Home Theater Cable Connection Enquiry

[Raj Singh]

Hello everyone,

I am considering getting a Dolby Atmos/ DTS:X Onkyo receiver (TX-NR555) and the Onkyo SKS-HT594 Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 channel home theater speaker system. I've never owned an av receiver or speakers before so as a novice I'm starting of with the Onkyo speakers as they are within my budget and can fit in my living room. I know that banana plugs provide a secure grip when connecting wires to the av receiver and speakers but the Onkyo speakers have spring-clip connectors so I'm in a bit of a dilemma. My main question is that can I just use banana plugs to connect one end of the speaker wire to the av receiver and the other end with the bare wire connected to the speakers?

 

[tyhjaarpa]

Yes you can. I personally prefer bare wire in both ends how ever.

 

[Raj Singh]

Yes you can. I personally prefer bare wire in both ends how ever.

Thanks for your help. I would've been fine with bare wire on both ends but I usually dust my tv cabinet and disconnecting the bare wires from the av receiver would be a hassle. With the banana plugs on one end it would be easier to remove or connect them.

 

[KenM10759]

In my experience most spring clip speaker terminals do not have holes big enough for banana plugs. For those, there are "pin" type that work much better. Here's an example of a cable with banana plugs on one end for a newer receiver that can accept banana plugs and pin connectors on the other end for spring clip terminals. Or vise-versa.

https://www.amazon.com/Wyvern-Speaker-Assembled-8-202ft-Wv-spcpb1/dp/B00UJ1V00E/ref=sr_1_21?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1484659684&sr=1-21&keywords=banana+plugs

 

[Raj Singh]

In my experience most spring clip speaker terminals do not have holes big enough for banana plugs. For those, there are "pin" type that work much better. Here's an example of a cable with banana plugs on one end for a newer receiver that can accept banana plugs and pin connectors on the other end for spring clip terminals. Or vise-versa.

https://www.amazon.com/Wyvern-Speaker-Assembled-8-202ft-Wv-spcpb1/dp/B00UJ1V00E/ref=sr_1_21?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1484659684&sr=1-21&keywords=banana+plugs

I just wanted to know if I could connect one end of the speaker wire to the av receiver using banana plugs and the other end of the bare wire connected to the speakers without any banana plugs since the Onkyo speakers have spring clip terminals. I just wanted to know if it was possible to do that.

 

[highfigh]

I just wanted to know if I could connect one end of the speaker wire to the av receiver using banana plugs and the other end of the bare wire connected to the speakers without any banana plugs since the Onkyo speakers have spring clip terminals. I just wanted to know if it was possible to do that.

Yes- it won't cause any problems. Twist the bare ends of each conductor so you won't have any wires that might touch the other conductor and cause a short-circuit.

 

[KenM10759]

Agreed, you certainly can. I only recommended the pin type ends because you had mentioned wanting to be able to occasionally disconnect and move the speakers. With bare wire ends, repeated in & out will invariably lead to mashed ends and a lot of broken strands. That's increasing chances of a short circuit.

 

[Raj Singh]

Agreed, you certainly can. I only recommended the pin type ends because you had mentioned wanting to be able to occasionally disconnect and move the speakers. With bare wire ends, repeated in & out will invariably lead to mashed ends and a lot of broken strands. That's increasing chances of a short circuit.

I'll only disconnect the speaker wires from the av receiver with the banana plugs attached to them and not the other bare end of the wire that's connected to the speakers. Thanks for your advice though. I really appreciate it.

 

[KenM10759]

If you have the spring clip connections at the receiver, then banana plugs likely won't fit and you should consider the other style. I have 12 gauge speaker cable and on the surround channels of my Pioneer receiver (my secondary system) it has the spring clips. That size wire doesn't really fit, so I'd suggest 14 gauge might be the maximum size wire for bare wire connections.

If you have the increasingly common 5-way binding posts on your receiver that accepts banana plugs, get good quality ones. I like the locking style from Blue Jeans Cable, though you might not have easy access to that brand.

 

[herbu]

When you connect the bare wires to your speakers, pay attention to use the same polarity. Usually a speaker wire pair will have some kind of writing along one of the wires. I use this writing as a guide.

I'm pretty dumb, so I use a dumbed down form of alliteration. I always combine "Write" and "Red". I always connect the wire with writing on it to the red terminal. You can use any method you want, but be sure to do them all the same.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

I have two sets of double banana plugs with about three inches of wire connected to them so that when I want to use a receiver or speaker that has spring-clip connections, I can use the speaker cables already in place. I do this pretty often, so I know it works well. Peace and goodwill.