You know what's bull%$^?

Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
Shock - I have banana plugs from Radio Shack. Easy to put in, and I've never had one pull out.

Yeah, I said...
 
rgriffin25

rgriffin25

Moderator
The current 5 way binding posts wouldn't be too bad if banana plugs weren't so expensive. What's the deal with that?
 
rgriffin25

rgriffin25

Moderator
You should snag some from Monoprice for $1/pair when they go on sale. :)
I've got plenty for my set-up. I just find they are a hard sell especially when it's really a convenience for the installer.
 
Shock

Shock

Audioholic General
If you're annoyed by speaker cable- I want to give you a little unsolicited career advice- don't ever apply for a job as a low voltage installer. You would absolutely hate that job.:D
Ironically I spent a summer installing Cat5 cable in a brand new office building. I pretty much drank every night think of the horror of when someone would crimp an end on in the wrong order and you wonder why the hell you don't have continuity.
 
Shock

Shock

Audioholic General
Shock - I have banana plugs from Radio Shack. Easy to put in, and I've never had one pull out.

Yeah, I said...
See my banana plugs have too much girth and I find I can never quite get them in all the way.
 
Adam

Adam

Audioholic Jedi
See my banana plugs have too much girth and I find I can never quiet get them in all the way.
Yep - they help you brag to the buds, but when it comes to practice...thin is in.
 
Shock

Shock

Audioholic General
lol

But seriously, I hate dealing with speaker wire with a passion. Why the **** is it so hard to split it in half? 100 lbs of force to split the wires in half....yeah that's not ridiculous at all. I have to literally cut inbetween both wires and then use my teeth because my hands are sweating from all the anger I'm feeling.

Why is it ****ing impossible to strip speaker wire without taking 50% of the strands with you!? Then when the stars align and you manage to strip one side perfectly, you **** up the other side. Everyone knows, us being audiophiles, we have to have our speaker wire EXACTLY the same length for the +ve and -ve.

One time I had to strip and restrip one run of speaker wire 4 effing times before i stripped the +ve and -ve without mangling the strands. Why do wire strippers suck so much ass?
 
mazersteven

mazersteven

Audioholic Warlord
One time I had to strip and restrip one run of speaker wire 4 effing times before i stripped the +ve and -ve without mangling the strands. Why do wire strippers suck so much ass?
It sounds to me like you need Stripper Lessons.

 
mazersteven

mazersteven

Audioholic Warlord
Why don't you just get yourself a good wire cutter/stripper?

 
Shock

Shock

Audioholic General
I've tried pretty much every wire stripper known to mankind, and some that aren't.
 
Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
I've tried pretty much every wire stripper known to mankind, and some that aren't.
So the strippers are no good and the bananas are no good?
I'm gonna have to go with the problem being with the operator, not the equipment.
It might help you to relax before you tackle something like this that makes you nuts before you even begin.
BJC will make custom lengths of terminated speaker cable. It might be worth it to you.
 
Halon451

Halon451

Audioholic Samurai
lol

But seriously, I hate dealing with speaker wire with a passion. Why the **** is it so hard to split it in half? 100 lbs of force to split the wires in half....yeah that's not ridiculous at all. I have to literally cut inbetween both wires and then use my teeth because my hands are sweating from all the anger I'm feeling.

Why is it ****ing impossible to strip speaker wire without taking 50% of the strands with you!? Then when the stars align and you manage to strip one side perfectly, you **** up the other side. Everyone knows, us being audiophiles, we have to have our speaker wire EXACTLY the same length for the +ve and -ve.

One time I had to strip and restrip one run of speaker wire 4 effing times before i stripped the +ve and -ve without mangling the strands. Why do wire strippers suck so much ass?
Not to offend here Shock, but perhaps something with your technique when it comes to stripping the ends? I'm just speculating - I've owned several types of wire strippers, some fancy expensive ones, and other cheap throw away kind - not sure how you're going about it, but I'll usually go about half an inch back, using the correct gauge size on the stripper, merely separate the jacket end from the rest of its length - without pulling it off the end with the wire stripper. This is done with a quick twisting of the wrist usually, without applying too much force. After that, I'll usually pull the separated jacket end off the end of the wire by hand, ensuring that I rotate it in the same direction the strands are twisted as I pull. Not to say I don't nick a strand or two at times, but probably 98% of the time this leaves a perfect, exposed section of bare wire, free of nicks, cuts or missing strands. Plus all the strands will be shaped and twisted in their original form.

No comments on the innuendos guys... we all get it... :D
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Ironically I spent a summer installing Cat5 cable in a brand new office building. I pretty much drank every night think of the horror of when someone would crimp an end on in the wrong order and you wonder why the hell you don't have continuity.
No cable tester? That shows which wires are incorrect immediately with 8 LEDs and it goes through the sequence automatically.

I like looking at neatly dressed equipment racks but punching down and terminating everything is awfully tedious. One thing about some Cat5e that I found makes it easy to mis-wire the RJ-45 ends is no marking on the white wires. I worked for a place that ordered some of that and it increased the termination time immensely.
 
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