Need help! Newbie here!

[Zero]

Got my IXOS bi-wire in today.... and now my genius is showing....

How in the hell do I terminate them?? ?? Here are some pics...

[Zero]

The wire

[Zero]

last one - a close up

[Zero]

Ok, here is the deal. The wire directed towards the bass is 13 gauge, the wire for the highs, are 15 gauge.

Now, the question is, how the hell do I stick the wire in those terminals.... can't exactly solder them in there..

[polkatese]

Sean,
great looking cable and banana...where did you get them from? I don't have answers to your q's, but have you tried audioasylum DIY cable section?

[Zero]

Polkatese, got the wire and bananas from

http://www.ac4l.com

I briefly checked out the audioasylum, will return there when my mind will be able to process things. Having a very slow day here.

[danger boy]

ATC what kind of connections are on the bottom of those connectors? are they a screw on type? I own a monster center channel Z100 cable.. and it has a male threaded post on each end.. on the ends.. you can configure it with any combination of spades, pins, bananas, etc. (sold seperately).

I think you may need the same thing.. if your conectors are threaded. that's how you would connect them to the bi wire cable.
hope this helps.

[wlrandall]

At the amp end, strip both conductors of same type, twist together and install into one terminal per pair by tightening set screw.

At the speaker end, strip each conductor and install one terminal per wire. This gives you two for the highs and two for the lows.

Repeat the process for the other channel.

I hate to say it, but that wire looks like good old, run of the mill Type MTW which is identical to THHN without the nylon jacket. What are they used for? Industrial and commercial electrical wiring. Not trying to rain on your parade, just a little suspicious.

[Zero]

Danger Boy,

The bottom of the connectors are your typical banana's. They can just push right on in - so thats covered. Not sure what is threaded? heh

Wlrandall,

Thanks for the help - I will try it all out later this evening !

As for the wire. Its from XIOS. I could not tell you whether such wire is "run of the mill" or not. I have put its regular 2 conductor wire against the MIT terminators and Monster Z2 bi-wires...... it held its own VERY well...... industry standard or not - its good stuff to me.

[wlrandall]

Excellent, that's what it's all about-personal taste and preference whether it be cables, speakers, amps, etc... Let us know what you think of them.

Wally

[goingganzo]

i use all ar bana plugs with the compreshon fittings they are real nice.

[Zero]

Well, I had to hook them up via: screw, as you suggested wlrandall. Thanks for the advice. I was hoping there would be another way to hook these things up without spending extra cash - but its all good.

Got them hooked up and man, they sound awesome!!!!!! Money WELL spent...... I highly recommend IXOS for anyone wanting a step up from lampcord/xp/home depote..... but is not willing to pay the high bills for the "superior" wire.

Thanks again.

Sean

[Tour2ma]

ATC,

Man first look at the pics I thought, "SNAKE!" ;) Pretty nice looking jacket on that bundle and looks like they do a little braiding in there, yes?

Glad you are liking your little foray into wire. If you don’t mind running a little test, I am still curious about a thread a while back that challenged the approach of using the heavier gauge wire for the bass. It argued that signal loss was more critical to the highs as the signal was generally weaker, thus it benefited more from the heavier wire.

So if you don’t mind swapping a couple pairs of banana plugs around, I’d be curious as to your findings.

[Zero]

Tour2ma,

No problems whatsoever. Just conducted that experiment and found that I enjoyed the old fashioned way a bit better....... though the differences to me were subtle, maybe even in my head.

The Rotel I have is known for lacking some bass punch so it would be wise in this case scenario - if I were to leave things as intended.

However, I may do this a couple of times and will report back to you... need some time to relax the mind - this wire is awesome :)

[Tour2ma]

Thanks... I'll be watching for updates.

[danger boy]

Sean,
glad you like the bi wire speaker cables. I have been touting the IXOS cables for a while on here now.. I love them.. i use a 6 RCA to 6 RCA cable from my analog out on the toshiba DVD player to the analog in's on my receiver for dvd audio. it's a great hassle free cable.. all 6 rca wires are bundled together in one massively thick cable. but it works great.

I wish more people would give IXOS a try.. a good less expensive alternative to Monster.
glad it worked and you could hear a nice improvement in your sound.
enjoy my friend.

Al

[Tour2ma]

Anyone have a link to their site?

[danger boy]

IXOS cables (http://www.ixos.co.uk/us_interconnects/index2.html)