You have all the bits and pieces of a home stereo system, but now you need to know how to connect it all together. Fortunately, it’s not as complex as you might think. With a few basic tools and the knowledge provided in this article, you’ll be connecting your speakers and enjoying your music in no time!
If you’ve connected speakers before and just want a quick reminder, we’ve included short instructions below. continued.
Connecting Speakers to Amplifier (Short Version)
- Turn off and unplug your amplifier or receiver.
- Connect one of the positive (red) plugs of your speaker cable to the positive terminal
- connect the positive (Red) Plug to the other end of your cable to the Positive Terminal
- Repeat with the Negative (Black-) Plugs: connect the Negative Terminal of the speaker wire to the negative terminal of your amplifier/receiver
- Repeat the above steps for the remaining speakers
- Turn on the amplifier r and rock
of your Amplifier/Receiver
However, if you’re new to connecting speakers, have equipment with non-typical connections, or just want to get the MAX out of your system, read on!
We provide more details, discuss tips on the best connection types, how to choose the best speaker wire, and more.
Power off and unplug your amplifier/receiver before disconnecting or connecting any speakers and components
It is vital that you always turn off your stereo amplifier/receiver before working on it because there are components inside that could be damaged if electricity flows through them while I am trying to working with they. For an added level of safety, unplug the amplifier or receiver from the wall and wait 30 seconds for the transformers to discharge.
This is less of a problem with modern amplifiers with built-in protection, but it is never In addition, be very careful when handling electrical components. This is for your own safety and the safety of your amplifier and speakers!
Connect the speaker wire to the speaker terminals
There are a few different types of plugs, the most common being Banana Connector, (shown above) that are usually easy to connect. Just insert the plug into the slot.
If you have other types of speaker connectors, please scroll down to the next section or click here to go to that section.
Each end of the speaker wire will have a Positive ( ) Plug, usually represented by the color red, and a Negative (-) Connector represented by black.
Aconnect one end of each speaker cable to a Positive or Negative Terminal on each speaker.
Match positive to positive and negative to negative
Now connect the other end to your amplifier, making sure to connect the corresponding Positive and Negative jacks to the amplifier.
Remember, it doesn’t really matter which cable you use, as long as you connect Positive to Positive and Negative! Negative!
Mixing them will make the speakers out of phase, giving you a “hollow” sound with poor stereo imaging.
Now that we have clarified Now that we’re done, let’s talk about how your speakers will connect to your system.
What’s the best speaker wire/speaker wire?
You may have heard stories of people using audio cables lamps as speaker wires. Lamp wire is insulated copper wire, just like speaker wire.
But with many things, just because you can, doesn’t necessarily mean you should.
These days you can get relatively cheap speaker wire, so it makes less sense these days than going with lamp wire.
There are many situations where speaker wires specifically designed make much more sense. However, there are two things to consider:
- The materials used to make the cable: the interior (core), the exterior (insulation) and the physical connectors.
- The gauge (thickness) of the wire: thicker wires are better insulated and therefore less prone to interference and signal loss. Lower gauge is thicker than higher gauge.
Higher-end speaker wire will have better insulation, reducing signal loss and protecting the wire from unwanted interference. desired. They also typically use pure oxygen-free copper, unlike lower-cost cables that often use copper-clad aluminum.
What gauge speaker wire do I need? ?
A gauge between 12 and 16 is recommended.
- For long cables, high power applications, and low impedance speakers (4 or 6 ohms), thick 12 or 14 gauge speaker wire is recommended.
- If it’s a short wire (40 feet or less) to speakers with a higher resistance rating (8 ohms or 16 ohm speakers), then you should be fine with 16 gauge wire.
- While the gauges larger than 16 will technically work, personally I wouldn’t recommend investing a lot of money in a system than trying to save a few bucks on wires.
Types of passive speaker connection connectors
Banana connectors
If your speaker can accept them, the optimal choice is Banana Plugs. They can be easily plugged in and out and provide a secure connection. Higher-end cables come with banana plugs, or can easily be installed on bare speaker wire at low cost.
While not essential, I use them in all my systems when possible. Trust me, once you’ve installed and removed a few home theater systems with 7 or more speakers in your life… you’ll include banana plugs on all of your systems. To connect:
- Unplug and turn off all components.
- Be sure to plug the positive connector into the positive terminals and the negative connector into the negative terminals (on both speaker and your amplifier).
- Push the plugs firmly into the terminal. That’s all!
Speaker-Terminals
It is common for speaker plugs to come designed for banana plugs and binding post terminals (see above) . This gives you additional options:
- As described above, unplug, turn off, and make sure you are plugging in the correct terminals.
- Unscrew the terminal from the binding post enough to so you can lay your bare wire.
- Don’t touch a live wire! Pull all the wires of your cable straight out and give them a slight twist.
- Insert the wires under the screw cap on the terminal.
- Hold the wire to make sure it is secure. stay inserted while you screw to tighten the binding post.
Spring Clips
Spring clips are pretty straightforward. They are designed to use a spring to hold the cord or plug.
- Same as above. Unplug, turn off and confirm that you are plugging everything in the correct place.
- If you are not using the above Flex Pin banana connectors, pull the wire strands straight out, giving them a slight twist.
- Push up on the spring clip.
- Insert the speaker wire or banana clip.
- Release the spring and make sure it is firmly attached to the wire.
Connectors Banana Deadbolt Flex
Traditionally, Banana Plus is not designed to work with spring clips. However, you can find “Deadbolt Flex Banana Plugs” that will be compatible with both spring-loaded terminals and banana plugs, giving you more options for connecting to your audio components.
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