binding posts.....

S

solarchaos

New member
I'm not extremeely knowledgeable on the physical electronic aspects of many things but i can find my away around. Anyways i saw a great deal on this crown microtech 1200 power amp and i was thinking about getting it. The only problem is its outputs are binding posts(i think thats what they're called, little red and black circular poles?). I've never seen these before and i have no idea what they connect to or how to connect something to them? How do u connect speakers to them? do u need speakers with speaker cable like for your stereo system or do u need like pa speakers with a special connector? very confused, someone please help

also if u know any good cheap(under 400 bucks) power amps please tell me
 
The binding posts will be the outputs of the amp to the speaker, so you'll need to use speaker cable. There are two ways of connecting to binding posts - first is to wrap the bare wire around the post and screww the top section down onto it, and the second is to use a type of plug called a banana plug, which plugs stright into the binding post.

Banana plugs are the better option, cos after a while the open wired gets all frayed, and you need to cut the ned off and strip it again ,so eventually your speaker lines get shorter and shorter. Just remember that the banana plugs are only a single wire, so you need two of them for each speaker (signal and common)

Hope that helps

- gaffa
 
oh, and solarchaos... it's totally confusing when you cross post to EVERY forum :) I keep thinking..."I thought I replied to that one??!!? What in sam hell??!!" So usually people post in just one place.. (or two)

xooxox
 
:-) thanx for the help everyone, sorry about the multiple posts, i was really eager to learn about this and the stupid people at radio shack had no clue what i was talking about, now i'll see if they have banana plugs
 
oh yeah couple more things, what would be better to use? home audio speakers (like by sony) or dj/pa speakers (by peavey) i dont have any pa speakers but have several pairs of good home audio speakers. Also, dont laugh if this is a stupid question but is a power amp just the same thing as a receiver? our band was thinking about getting a spirit folio 6 channel mixer for recording and then we were also thinking about using it to plug our vocal mics into. right now we plug them into cheap 15 watt practice amps and feed the amps into my friend's 400 watt receiver. does anyone have any suggestions about a makeshift low budget pa system??? any cheap way to make it sound good, we dont have a very big budget, maybe 150-200 dollars MAX and i've told you the equipment we already have, thanx so much you guys have been soo helpful
 
A receiver is usually a combination of a poweramp, and a radio receiver for tuning in radio stations. Sometimes receviers also have connections for hooking up a cd, tape deck, and allow you to switch between them all without repatching.

A poweramp is just that. It amplifies whatever signal you feed it.

I'm not familiar with this Crown amp, but with name like 1200 in it, is it 1200W? If so, that's lots of power for a couple small PA bins.

Anyway, maybe consider renting a couple PA bins monthly. Sure you could find some for $50/month. Maybe pick up some used ones for $100-150 each.

In combination with your spirit mixer, poweramp and bin's, you should have a decent setup for jamming.


One other thing. I find the bananna plugs that RS sells are way too small for any decent guage speaker wire. Especially if you plan on using this poweramp in combination with some bins. Get some decent wire, 10 or 12. As for getting better bananna plugs, maybe http://www.fullcompass.com or http://www.8thstreet.com has them?


[Edited by Emeric on 08-16-2000 at 08:54]
 
Yeah actually, i changed my mind about the crown amp. I think now i may be going for a pyramid 600 or 800 dj power amp, i have a dj business on the side. u think i should still get rent some pa bins? i have some monstrous 15 inch home audio speakers. but do u think if i cant afford it that a receiver would do just fine ?
 
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