Broken Speaker Plug

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Bes

Bes

Bes

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Melbourne
Hello,

I recently noticed that one of my Chord (I think it was) speaker cables has broken at the plug. What is the best way to fix this?

The cable itself seems to consist of a number of silver wires woven around plastic (I think) strands and a plastic core. Pictures attached.

It appears that all the soldered contacts have broken and some of the solder/ wire is still stuck inside the plug itself. (I can't get it out). Do I just buy a new plug? Is there a specific type of one I need? Do I just solder this using any solder and an iron, or is there a non- soldering method I can/ should use?


Cables


Cables

Thanks
 
is banana plug broken? if you can't fix it just buy a banana plug, they are pretty cheap. you don't need to solder anything, just clean up the wire ends and screw the wire in the banana plug

lol @ cable . they put in plastic to increase gauge
 
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Ah so that's what that thing is called :) Ok thanks - are there different ones for wires that sit around a core like that or are they all the same? I imagine I want to leave the strands longer than the core and just secure them into the plug?
 
they are pretty standard. cut off some of the outer plastic, to expose the wire and you just screw the bare wire in. (in your case that would include the plastic centre core as part of the bare wire)

some plugs are air-locked and need a special tool, but tbh that is snakeoil and not needed

 
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same I just buy cheap copper cable. I have no respect for brands like monster cable, cord, QED etc.... BS to milk you for fairy dust. but putting in plastic to make wire appear thicker gauge does take the cake
 
Lucky I got the cables for free then eh?! ;)

Yeah the cable contains hardly any actual wire at all! Almost tempted just to get some better cable with more metal inside
 
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I'm impressed that Chord managed to improve the audio qualities of silver by adding plastic. They also make Ethernet cables with fantastic audio improving qualities. They say, 'we also experimented with the connection between router and hard drive, and yes this bought improvements, but the most important connection is the one to the streamer.' Also, 'This difference was noticeable regardless of whether we were running the cable directly to a router or via a pre-installed Ethernet cable network or a system where the Ethernet signal is carried over the mains.'

It's impressive that a high quality Ethernet cable between the HDD and router can improve the sound quality so much, given that the router will be full of bog standard wiring, and that it can also improve the sound quality of the audio when carried over bog standard house electrical wiring. I might consider asking a priest if he can bless my speakers, maybe some holy hocus pocus will be just as effective at improving the sound quality. Will be a heck of a lot cheaper that buying Chords products.
 
If you want to continue with plugs, get yourself some Nakamichi banana plugs. Good quality and about £2 a pair, or less if you buy in larger quantities. No need to spend more.

I'm not a believer in hocus pocus speaker cable, but you can get some basic QED or similar cable for ~£1/m, or Van Damme for ~£2/m. I wouldn't spend more than that if I were you, but it's your call!
 
Thanks - got it all sorted out today... and I would replace those darned cables with pure copper ones if they weren't all fixed into cable tidies etc. The cables are such thick gauge/ the wire is woven in such a way that my cable strippers would just break the silver wires every time I tried to strip the plastic off - near enough took my thumb off with a Stanley knife (only thing that worked in the end) trying to cut through all that plastic to get a clean end to secure in the new plug.
 
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