Hi folks. This is my first post so forgive me If I am posting in the wrong sub. I’ve been running the same system for a over 20 years now - NAC62 and NAP140 into a a pair of Tannoy Lancaster Monitor Gold LSU/HF/12/8. Recently I’ve given my system a little bit of much needed love. I’ve finally bought a HICAP after years and years of eyeing them up. And now my attention is turning to my NAC A5 speaker cable. Lets just say its integrity has been compromised and I want to replace it with more NAC A5. But not before I have sought some advice or opinion on what I consider the weak link in the chain; the ‘push button’ binding posts on the Tannoys. At the NAP140 end, I have decent banana plugs fitted, but at the Tannoy end, I have bare ends pushed into holes that are barely big enough. Not to mention the stress the very stiff NACA5 is putting on the flimsy speaker connectors that are over half a century old. Anyone familiar with the connectors will know how thin the metal bodies of these connectors are. Its akin to metal modelling pipe with a hole drilled through it and a spring loaded cap. The contact patch between the thick cores of the NACA5 and the nth of a mm thick profile of the speaker connector is next to nothing. And unlike modern binding posts you cannot screw the cap down tight, its just a spring. So.. do I have to live with it, or does anyone here, especially LSU/HF/12/8 owners, have a better solution?
Hi and welcome to the forum. My suggestion would be to replace the spring binding posts with modern connectors (I would go for binding posts with integral banana sockets, and personally would go for gold plated, with similar plating on speaker cable terminations, but if you prefer other metal cable termination then best have same surface metal on the terminals. I can’t say that changing will make a difference to sound, but it may, and certainly won’t do any harm.
Also, at 50 years of age the crossover almost certainly would benefit from re-capping. And i ternal wiring might be less than ideal. I don’t have experience of the Lancaster (the one I was interested in 50 years ago was the Arden, but went for IMF instead), so I don’t know how easy it would be to DIY, but if beyond you then there are people who will do, certainly in Britain, and a quick Google search on Tannoy Hifi speaker refurb, or perhaps specifically Tannoy Lancaster refurb should bring up several possibilities, or maybe try Tannoy themselves. Of you want to DIY I can suggest possible sources of suitably high quality components. People also often beef up the cabinets, e.g adding bracing.
Lockwood Audio could be worth consulting. They are UK suppliers of ‘Vintage’ Tannoy parts and may have a good indication on how owners have replaced the old connectors.
That was the name I was trying to remember last night.
Hi gents, thank you for your replies, I will do some investigating. Been reading alot on here about Witch Hat N2 as a decent NacA5 substitute. It could be better suited to my wallet and my ancient Tannoy terminals, so everything is on hold for the moment. Thanks again!