Them Belkin speaker cables that people go nuts for

[Tarzan]

Afternoon all, l have some nice new shiny Nakamichi banana plugs that l intend to put on the Belkin's as l believe the stock bananas on the Bells are a bottleneck as bad as anything the M25 has to offer, so are they easy to do? ( l may have read somewhere that they may be a bit tricky for a novice DIYer such as me.) Any advice and/or tips would be great ( or indeed has anyone done this modification? Thank you.:)

[Macca]

On my Belkin speaker cable the banana plugs unscrew enabling you to screw on a spade connector instead. very versitile. If you have the same cable you will have to chop all that end bit off - it will be a bit messy and I can't imagine changing one banana for another will make any difference to the SQ, but if you have the time and the inclination then go for it.

[brian2957]

Andy DON'T go there mate . These cables are made up of very fine multistrand cables and are very difficult to strip . I ended up having to burn the dialectric off with a cigarette lighter. Now I've worked with all sorts of cables but these are virtually impossible to work with and I eventually gave up in disgust :rolleyes: . If I were you I would leave well alone and pick another cable to reterminate . This can only end in tears :lol:

[Ammonite Audio]

The banana z-plug terminations on mine seem to be of good quality

[prestonchipfryer]

I tried once to do what you say and gave up. The cable is virtually impossible to strip back to bare wire. And the Nak bans probably won't make any difference anyway. :)

[Tarzan]

Ok thanks everybody, advice taken will leave well alone, especially as l do not have much patience with this kind of thing, thanks again all.:)

[Audio Al]

M25 it is then ;)

[brian2957]

Why not try something like Cable Talk 3 , which I use , or one of the Van Damme cables Andy . They're both very good and very easy to work with. Your new plugs will fit them perfectly :)

[Tarzan]

Why not try something like Cable Talk 3 , which I use , or one of the Van Damme cables Andy . They're both very good and very easy to work with. Your new plugs will fit them perfectly :)

Already have the Cable Talk 3, regarding the Belkins and their banana plugs it was just an itch l wanted to scratch....... :scratch:

[The Grand Wazoo]

It is possible to do it if you take care. But to save yourself from going mad, you must tin the ends with solder.

You need to get a pair of wire strippers that can be set to precisely the right size.
The conductors are of three different types - a single thick central wire, some medium sized ones and some very fine ones which are kind of coiled like a stretched spring. These last ones are the tricky ones, as they don't stay where you put them!

Strip slightly more insulation off than you need.
Once you've stripped the insulator off, you need to gently tease the medium and small wires away from the centre core. Select the fine ones and, keeping them evenly spaced around the centre core, gently twist them all around it. You need to do them all in one go. It's easier than it sounds.
Then hold their ends in place with a pair of locking forceps or a small bulldog clip or something similar. Sticky tape would do it at a push.
Next, wind the medium sized cores around in the same way. This helps hold the thin ones in place.
Keep your clamp in place and tin the wire
Remove the clamp and then snip the ends off back to the tinned part. If you've tinned it properly, the solder will have flowed between all of the strands but you should tin the cut end too.

[awkwardbydesign]

I recently stripped and soldered these- Polk Cobra litz. I made (I'm too mean to buy) a solder pot, which burnt off the insulation and tinned the wires in one go. 60 green and 60 copper in each cable. I use 4 per side. Oh the fun I had! But it has made a big difference, so worth the effort.
So get yourself a solder pot if you want to do it properly.
http://s26.postimg.org/fx0sovpmh/Polk_Cables_002.jpg

[The Grand Wazoo]

Those Polk wires are the same as the old Monitor Audio ones.
Danger! - The fumes that come of the insulation if you melt it, are seriously dangerous.

[awkwardbydesign]

That's right. But I like to live dangerously!