Speaker Wire in sub enclosure

[JoeMama]

Do you just strip speaker wire and connect from sub to inside/sub enclosure terminal? Or is it better to add some type of connector to the speaker wire before connecting to sub?

My last sub had one of the 2 voice coil speaker wires broken and maybe could have cause the sub to blow. The speaker wire was cut thru and left in the terminal. When you look at the sub connectors its just a spring loaded skinny metal piece holding the wire. I am surprised its this way, but I suppose the sub manufacturers have a good reason.

[old skool malibu]

Take a look at my thread. I used threaded binding posts. http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?/topic/37772-first-sub-box-build-stereo-and-led-install-complete/

[JoeMama]

Thanks. But I am talking about where you connect the speaker wire to the internal woofer not at the box. At the woofer its a spring loaded metal spade that comes down on the speaker wire. You would think that after a while and with little vibration the metal spade will cut thru the wire. That's what happened to one of my subs.

[my malibu]

Use a bannana clip

[Deephaven]

Take a look at my thread. I used threaded binding posts. http://www.themalibu...stall-complete/

Which are WAY better than a terminal cup. Big fan of those.

For the OP's question though, I am somewhat surprised that the spring loaded terminal chewed through the wire. I am also not a huge fan of spring loaded terminals, but they seem to be the norm. I'd check the terminals for sharp edges before installing, make sure that I have sufficiently thick wire going into the terminal to take some force, or optionally either tin the wire with solder or put a sleeve on it. Depending on the size of the terminal this could be a banana connector or a pin connector if the terminal is really small. I prefer the solder though as the same vibrations that caused you problems can have the smoother surface slide out.

The permanent alternative is to solder direct of course bypassing those connectors.

[nyryan2001]

I have just used the spring loaded terminals on several brands, Alpine Type R's, Kicker, MTX, Orion HCA's, Fosgates and now Re XXX. Always have been suffiicient just stripping the wire and putting it in the spring loaded terminal... but also I have used relatively thick wire... usually 14ga or 12ga... ie lamp cord wire. That thicker wire would be pretty hard to cut inside one of those terminals. If you were to use think 18-22 ga speaker wire i could def see how one of those HD terminals could cut off the thin copper wire.

[Bobby Light]

Been using terminal cups on sub boxes with subwoofers with spring terminals for a long time and never had an issue. I've never ran anything smaller than 12 awg wire though.

[Earmark Marine]

Never have seen that happen even once in decades regardless of the brand of woofer. With a good gauge of wire that wasn't partially cut when it was stripped, there is nothing to be concerned about.

However, at the other end of the wire it is very important that you use a good binding post terminal cup or thru-chassis threaded binding posts. A caulked hole in the enclosure for a wire pass-through does not provide a lasting seal.

David

[JoeMama]

Cool. Thanks !!!