Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Dual Banana capable?

I just realized that I don't know if the M60s, VP150, and QS8s take dual banana plugs? The info on this site just say 5-way gold-plated binding posts and, though I hate to sound ignorant, I'm not really sure what the "five-way" means (though I've seen the term frequently for other speakers as well).

Let me guess: Bare Wire, Pins, Banana, dual banana and spade lugs?

I picked up 150' of that Radio Shack 12 gauge wire that's on sale for 1/2 price, and since I already have some dual banana plugs, thought I'd actually solder them on while I patiently await delivery of the speakers!

Yes you can bi-wire the M60's but If memory serves me right, you can't with the VP150 or the QS8's.

You got the 5 ways, Mark. The binding post openings are 3/4" apart if you'd care to measure your plugs.

Mark,

If you're talking about using banana plugs that have both contacts, positive and negative in a single housing, they should work. The binding posts on the M60s are 3/4 inch apart on center. I didn't check the VP150, but I suspect it's the same.

If you plan on using the brackets that come with the QS8s, banana plugs of any kind won't work because the binding posts will be too close to the wall. Just bare wire works fine. You can tin the ends with solder if you want, but only tin about 3/8 of an inch.

In reply to:

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Let me guess: Bare Wire, Pins, Banana, dual banana and spade lugs?

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I always thought it was bare, tip jack, spades (x2 sizes), banana.

Bren R.

Yes - the 60s will take a dual banana. That's how mine are hooked up. So is my VP100. They fit into the QS8s the same, even though I have to hook em up with bare wire. In any event, I believe that the 3/4" separation is standard.

Hi,

It is indeed. All the Axioms have standard spacing for dual banana plugs, and even my old Crapola double plugs fit just fine.

Its the A/V receivers that don't always maintain standard spacing to accept the dual plugs. Some do, some don't.

And Mark, the bananas I got recently don't need to be soldered. They have tiny set screws in them that you tighten on the bare wire. Much easier. In the old days (here I go again. . .), you had to solder all banana plugs.

Regards,

In reply to:

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All the Axioms have standard spacing for dual banana plugs, and even my old Crapola double plugs fit just fine.

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Crapola... ah, yes, they didn't sell well under that brand name at all... good thing RCA Victor merged with them and they became RCA Victrola.

Bren R.

Hello, Alan

A quick question -- do you know if the H/K receivers are dual bananna capable off the top of your head? Particularily the AVR130. (My tape measure was in my toolkit in my car which was broken into)

any responce is a great help

I'm pretty sure the jacks are 1" apart on HK receivers vs. 3/4" for the dual bananas. Hold on a minute... yep, the jacks on the back of the HK 630 are definitely further apart than the jacks on the back of the M60s.

You need two separate bananas for the receiver. The HK130 might be different from HK630 but I doubt it.

Thanks. I was considering getting single plugs anyways, just in case.

BTW, do you find that connecting bare wires to the H/K to be a pain? I mean they only give you little slots to put the wires into and they're angled towards the inside of each row of terminals... the bottom wire is especially painfull when trying to connect wires in the darkness behind my tv stand...

Absolutely. It's a major pain working with bare wires anywhere, and the back of an AV receiver is about as bad as it gets. On the other hand, normal people only have to do it once or twice so it's not that big a deal.

I got lucky -- M60s need to be a foot or two away from the wall to sound their best, and are fairly deep to boot, so the bench thingy that holds TV + receiver has to be a couple of feet away from the wall anyways to keep front of TV lined up with front of M60s. That fixes the space problem, I can pretty much walk behind the receiver. Darkness is easy to fix.

I probably will pick up some banana plugs anyways because I seem to be genetically incapable of leaving the wires and speakers along

The connectors on my H/K 525 suck. Get some single bananas (the RCA ones from Home Depot work particularly well, believe it or not!) and use those; it will save your fingers.

Hi,

I suspect not. My older 525 does not have correct spacing for dual bananas and, as kcarlile has pointed out, is a real pain to make speaker cable connections.

Regards,