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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
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Blowing out an amp from allowing stray stranded wires is the main reason to use terminations. Solid wires, and well tinned wires are grat. i would say the rise of aftermarket wiring is the main cause of terminations. Used to be you just bought a roll of wire and cut your own...
elescher's avatar
elescher
112 posts
 
You are definitely usually better off without terminations when possible. However there is something to be said for the sound of some higher end connectors made of Rhodium, Gold, and even Silver.
paulfolbrecht OP
586 posts
 
Elizabeth, rolling my own is exactly what I did back in college (and I am talking about speaker wire).

I really do not think bare wire causes any greater chance of shorting - some spades I've had are so big that on some amps one rotating can cause it to contact the other spade!
rrog
1,958 posts
 
Elizabeth, Isn't all wire aftermarket? Connecting speaker wire is the most basic of tasks.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Until I started playing in the high end audio sandbox eight years ago, I have never used anything other than bare speaker wire (stranded). That's about 30 years of using stranded bare wire without any issues or problems.
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