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Why terminations on speaker cable?

I'm wondering why using bare leads with speaker cable is not more common. There is really never a case when any kind of terminator is going to result in clean conductivity since even if said terminator has more surface area to contact the binding post, it is still soldered to the wires at a single point.

Are speaker cables terminators just audiophile baggage?

I'm going to try some unterminated cables for my speakers.

At the very least I think it will likely be an improvement with HE speakers where voltages & currents never get very high anyway.
paulfolbrecht
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
That's a great question. I am guessing because you can't mark up bare wire 1000%.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
There's no good reason not to use bare wire (or bare wire tinned with solder) unless the gauge is too large to fit through the hole in the speaker binding posts.

I recently bought Morrow speakers cables with "nude" terminations at the speaker end, although I chose spades at the amp end for reasons of convenience only.

Nick Gowan of True Sound advised me to use tinned bare-wire terminations on Audio Note speaker cabling for the best sound.
paulfolbrecht OP
586 posts
 
I should have mentioned I like solid-core wire. Stranded would indeed pose some issues.

I see that Mapleshade sells a nice, simple, unterminated speaker cable. Silver-place solid-core copper. Cool!
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Stranded wire poses no issues if the ends are tinned. Mike Morrow does this. No problems.

Nick Gowan says he solders WBT crimp sleeves onto the stranded ends, thus preventing fly-a-way wires.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
With solid core wire...go naked unless you find terminations easier to use.
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