basic house keeping

[karma67]

sitting back to listen to a bit of john barry to my horror the trumpet on the 1st track distorted on the high notes,a quick bit of investigating lead me to wiggle the speaker cable near the amps binding posts,this made the distortion cut in,cutting off about an inch to expose fresh wire and tightening them firmly back in the posts has cured it.

so chaps check your connections!

[RobbieGong]

Been meaning to post to that effect myself.

In my experience and as you say it's useful to check these things over every few months or so.
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Ie: tightening of connections, binding post connectors, particularly when tightened for bare wire (temp' changes mean things expand and loosen IME).

This also applies to things like armboard screws and the like - have a check, you'll be surprised ;)

[Primalsea]

When I had speakers with binding posts I used to solder the bared speaker cable (just the wires, not to the terminals).

I found that screwing the binding post down to a wire witha bit of solder on it made a better mechanical connection as it could really bite down into the solder.

[RobbieGong]

Indeed my ends are silver soldered. Still found that even with firm tightening there is a loosening over time hence defo worth checking these things occasionally as part of hifi housekeeping ;)

[karma67]

yep mine were too.

[Beobloke]

That's why I never use bare wire connections if I can help it. Banana plugs all the way! (or 2 pin DIN plugs...)

[Pigmy Pony]

The speaker wire connection to my speakers are bare wire, and although I tightened them as much as I could, every so often I re-check and find it will tighten a bit more. I don't know if the knurled posts are loosening themselves or the wires are shrinking!

[walpurgis]

Why not fit good spade connectors?

(although I do prefer banana plugs where possible, preferably 'Z' type)

[alphaGT]

The speaker wire connection to my speakers are bare wire, and although I tightened them as much as I could, every so often I re-check and find it will tighten a bit more. I don't know if the knurled posts are loosening themselves or the wires are shrinking!

I used to do the same until it eventually rung off the posts. What’s happening is the brass post is stretching. I wound up soldering the wires to the terminal post, no more problems!

Russell

[Yomanze]

The speaker wire connection to my speakers are bare wire, and although I tightened them as much as I could, every so often I re-check and find it will tighten a bit more. I don't know if the knurled posts are loosening themselves or the wires are shrinking!

It loosens because over time the speaker wire compresses. Tighten more, it’ll compress more, ad infinitum. Proper screw down connectors i.e. in mains blocks don’t do this. As suggested, get z plugs fitted IMO.

[Yomanze]

I used to do the same until it eventually rung off the posts. What’s happening is the brass post is stretching. I wound up soldering the wires to the terminal post, no more problems!

Russell

Interesting.

[Jimbo]

I have found that the tiny gum screws that tighten the tonearm base also work loose, I unscrew them to allow VTA adjustment but have found over time they loosen and you can hear it as it affects the tonearm integrity substantially.

Also found my cartridge moves in the headshell very slightly over a month or so and therefore have to realign for overhang, probably caused by vibration and mechanical interaction of cartridge with record surface?