Proper Size Speaker spade Lugs: The Definitive Answer!

If, like me, you are ALWAYS swapping speakers around, you have no-doubt grown tired of constantly soldering and re-soldering the connections.  Properly done, a solder connection is an awesome thing, but man, what a pain!  The fumes, the hassle, ugg. Not to mention that most speaker companies will only accept a speaker return if the lugs have not been soldered on.

And so it is that I have begun to put lug connectors (female spade disconnects) on all my amps & cabinets that don’t already have them.  There seems to be a bit of confusion on just what size the connectors should ideally be.  I aim to put an end to that confusion once and for all.

The most common size available at your local auto parts or hardware store is .250" (1/4"), and so many folks use them; but the spade (male) on almost all speakers is .187", and so a .250 mate ends up being quite loosy-goosy ... not a good thing. But wait!  That does NOT mean that .187 is the proper size, either.  If you choose the .187 size, you will be working like mad to get those buggers on and off; more than a few speaker terminals have been broken off as a result ... also not good.  So, the definitive answer: choose .205". This size will be tight, but not so tight as to make getting them on and off a battle.  A final word, I’d recommend soldering the wires in the disconnects, not crimping them.  

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My outside site recommendation this week is MCM electronics.  MCM is a great source for the .205 speaker spade terminals. And, theyre cheap, too, a bag of 100 is under ten bucks!  check em out.