How to Connect Speaker Wire to Speakers and Banana Plugs

As part of our Fluance Ultimate Guide to Home Theater Setup, we will walk you through how to connect your speakers using speaker wire and binding posts. We will also show you how to bi-wire a speaker, use speaker wire with the older style spring clips, and how to install banana plugs.

Speaker wire is measured by gauge. The smaller the gauge, the thicker the wire. We recommend 12 gauge copper speaker wire. Thicker wire allows electrons to move more freely, so it has a lower resistance and can carry a greater electrical current. However, thicker wire is also heavier. All of these factors are important considerations for a home theater system.

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How to Connect Speaker Wire and How to Use Banana Plugs

Speaker wire: what type do you get? How do you hook it up? We'll tell you how.

Speaker wire is measured by gauge. The smaller the gauge rating, the thicker the wire. We recommend 12 gauge copper speaker wire. FYI: Wire thinner than 18 gauge can produce excess heat and resistance which can change the sound of the speakers. Before inserting your wire into the connections, be sure to strip some of the insulation off the end of the wire to allow a proper connection.
The terminals are the positive and negative connections to which your speaker wires will connect on the speaker and amplifier. These are normally colour coded in black and red.

Terminals come in a number of different types, like spring clips. These terminals have a spring loaded clip holding the wires in place. To connect wires to these connectors, push the clip down and insert the wire into the hole. Once the clip is released, it will hold the wire in place. These are often found on older and entry level equipment.

Then, there's binding posts. Binding posts will consist of a post with a threaded cap. Loosen the cap until you can see a hole running from one side of the post to the other. Insert the wire through this hole and tighten the cap. Some binding posts may not have the hole through them. In that case, wrap the wire around the biding post and tighten the cap.

If the speaker has two sets of posts with a pin or bridge between them, you can connect them like so.
These speakers have two sets of posts so they can be bi wired. Bi wiring is when the receiver connects to the speaker with not one, but two sets of wires. This enables the receiver to power the low frequency driver, and the combined higher frequency drivers, separately, resulting in improved bass response and treble smoothness.

To bi-wire speakers, you will need to remove the bridge plates or pins between the binding posts and connect two sets of speaker wire to the amplifier, then connect one set of wires to the top set of binding posts, the other set to the bottom binding posts.

If you find yourself frequently moving your speakers, or simply want a simpler way to plug them in, you can use banana plugs like so.

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