DIY solid core speaker cable: connectors?


Some might recall a thread of mine about 2 weeks ago about DIY speaker cable with magnet wire. That was about the insulation, and I've decided to go with the enamel only. Thanks all for the input!

Now I'm looking into connectors. It's clear I cannot use bare, uncoated Cu because of oxidation. Options I'm considering:

1) Gold-plate the ends of the bare wire (after cleaning with acid the Cu oxide) and use no connectors. I could gold-plate at a boutique jewelery. The "the best connector is no conector" approach.

2) Eichmann spades: $60 for 8 units needed to biwire and to connect to amp (MC275 MkIV has spade terminations). Looks simple and good. I guess I would need to solder these, right? Do you think this would sound better than 1)?

3) Eichmann banana plugs to speakers: $180 for biwiring + $30 for spades at the amp end. I hear good things about these, but would it outperform 1) or 2) sonically?

I guess if I get as much satisfaction from the sound improvement as I'm getting out of this search for my little DIY project I will be very pleased!!

Thanks in advance!
lewinskih01
Hey Neil.

Thanks for the input. I thought that wouldn't be a good idea. But it would be the easiest option too. Can you point me to some of the contact protectors you mention?

Cheers!
Horacio
Goertz makes nice solid silver spades that you could solder your cables to. http://www.madisound.com/images/goertz/tn/Goertz-Speaker-Connectors.jpg