Hello from Denville, NJ

[gander222]

Hi,

I'm Gary and I just bought a pair if Martin Logan Sequel II speakers, and they are great!

I have a Butler Audio 2250 amp driving them, and a Promitheus TVC (transformer volume control) passive preamp. Because of the new MLs, the Butler amp and the TVC, my source is now showing its limitations (a Pioneer 79avi CD/DVD/SACD player), so old it doesn't even have HDMI, but it does SACD, it's a good transport, and the analog out isn't bad. I'm auditioning DACs now.

Maybe someone out there can help me out with this issue. I love the MLs, but one thing that irks me about them are the binding posts. They are so limiting. I have never had speakers that use other than standard binding posts. They only unscrew about 2-3 turns, so I can't hook up thick speaker wire; they force me to use bananas, and the jumpers (if you don't use the cheap metal jumpers provided) have to fit through a tiny hole between posts. Why not use standard 5-way binding posts and give me flexibility on how I hook things up??? I looked inside and the binding posts are soldered in, and the lower posts are hiding under the circuit board, so substituting the posts is a job not for the faint of heart (not for me, at least). And when I contacted Martin Logan, they said there are no binding post upgrades for that model. What is a boy to do???

Gary

 

[Bernard]

I don't like to use banana plugs unless they are lockable, and I don't like to use bare wire (strands tend to break).

What I would do is use spades on the wires, and use jumpers with lockable banana plugs.

If you don't want to use spades, you could replace the upper posts with 5-way binding posts (and use bare wire), and jumpers with lockable banana plugs.

 

[gander222]

binding posts

Thanks for the reply and your input. I already thought of using spades. But my binding posts only unscrew about two turns at the most, leaving too thin of a space for spades, unless they are very thin. For my thick wires, I think I would need literally thicker spades, and I believe all the better quality spades I have seen are too thick for this. And I could replace the upper posts, but I would have to perform minor surgery and un-solder what is already there. But I can't see a better solution.

For each binding post my speaker wire actually has 25 - 24AWG solid core wires twisted together like strands (I make my own speaker wire and interconnects), not actual thin strands in one wire, but I know what you mean.

Thanks again, Gary.

 

[Bernard]

I'm surprised that there is not enough room for spades as I use thick Cardas spades with no problem, but of course my posts may not be the same as yours.

Another option: I used to have Monster lockable bananas that took spades. If you can get the same kind of bananas, you could use spades, inserting a speaker wire and jumper into each spade, and terminating the other end of the jumper with a spade/lockable banana. Alternately, I vaguely remember that WBT makes lockable bananas that take bare wire.

 

[gander222]

Great idea about locking bananas - I haven't tried them before.
I just ordered these:
http://sewelldirect.com/Sewell-Harpoon-Locking-Banana-Plugs-8-pair-.asp
I'll look into various spades also.
Thanks, Gary