Adding banana plugs to old speakers - too late?

[IntenseFan]

I recently upgraded my old 5.1 system to a Sony 7.1 STR DH800 Receiver. I kept the old 5.1 Pioneer Speakers (several years old). They are 8" book-shelves that still sound really good, especially after the switch. Two weeks ago I purchased 2 new Polk 8" book-shelves for the rear right and left channels to fill out the 7.1. I connected them (and the old speakers) to the Receiver directly.

I have discovered a lot of internet literautre on banana plugs and how they held prevent against wire corrosion and connection loss and decided that I should at the very least have the plugs for my new rear speaker connections to the Receiver.

My question is in regards to the five old speakers. Is it too late to use banana plugs for them as well? I expect they have already corroded over the years and the plugs may not make much difference. Would it be any better if I cut down into the older wires a bit to expose a new connection (as I have a bit of slack on each speaker)?

Thoughts appreciated.

[ma-skis.com]

Yes, you can just cut off an inch or two, strip off the ends and put on banana plugs.

[bluejays]

Or you can buy new cable dirt cheap on monoprice.com and have it shipped over. Yay for the par dollar!

[sclitheroe]

Or you can not believe the hype about corrosion - if the connections are snug, there is already zero air gap, so there's no corrosion where the audio signal is being conducted across the connector.

[ma-skis.com]

another good option is if you agree with sclitheroe is to just take steel wool and shine them up by hand, that'll improve the connection and you won't need to bother with cutting or stripping.

at the very least, the steel wool should give you an indication on how severe the corrosion is on the leads.

[Hack&Lube]

Audio cable quality and corrosion and things like that are mostly just marketing and myths. if it works, it will work. With the low humidity in Calgary, I wouldn't even think about corrosion unless I got water on my speakers.

I've got 20 year old speakers with no corrosion that I can see. Even if corrosion happens (which it wouldn't), it won't impart any resistance at all, the signal should still be pretty clean as the point of contact is air tight and won't have any tarnishing or oxidization.

[IntenseFan]

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to try the steel wool option as opposed to new cable first.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by IntenseFan

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to try the steel wool option as opposed to new cable first.

Why wouldn't you just cut 1 inch of old wire off the ends, strip off about half an inch of insulation, and have a nice shiny new connection?