Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Update on receiver. Also, what connectors?

OK, first of all I would like to thank everyone for their views, opinions, and experience. I started out with the Onkyo NR-900 and now have a Rotel RSP-1066 and Rotel RMB-1075. While the Onkyo was a very nice and user friendly receiver, it just didn’t have the punch that I was expecting. It did have a lot of features, THX Select certification and a larger choice of sound fields. The user interface was great, very easy to navigate, and setup.
The Rotel system was easy to setup, but the user interface is a lacking in the friendly department. There’s definitely more power, the sound is extremely vivid. The speakers give a feeling of being alive, they are a lot more enjoyable. I was listening to music, and the M80’s have a lot of base, before I didn’t hear this. With the Onkyo I could turn the system up and the speakers sounded flat. Now, there’s so much more range. I turned the speakers up loud, probably 70%, and actually skipped my CD player. It’s an older Kenwood CD player and sits right next to the speaker, so it’s not that hard to do, but this setup with Axioms are impressively loud and clear with solid base.
The binding posts on the amp need either spade or banana connections. Right now I have bare wire, and it doesn’t sit in behind the terminal on the amp secure enough for me to be comfortable.

So, what type of connectors are you using, and is there a good website to get them from?


Axiom: M80ti, QS8, and VP150
Rotel: RSP-1066 Processor, RMB-1075 Amp

I've been happy with the Acoustic Research banana plugs I purchased from Accessories4Less.com.

http://accessories4less.com/aless4/Corporate/items.asp?CartId=6824485SC-ACCWARE-ABY850&cc=CAB%2DSPIN&tpc=

Unless your going to be unhooking your gear often, id have to say do with spades. they are more secure and offer a tighter connection. And they wont wear out! you can just go to radio shack and get some crimp on ones if you like, or look online for something a bit nicer.

Rick, I'm puzzled by why you think the connection might not be "secure" enough. If you stuck the wire through the hole and tightened it to the ordinary finger-tight degree, it's secure enough and the speakers will play continuously. Don't waste money on connectors; relax and enjoy your new equipment.

If it had holes I would bo OK with it, but they don't. I just had to twist the wire and tighten it where the spade would go. I extected it to have holes.

Rick

Now that surprises me Rick, although I'd suppose it's still tight enough that way. I can't imagine what Rotel was thinking(assuming that this wasn't just an error).

Agreed. I can't imagine why they'd decide to do that. I suppose they assume all their customers are using expensive cable with nice connectors. Seems like a dangerous assumption to me.

In that case, I'd probably go with spades, assuming you don't often switch cables around.

Just a thought, but did you unscrew those binging post plastic nuts out a'ways ? The holes may be just a tad further up the length of the bolt..

Rick, I was curious and took a look at the 1075 manual. I was again surprised that on page 7 it specifically said to put the bare wire "around the binding post shaft". So, that's the way it is, and apparently it works well.

I agree, it works, but I found that while hooking them up they would move away from the binding post. I tightened them down very tight, but I think that after time they may tend to work their way out. A few strands come loose and cross over. I could just solder the ends, but for the few dollars of connectors it's just as easy to put them on. It's pretty much peace of mind for me, not really and upgrade. Will connectors actually decrease the sound quality, I know that at every connection there's a loss, I'm not sure how much.

Rick