TFM-45/42 Binding Post Upgrades

Likely covered before....but has anyone done this (easily/successfully)? On both my 42 and 45 the crappy, thin plastic sleeve that is supposed to hold the wire/banana plug in place while the nut screws pressure down on the wire/terminal is broken on one of the terminals on each amp. So I thought I'd take a stab at upgrading them. Ordered two pairs of terminals from PartsExpress, but not sure they will work (can post part number/pic later...). But my main issue is just getting the old ones OFF (they seemed to be glued to the chassis as well as one screw holding them and another bottom screw that holds a connected terminal to the bottom of the amp. The screws are not an issue, but I don't want to break the old binders trying to get the glue joint busted loose... These old binding posts fit thru four pretty large holes in the chassis as a "unit"....so I'm not sure if individual posts will even work. Anyone replaced these on a 42/45? If so, what did you replace them with? Thanks! - Ed

Rita replaced a pair for me before, remember they didn't fit exactly right.

Here's a pic from further out:

I also have a TFM-45 that I want to replace the binding posts, so I'll be watching this thread. Have not even opened it up yet, so I'd appreciate a full description and photos of your replacement. TIA

Ok, Doug, will do: IF I go ahead with these upgrades. So far, I don't like what I see (the ones Rita did for JJ (edit: on 2nd look, they don't look that bad afterall...might be ok) nor the fact that the old ones are in a "unit" of four that fits thruogh the four rather large dia holes in the chassis. Might just opt to live with the original one's (in light of all this...) and perhaps just find a source for a thicker plastic sleeve that I could bond to the existing posts and serve to "upgrade" just the existing thin plastic "retainers" (with appropriate dremel cutouts for where the wire/bananna plug goes in). But I pretty much have to do something if I want to continue to try and use bananna plug speaker cables with these amps..when this thin plastic sleeve goes - from age or whatever - it becomes very difficult to screw down tight the bananna plug to these binding posts...spade connectors would work fine without the plastic retainer sleeve being there or not....I think! Maybe look into bananna plug to spade connector adapters? Doubt anyone even makes such an animal (edit2: of COURSE they do: http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=CKcAdyZgvUe-ZOuyEigLbjYGQD8ulgoYCm6OM4yPjp4zcbggFEAQoBVCxv8-2-P____8BYMnm8IbIo5AZoAHm0b7_A8gBB6oEIE_QNmfFAMYXk0onWsiq0jIAA3ynx4JqtfZbdPQ6f1Y2ugUTCNGVyajI2bUCFSd-QgodNGsAwMAFBcoFAKAGJoAHgq5B4BK6pcLT1pDZnVU&ei=yZgvUZGNBaf8iQK01oGADA&sig=AOD64_3OclFi5PBeozSZL4hxecWICdthLw&ctype=5&sqi=2&ved=0CE4Qww8&adurl=http://sewelldirect.com/Spade-Connector-Full-Copper-45-Degree-Angle-2-Pack.asp will verify tonight if spades do in fact solve this issue...if so, then I'll probably just get these adapters and be done with it...MUCH easier than re-doing the posts and probably hurting the amps re-sale value... - Ed

Ok; now remembering the ugly truth: the banana plugs on my QED speaker wires broke several years ago so I put a copper wire "core" in them and soldered the whole mess into a ~6-8 ga. "wire" that of course no longer functions as a banana plug (and so cannot be plugged into the holes for this on the ends of these binding posts). I then pushed these into the base of the TFM-42/45 binding posts (i.e., treated them as straight wires...). This led to this (not the dust...broken sleeves - one on the 42 and one on the 45):

IMG_3725 (Small).JPG (70.56 KiB) Viewed 157 times

(see how the plastic sleeve is broken)

And my previous mentioned "fix" of converting the plugs to spades will not work either as spades do not fit into these sleeves (unless you remove them..don't want to do that, not even the two sleeves that are half broken off anyway). Now, on my M1.0t, RichP upgraded the posts and these posts do allow these ~6-8 ga. "wires" to fit into the side wire holes, no problem:

IMG_3727 (Small).JPG (56.86 KiB) Viewed 157 times

(except I don't usually use that amp with these QED wires in my family room system...except temporarily until I can resolve the 42/45 binding post issue. But in the meantime, I AM enjoying the "less tuby" sound of the m1.0t mkII opt2: it is crystal clear as a bell, but perhaps a tad "too clear" on the high-highs for my tastes, so will probably return it to garage system where it sounds really great and much better than a "stock" m1.0t, IMHO, and go back to the "more tube like" and very "musical" sound of the TFM-42/45's...again: SYNERGY makes a huge difference and some match ups just sound right whereas others, not so much. That said, change is sometimes good...blah-blah-blah: sorry about the tangent...)

One solution that MIGHT work is to file down these ~6-8 ga. sized "wires" (that were banana plugs) so that they fit (snuggly!...might be difficult to achieve this level of fit...) into the plug holes at the end of the existing binding posts. Another is to have the QED's re-terminated. Another is to have the same binding posts put onto the 42/45 as RichP uses in his m1.0t upgrades... I guess for now I'll pick the easiest: file down the "wires" to fit into the existing post's plug holes....

To recap: the 42/45 binding posts don't accept spade connectors; only banana plugs and smaller sized "bare wires"....thick, "banana plug sized" wires are too large in diameter to be used with the plastic "guide" sleeves at the base of these posts....

Hope all this (somehow...) helps with your 42/45 binding post upgrade issues as well, Doug, but somehow I doubt it!

The posts that Rita mounted didn't look bad, in fact I bet most people wouldn't even of noticed if not pointed out to them. Of course I brought the amp to her to specifically replace them and I noticed right away. Can't you just push the banana's into the holes in the back of the binding posts? That's how I wire my system. If your connection isn't tight time for some thicker bananas.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281047060735

jjptkd asked:
"Can't you just push the banana's into the holes in the back of the binding posts? "


"so I put a copper wire "core" in them and soldered the whole mess into a ~6-8 ga. "wire" that of course no longer functions as a banana plug (and so cannot be plugged into the holes for this on the ends of these binding posts)...................
One solution that MIGHT work is to file down these ~6-8 ga. sized "wires" (that were banana plugs) so that they fit (snuggly!...might be difficult to achieve this level of fit...) into the plug holes at the end of the existing binding posts."

The proper solution is to get the QED speaker wires re-terminated back to "workable" banana plugs...but since I'm cheap, I'll try the former solution first...But thanks for the link to those Monster cable banana plugs, jj: if I could slip those over the old (now 6-8 ga wire sized) plugs, I'd be good to go...just need to return the above new binding posts i ordered and do this .Ed

I ordered a bunch of those bananas along with some "time correct" 10 ga monster speaker cable, they barely fit as in must of been the max gauge allowable. Those bananas fit VERY snug in the back of my binding posts (amp and speakers) and kind of "click" like they're locked in, feel very good about all connections now.