How to connect my speakers to the power amp, and the power amp to my laptop?

So, just forget about the banana plugs and simply plug the 14 gauge wires into the positive and negatives of the two speakers, and it'll fit in just fine?
 
Check the other thread you started...I gave you the solution for using heavy gauge wires with smaller/narrower terminals.
 
miroslav said:
Check the other thread you started...I gave you the solution for using heavy gauge wires with smaller/narrower terminals.
Click to expand...

plus 14 gauge isn't that big. I find it pretty hard to believe either set of posts won't take 14 gauge.

Seriously man ........ this is about as basic as it's possible to get.
I really suggest you sit down and do some reading on the very basics of this stuff. There's really nothing confusing about hooking up two strips of zip cord from an amp to the speakers.
 
Lt. Bob said:
plus 14 gauge isn't that big.
Click to expand...

Ah. The joys of the imperial system. If I understand correctly, there are at least 3 different gauges for electrical wire and several other for other things. Maybe the OP ordered British wire?

14 AWG should measure a bit more than 1.6 mm Cu. Why shouldn't that fit? In British standards, it's already more than 2 mm, tho...

Anyhow, Sengspiel Audio has a handy conversion calc page for you:

Cross-sectional area to diameter conversion circle intersection electric cable wire diameter and wiring and calculation cross section AGW American Wire Gauge area of a wire formula conductivity resistivity - sengpielaudio Sengpiel Berlin
 
Lt. Bob said:
plus 14 gauge isn't that big. I find it pretty hard to believe either set of posts won't take 14 gauge.
Click to expand...

I'm just accepting that they don't fit his posts....regardless of the numerical size. I have a pair of speakers with pretty small holes in the terminal posts.

One thing...
I have 12 gauge 3-conductor electrical wire, the typical shit you would use for 20Amp house wiring...
...and I have 12 gauge speaker wire, the clear-coated, multi-strand copper wire.
Both are marked as such --- 12 gauge.

I'll be damned...but the 12 gauge speaker wire is way thicker in diameter!!!
Go figure.... *shrug*
 
miroslav said:
I'll be damned...but the 12 gauge speaker wire is way thicker in diameter!!!
Go figure.... *shrug*
Click to expand...

Perhaps that's easily explained?

The speaker wire is stranded. The mains cable is massive AND the isolation is probably a lot thinner.
 
Here...this is what I mean:

In the first picture, you can see that both are marked as 12 AWG...yet it's pretty obvious even in the picture (and with the insulation) that the speaker wire (clear/copper) is much ticker in diameter per wire than the 3-conductor house electrical wire.

12GaugeCable01.jpg



In the second image you can see how I deal with the extra diameter when I need to get the wire into narrower post holes. Also...you can see in this picture that this was a double set of 12 AWG wires that I used. So I was running dual 12 gauge speaker cables for each monitor. I was using these on my main studio monitors before I got the active, self-powered Mackie 824 monitors.

I applied solder to the ends...and then ground them down to the required diameter. You can see that at one end they were ground down to be narrower than at the other end, because the monitor post holes were smaller than the posts at the power amp. The solder also keeps the ends from ever getting frayed if/when you need to disconnect/reconnect the speakers for whatever reason.

12GaugeCable02.jpg
 
Just answered in your other thread - Seriously though - They really won't fit?

You're not trying to jam the wires in the banana input, are you...?
 
Yeah, dude, they really won't fit.
I specifically ordered 14-gauge speaker wire... and the ends look like 1\4 TS cables. they're way too big to fit into the pos\neg's of my speakers, OR the pos\neg's of my power amp.
 
The point is, are you actually unscrewing those connectors to get access to where you're supposed to put those wires -- Or are you trying to jam a 14ga wire into the banana connector?
 
Massive Master said:
The point is, are you actually unscrewing those connectors to get access to where you're supposed to put those wires -- Or are you trying to jam a 14ga wire into the banana connector?
Click to expand...

ditto .... that amp and those speakers are new and really, everything made nowadays should take 14 ok. I can almost always get 12 into anything that's newer than ten years old or so.
 
I tried jamming a 1\4 TS Inch into it.
But, I went out and got some 16 gauge speaker wire that you can strip. Will this work?
 
Dude...what the heck are you trying to jam a 1/4" TS plug into??? :eek:
Don't "jam" the plug into anything.
If it doesn't just "pop" into place...then you're not doing something right....so STOP before you break something.

Man..I wish I could see what you are doing, 'cuz it really isn't supposed to be this hard to connect an amp and speakers. :D
Do you have a camera? Take a few pictures and post thek up of what you have and what you are trying to connect.
Something just ins't right in how you are going about it.
 
Notebook. said:
I tried jamming a 1\4 TS Inch into it.
But, I went out and got some 16 gauge speaker wire that you can strip. Will this work?
Click to expand...
man .... you're trying to stick a 1/4 inch plug into a bannana terminal .... the two are even faintly similar.
All the speaker wires everyone suggested are just that .... wires that you strip without any connector on the ends.
 
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