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MF A3 speaker connectors: What were they thinking?

I'm getting a little frustrated with my Musical Fidelity A3 power amp. The speaker connectors seem to be designed for no known cable termination. What are other people doing with these connectors?

The connector shafts are threaded, about 1/2" in diameter. There is a large diameter cap nut which screws down on the cable termination. The threaded shaft has a large vertical hole in it, about 1/4", which is gradually covered by the nut as the nut is screwed down.

It seems like these connectors were designed for gargantuan spades like I've never seen or else for ... gasp ... bare wire!

I've tried putting one tang of a normal spade connector in the hole and tightening. This seems to provide a less than ideal connection and has to put weird stresses on the tang.

I've also tried putting a banana plug in the hole and tightening. Banana plugs are inherently springy and I feel bad tightening down on one. Also, it has to be a long banana plug so the the large cap nut tightens on the plug shaft and not on the larger base of the banana plug. Also, the vertical hole means that the banana must be pointing straight down so that the wire exits vertically up and the weight of the wire hangs awkwardly on the terminator.

This is a popular amp. Any ideas? What am I missing?
pmi_guy

Showing 1 response by pmi_guy

pmi_guy OP
72 posts
 
Great tip! The locking bananas fit perfectly. This must be a well kept secret. Long live A'gon.

After looking at my speakers, I found that the locking bananas fit there also. There's a big improvement in the sound now with the connectors done right. I guess those Brit's know what they're doing after all.

Thanks, Bob55 and everyone else.
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