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Need help with cable termination!

Fellow Audigoners,

I need some tips on terminating my biwire Mogami 3104 speaker cables for banana plugs.

Mogami’s a four conductor cable, so at the amp end, we have to twist together the leads on two 12 awg wires to fit into each banana plug. It’s turning out to be a pretty challenging task, because there are few banana plugs with openings large enough to accommodate the stripped ends of the two conductors.

I initially used Vampire #SB compression screw plugs, since they do have a fairly sizable opening on the side, and after a bit of work, I was able to squeeze the wires into them. However, I decided to go with Furez TSTWP48XL,which is a crimp plug with back access. Since the Furez opening is a bit smaller than Vampire bananas, I’m having a devil of time trying to twist the two conductors to make them fit into the Furez plugs.

The Furez instruction sheet said to *not* twist the two conductors separately, but does anyone have any further suggestions to get the twisted ends as slender as possible? This is a kitchen-table project for me so I don’t have much in the way of a workshop, but is this something where I’m going to need to get a clamp vise and use pliers to twist?

Thanks for your help!
hegelsjh
erik_squires
16,009 posts
 
I had really terrible luck with Furutech. The plug material itself deforms easily and is a tad too small. With Focal speakers I never got a tight fit.

Instead I recommend WBT. use the sleeves method. Available from Parts Connexion.

Best,
E
hegelsjh OP
16 posts
 
Mental - Yes, I do know Doug and that's a good suggestion to contact him for advice.   He also made a custom speaker cable  configuration for me a couple years back with a thinner gauge of Mogami wire (2921 model). He does handle the Furez line, so if anyone knows how to terminate them, Doug surely does.

Erik -  I  know what you're saying about Furez connectors deforming themselves, as the plug bends rather easily, but they do fit snugly on my Unison amp.  On the speaker end, I think I'll leave the Vampire bananas, as my Spendors have a screw mount binding post and the side-entry design of the Vampire bananas allows me better access above and below the speaker binding posts.

Erik, when you mention the WBT crimp sleeve technique, is the idea to crush the sleeve around the wire ends and then insert into the banana plug or rather to inset directly into the amp's speaker terminal? 
hegelsjh OP
16 posts
 
Update: Looking further at the various Furez banana options and the  spec sheets, it seems that the 48s are not the bananas with the largest opening that Furez offers.  The XL in the part name,TSTWP48XL, refers to the sleeve size and not the opening.  Furez has plain bananas (TSTSB60NP) without the sleeve covering that have an opening that's about 25% larger in diameter. That should do it.   What I need are rear-design bananas which claim they can handle 4awg wire.  My current Furez say 6awg (or two @ 12awg, but, that's unrealistic).   

Thanks anyone for their suggestions!
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