Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater QS8 Question re banana plugs

I just got my QS8's in, but I have a mounting problem. The banana plugs stick out further than the wall bracket. This causes the speaker to rest on the plug and aim slightly upwards. Neither is acceptable. Any advice beyond going with bare wire or spades? Seems strange that a surround would not have more room for the plugs, as they use very good banana plugs on the QS8.

Unless you plan to unplug them frequently, just go with bare wire. I have two sets of QS8, one on the wall using bare wires and one set on stands using banana plugs.

If you do plan on needing to swap them (and would rather keep using the banana plugs) I suppose moving them to stands would work too. I've personally got my QS8s on stands with bare wire on the speaker and banana plugs on my amp. I seem to need to monkey (get it?!) with my source more than my speaker connections.

Spade lugs would work great and would provide plenty of clearance! Personally I use bare wire going into my QS surrounds.

Alright, bare wire it is. Axiom should reposition the plugs so you can use terminated wire more easily. I have some good pre-terminated wire (Transparent Audio) and cutting it is not a wise option. With such quality lugs on the speaker I'm shocked this is an issue and thankful I did not run the wires yet in my new room. I'll make do, and look forward to hearing it all hooked up.
Thanks for the input.

Bare wire will work great with the QS8's. No need to get fixated on using Banana plugs because the only benefit they will provide is the convenience of disconnecting and hooking them back up. Since they are going on wall it is unlikely you will be moving them around too much.

Banana plugs do not offer any sound quality advantages over spades and bare wire so in the end nothing to be worried about :).

Hope you enjoy your QS8's!

Cheers,

I just hooked mine up as well (bare wire)wall mounted. They totally completed my HT experience! I just watched House of Flying Daggers and it sounded Awesome!

This has been this way for as long as I can remember, bare wire is the only way to go.

Not to be a pain, but I can't agree with you on the bare wire issue. While there is much BS in the wire industry, copper - no matter how pure - does corrode over time when exposed to air. That is why oxygen-free copper is so heavily advertised in audio wire. Corrosion at the contact point – exposed wire – can impact the connection and resulting sound quality, especially given how small the contact points are with a bare wire to binding post contact. Beyond the looks, that is why all good wire generally comes pre-terminated with gold plated contacts and corrosion resistant solder. In fact, the binding post is even gold plated. Gold does not corrode, thus the benefit at the contact point. Plus, spades and bananas provide more surface area for the contact to better conduct electricity. It is not just that they are easier to remove – although that is a benefit as well. This is a minor issue in a surround, I guess, but again I ask, why put such a good 5-way gold-plated binding post on a speaker if bare wire is the only likely choice - which is what I'm assuming based on the feedback. (And I do appreciate all the feedback.) After spending all this money I guess I just hate to have obvious weak links for no reason.
I have never used Axiom before, and I am generally pleased with the physical quality of the product so far (have not hooked them up yet) but this sticks out as an odd execution of an otherwise well designed product. Just my two cents, I’m sure it will sound great with bare wire. And as was mentioned, spades may still be an option - I just don't have pre-terminated spades at the moment.
Thanks all.

Thing is, Zimm, not everyone uses the QS8s with the supplied T-brackets; Axiom also sells other brackets and stands that can be used with it which do allow the use of banana plugs. I'm not really sure how one could reconfigure the binding posts to allow the use of banana plugs with flush mounting on the wall.

I would also point out that with banana plugs there's an extra contact surface that could potentially introduce problems, so I suspect it's kind of a wash.