McIntosh XR 1051 speaker

Wes1963

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May 21, 2023
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I need some help with speaker wire for McIntosh xr1051. I recently bought a pair of rebuilt xr 1051 speakers. My father used to own a pair and I remember they sounded great. The only thing that was not replaced was the binding posts. They are NOS speaker terminals spring jacks. They will only accept bare wire. I realize these speakers were originally built in the 1980’s so I was not suprised. What I was suprised at was they can not be replaced because they are attached to the crossover. I am not an expert on binding posts so I called audioclassics.com, a seller of of used McIntosh equipment and he told me that was the case. The problem is I only have two pairs of speaker cables cardas clear and Cardas clear reflection but terminated in spades. I don’t really feel like cutting the terminations off these fairly expensive cables to make a secondary pair of speakers work. What I was hoping was that someone might have dealt with this issue or know how I can fix it to use my Cardas cables. I bought a cheap pair of cables off amazon and the speakers sound good. I am using a Pass Labs int-250 to power the McIntosh speakers and they sound quite good even with cables that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. Does anyone have any ideas how I can attach the Cardas cables or at least what a good pair of cables that have spades for the Pass Labs end and undermined end at the McIntosh end? I know there are some people that are much smarter than I am when it comes to this stuff. I appreciate any help you can give me.
WesIMG_6498.jpegIMG_6498.jpeg
 
These might work. The pins are probably small enough to fit into the push terminal of those speakers:

The other options are to take your speaker cable to a audio dealer where they can change out the connectors in order so the speakers work. Or use bare wire like 18ga zip cord or something similar. Maybe trade up the speakers for something better. You have a few options.
 
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I have other speakers. I just get a bit OCD trying to make them work because my father had them at one point. They actually sound alright bare wire but I know they can sound better.
 

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