plus are a neater wiring solution that’s easier to disassemble and reassemble. It probably even sounds a hair better than the old setup. For the small price tag and minimal work I’m happy with the upgrade.

Previously -  School Me on Speaker Wire and Banana Connectors, Please

1 Comment to Follow-up with pics: converting raw speaker wires to banana plugs

Benz
February 8, 2010

Very cool. I’ve wrestled with that tangled mess of wire behind my stereo components my entire life. Next time I have to crawl back there, I’m going to convert to this …