Focal speakers - bind/spade/banana

Naim banana plugs - or if the Focal terminals are not spaced at 19mm,  the 90 degree plugs that can be screw and/or solder connected can be found on the big river.  

Lol I was literally Googling big river plugs, then went Zon

All seem a bit low rent items on the river.

^^^     ;-)

Obsydian posted:

All seem a bit low rent items on the river.

If you mean they seem cheap,  you need to take a reality check.  They haven't got an audiophool label attached & been painted with snake oil,  that means the pricing is realistic.  

Make up a F connector arrangement, or failing that make links using speaker cable.

If you're using NAC A5, either use Naim plugs or use a hair-dryer to soften the insulation and 'form' it into the curve that you need.  At least A5 will keep that shape when it cools!

Huge posted:

Make up a F connector arrangement, or failing that make links using speaker cable.

Focal Chorus speakers are single terminal pairs (non bi-wirable)  I posted the pic with the bi-wire terminal plate as it was the only one I could find that had the angled terminal plate with a Naim plug fitted.   This pic is the Focal Chorus plate, the near vertical angle is extreme & I've seen them bend banana pins (the same complaint as OP) on a friends & they were wired with Linn K20 which is a lot more flexible than NACA5.   Not helping is when the speakers are stand mounted there is a lot of cable weight hanging off the banana pins unless its supported somehow,  .      

i had a similar issue with my installation. I just resoldered the bananas at 90 degrees. Problem solved. 

I am not convinced that bananas are ideal, with small contact area relying on the springiness of the strips of metal, while banana sockets (of nominally the same size) can be quite variable in actual internal diameter, so that a plug that is very tight in a socket of one speaker (or amp) could be fairly loose in another. Spades at first glance seem a good idea, but can be very difficult to ensure tight clamping, maybe depending on the binding post design. My personal preference is to strip the cable and pass it through the eye of the binding post (with sufficient protruding) and clamp tightly with the threaded collar. This lends itself well to bi- and tri- wire terminals as it just needs a longer length stripped. However it only works with binding posts that have an eye, and large enough in diameter for the stripped cable - if not, twisting around the post and trying to clamp that way is rarely satisfactory.

When I do use bananas for ease of changing wiring (such as my present triamp experimenting)  I prefer angled plugs as they minimise strain on cable, plug and socket (unless the speaker or amp has downward angled sockets). I recently purchased some quite decent ones from the big river, branded Nakamichi. Gold plated, they have twin screw clamping or can be soldered. They also have ghastly aluminium outer sleeves, that I discarded and replaced with heat shrink tubing for insulation of the angled section lest they get twisted to the side (and coloure dheat shrink can be used for colour coding).

IB,

The problem with bare (or tinned) wire ends into the binding posts directly is oxidation; the same applies to using grub screw connections.  Sufficient oxidation to reduce the quality of electrical contact can easily build up in a month or two.

Actually the contact resistance of 4mm banana plugs isn't as bad as you'd think as they are a line contact system held together by quite a strong spring pressure (on the other hand, the cage type are nowhere near as good).  Soldered BeCu Z plugs are marginally better still,  provided the wire is light enough and flexible enough.

Mike-B posted:

Huge posted:

Make up a F connector arrangement, or failing that make links using speaker cable.

Focal Chorus speakers are single terminal pairs (non bi-wirable)  I posted the pic with the bi-wire terminal plate as it was the only one I could find that had the angled terminal plate with a Naim plug fitted.   This pic is the Focal Chorus plate, the near vertical angle is extreme & I've seen them bend banana pins (the same complaint as OP) on a friends & they were wired with Linn K20 which is a lot more flexible than NACA5.   Not helping is when the speakers are stand mounted there is a lot of cable weight hanging off the banana pins unless its supported somehow,  .      

Yes just like that.

For the time being I'm going to insert the banana plug as binding and see. 

Or as mentioned try to soften and bend the NACA5 but doubt that will work given the are close to the wall.

I thought Naim Atom and Nova flip flop with the speaker plugs was annoying, so the Focal design matches that annoyance.

I have 1007be speakers and nac A5 cable fitted with Naim plugs. I simply removed the Naim plastic casing and used the banana plugs 

Cbr600 posted:

I have 1007be speakers and nac A5 cable fitted with Naim plugs. I simply removed the Naim plastic casing and used the banana plugs 

I did have Naim plugs each end but removed them and fitted banana plugs, I did think of what you said but thought bare exposed pins were not a good idea ???

Obsydian posted:

Cbr600 posted:

I have 1007be speakers and nac A5 cable fitted with Naim plugs. I simply removed the Naim plastic casing and used the banana plugs 

I did have Naim plugs each end but removed them and fitted banana plugs, I did think of what you said but thought bare exposed pins were not a good idea ???

Cover the top parts and solder joints with heat shrink sleeving.

Huge posted:

Obsydian posted:

Cbr600 posted:

I have 1007be speakers and nac A5 cable fitted with Naim plugs. I simply removed the Naim plastic casing and used the banana plugs 

I did have Naim plugs each end but removed them and fitted banana plugs, I did think of what you said but thought bare exposed pins were not a good idea ???

Cover the top parts and solder joints with heat shrink sleeving.

Wish I'd done that but a third round of soldering will probably make my dealer and me SCREAM ; )

Dug out the Focal manual the pictures and text suggest stripped is ok and the manual graphic shows it as such (maybe for ease of illustration though)

"Connections The Chorus input sockets ensure reliable multipurpose connections for stripped cables as well as for plugs. The “banana” terminals are obstructed in order to comply with electrical standards currently in force in several countries. Make sure not to remove the plastic safety lids."

No matter what safety regulations say (as they're in place for the 'low voltage' power distribution - i.e. the mains electricity supply regulations), bare copper against gold is a very bad idea for speaker connections.

Putting blanking plates on sockets for safety is just plain stupid, as no country distributes power via a plug.  The power distribution is ALWAYS to a receptacle, never to a plug.

Yes a continental power plug can be inserted into a 4mm socket, but the pins on the plug are never energised unless it's already plugged into an energised receptacle (and if the receptacles on the speaker are energised with mains voltage something else has already gone badly wrong anyway!).