Final tweaks to the stereo system...Z Series cables, Nakamichi banana plugs.....and more!

Gentle reader,

I am writing about yet another and possibly the last (I can hear my wife saying, "Hah!" to that line) tweak to the stereo system in the den, AKA Listening Room.

If you follow my blog, thank you, you have seen that I have tried many, many different combinations of audio equipment throughout the years. And chronicled most of them in this humble blog.

We are far from wealthy, but thanks to thrift stores and eBay, I have managed to own and enjoy a tremendous variety of equipment. The best bargain was a pair of Spendor LS3/5A speakers that sold for well over a thousand dollars new, yet were donated to a thrift store where I came upon them for only ten dollars. They now reside somewhere in Asia. I frankly was not impressed with their sound.But I digress.

A good friend of mine is an older fellow audio lover originally from the Philippines. He started in audio long before me and has mostly vintage tube equipment. I decided to give him some extra speaker cables of various sizes and types. Most were Monster Cables, plus some made by American Bass. Those my wife refers to as "umbilical cords". See for yourself in the two pictures below. He, being an electrician, couldn't believe that wires could make a difference in the sound.

See them snaking up the corner on the left? 

A closer view is directly above. That terminal is attached to more of the same kind of cables that pass through the attic to a similar terminals on the ceiling in this room. Not too long ago, I wrote this about some new Monster Cable speaker cables I found on eBay:
The Robb Collections: Some tweaks to the Den stereo system + Monster Cable MCX  They were two new spools of 30 feet each of Monster Cables MCX-1s "High Resolution" speaker cables. If you right click on the link above, (or whatever one must do on a "device") to open a second window or tab, you can see those self-same new cables not only going up to those terminals, but also to the subwoofer. Plus, the Cerwin-Vega LS-12 speakers were not being used then.

Well, after I bought those MCX-1s cables, and not before, I read reviews of them. Many buyers complained that they lacked bass. So, I tried an A/B swap with my speaker switch and the older and larger MCX-2 cables. Sure enough, they were lacking bass! Dang it!

Plus, I keep thinking it a shame to have those nice, big, Cerwin-Vega LS-12s and not be enjoying them from time to time. The trouble is, the amp can only support/supply sound to two pairs of speakers. I had that PLUS a subwoofer.

To back up for the uninitiated, those little wooden speakers on the wall mounted stands in the top photo are ones that I severely upgraded (and blogged about) from lowly, yet sought after, Radio Shack Minimus-7Ws. I am completely in love with the amazing sound my tiny speakers put out now that I have modified them! Oddly, they are almost identical in size to the Spendor LS3/5A speakers. Since 4" mid-bass drivers can only reach but so low in the deep notes, thus the inclusion of the subwoofer seemed warranted. It has a robust 12" driver and a built-in amplifier. Confused, yet?

Now, this room: my home office/study/museum/library has four speakers as well. Mounted near the ceiling are the BOSE 301 models that my wonderful wife bought me years ago with hopes they would banish the big (15" woofers) speakers from the living room. That is where the stereo used to be. I blogged about the great move of the TV/home theater stuff from what is now the room pictured at the top of this page, to the living room and the stereo equipment into the den/listening room. Still not confused? Wow! Oh, yeah, the other two speakers in this room are the diecast aluminum speakers on steel stands that were once Radio Shack Minimus 11 speakers. They were the first that I greatly improved the sound of. Yep, blogged about that too. Just Google: "The Robb Collections Minimus", and you will see links to those posts.

To listen to either of those pairs of speakers, (currently enjoying those BOSE 301s, they have NO right to sound as good as they do!) I had to run wires into this room. Now, my incredibly rare power amplifier (top right in the top photo) is a 1990's Dynaco Stereo 200. It actually has more features and usability than it's twice-as-powerful big brother the Dynaco Stereo 400 Series II. One being able to power one, two or both sets of speakers. The much more expensive 400 only supports one pair of speaker terminals.

Some years ago, I found a very nice speaker switch that has three-way binding/banana posts. I rewired it so that the terminals, which have 3/4" spacing, could be used for double-banana connectors. Now, feast your eyes on my solution to be able to drive not only the four speakers in here, but the four speakers in the den/listening room AND the subwoofer. Now even I am getting confused:

The switch is a bit shiny in the picture above. Left to right are: Cables to ceiling and into this room, cables to Cerwin-Vega LS-12 speakers in the den/listening room, cables FROM the "B" terminals on the back of the ST-200 amp. Black box on the right is the Radio Shack LED power meters. The small multi-colored wires go from the "A" terminals to that device. Electrician's nightmare? Nah!

What you see above is the "A" terminals on the amp. They have a pair of Monster Cables double-banana plugs which have my new-to-me Monster Cables Z-Series speaker cables attached to them. The Z-Series are black encased. These are the finest double-banana connectors I have yet to encounter. The thick gray cables below are the other end of the ones that connect to the input terminals on the shiny silver speaker switch.

Cool thing about double-banana plugs is that one can plug OTHER banana plugs INTO them! So, see those shiny new Nakamichi banana plugs? They are also using Z-Series cables. The other end of which plugs into the high-level inputs of the subwoofer.

Here's a closer look. Note the twists of the copper wiring seen through the insulation? Monster Cable calls it something like: "Time correct multitwist". What they have done is combined tiny thin OFC copper wires inside thicker OFC copper wires. The theory is the higher frequencies will choose the thinner wires and the lower (bass) ones will choose the thicker ones. They of course have no way of actually knowing if that is the way it actually works.

Above is the other end of the shorter Z-Series cables as they enter the plate amplifier on the back of the subwoofer. Note the Pangea power cable. Same type that I use with the Dynaco power amp.

Back to the MCX-1s cables. Although they are thick, the actual wires inside are very fine. So most of the cable is just insulation within a plastic sleeve. Possibly all-show, not a lot of go. 

The gray MCX-2 cables as you can see are thicker than the black Z-Series cables. But again, that is mostly plastic/rubber. By the way, the Z-Series are Monster Cables top-of-the-line speaker cables. Reviewers of the MCX-2 cables often felt that one should step up to the Z-Series for the best sound.

The Z-Series I found on eBay, no one else seemed to want. They looked forlorn at last, no speaker pants or terminals. However, they were each "12.0 feet" long. Thus almost 26 feet of cable for $55.00. Go ahead, look on eBay for Monster Cables Z-Series speaker cables. See? I got a deal!

Before I did all this, I simply hooked them to the little wooden speakers and used some American Bass cables for the subwoofer. I have a hodge-podge of speaker terminals and had found that Nakamichi's that are featured below to be far superior in gripping power:

The ones on the left are the ones that I'm talking about. The ones on the right are their standard bananas. The latter are superior as far as standard bananas.

A closer look at standard bananas above and grippier ones below.

In the photo below, you can see the zig-zag gap in the plugs. Cool thing is if they DO get a little loose, simply insert a standard banana inside them and back to tight, they are.

Another thing that makes these Nakamichis superior is the way they connect to the wires/cables. Not shown is the hollow receptacle. It will hold up to 10 gauge wires. There are two set-screws that tighten down on the wire/cable. Once tight, simply thread (screw) on the silver covers. They may look metal, but only the threaded portion is. The outside is non-conductive plastic painted silver.
Above is a selection of the variety of speaker terminals I mentioned. Odd one on the left has no brand. It and the Radio Shack pair unscrew and one slides the bare wire into the bottom piece, separate or spread out the wire so that it resembles a flower, then screw the two pieces together. The black and red rubber covered ones are Monster Cable and they screw onto bare wire like wire nuts do. The Next pair and ones after that work similarly. Unscrew the rubber/plastic portion from the metal. The second from the end are soft wires that are gold plated. The last ones are also below. 

The ones above came attached to a center channel speaker I found. Well made, except they and most banana plugs are made so that the flared part (that slides into the speaker or amp terminals) is able to spin. You can clearly see the seam on the bottom one. Unfortunately, they tend to get flattened and lose their tightness. See the big holes? One unscrews the two parts and slides the bare wire/cable into the hole from the side and screws them back together to grip the wire. Like a double banana does.

Speaking of double banana plugs, here are three of the less expensive. Tsunami, Radio Shack and generic. I recycled all of these as none have a grip any more. 

Above are four terminals that once had the gold plated wires. I cut them off and pressed on these spade connectors. As you can see, they have been used in the past.

Back to what I was saying about how long the cables were when I got them. This is what I did:

I coiled them around the shaft of the speaker mounts. Above is the right, below, the left.

After shortening; right above below.

Considerably less cable coils. Why do I still have so much? One can shorten a wire or cable easily simply by cutting it. Making them longer is harder to do!

Now, I have mentioned three-way binding/banana terminals before. Here is a look as some of the kinds of speaker terminals used over the years:

Above is a simple screw terminal on vintage speakers. Bare wires or spades can be used.

Above is those spades attached to the same type of terminals.

 Above and below, two types of cheap "spring" terminals. Press down on the tab and insert the wires. They have poor connections and limit the size of the wire one can use.

 Above, Pioneer's take on spring terminals.

 One can clearly see these are three-way binding/banana posts/terminals. Unscrew the plastic knobs and inside the metal post is a hole for bare wire. Or, one can use spades. Obviously, bananas slide into the golden holes above. These are probably the least expensive versions.

 Above and below are the kind of terminals one might find on test equipment.

The photo above and below is another Dynaco product from the same era when Panor resurrected the name. It was a modernized for a five channel version of the 1970's era "Dynaquad" device. Google that for more info if you wish. Long before "Surround sound" was quadraphonic. 

I admit it looks crappy, but it worked. I replaced the seven pairs of spring terminals with three-way binding banana terminals. I did not have seven, however, so used the plastic ones for the center channel speaker.

That is all I have for you for today, January 5th, 2017. I did stop by Goodwill on the way home, haven't been to a thrift store for a LONG time. So I will tease you with the name of what I found there: Technics SU-VX800. Google that and stand by for a future post about my restoration of that big and heavy beast.

Oh, lastly thank you for taking the time and effort to read this blog. Approaching 90,000 page views since I began. It truly humbles me that so many people around the world actually are interested in my I write about.

Thanks for looking,

Scott