Exile tower connection

[yooper]

Does anyone have a good trick for making the tower speaker electrical connection a little more reliable? Every time I put my speakers on, I have to spend a bunch of time rotating them just slightly back and forth, tightening, loosening, jiggling, etc. until I have a consistent connection that doesn't cut out. Often, I'll have good music coming out, then I give it one last tightening with the allen wrench and the sound stops. Then I have to back it off and continue the process. I always get it eventually, but when it takes ten minutes to get through this process, it kind of defeats the purpose of "quick release."

Is this common, or is it related to my specific mounts and/or speakers? It has always done it since new.

[MLA]

Heres a thread from a couple weeks ago, that address some of what you are experiencing

https://forum.moomba.com/showthread.php?24667-XM7-clamp

[yooper]

Ah... didn't see that one. Thanks. I'll try the dialectric grease. Hopefully that makes a difference.

[David Analog]

It might help to remove the speakers from the tower before towing because any shimmy over time can wear out the connection. Imagine a heavy bowling ball suspended from a small neck and having to endure weight times vibration times extension.
There is some predictable failure inherent in the design. It’s one thing to be suspended below the tower but a horizontal mount is particularly stressful on this design and you can watch the pod vibrating up and down when incurring chop.
The disconnect is based on a ¼” phone jack which makes contact between a round post and flat blade so there is minimal contact surface area which is also dependent on a short section of sprung steel for the purpose of tension. Plus, the outermost contact is protracted 1-inch away from the male plug’s base. Any miniature warpage in the collar structure (whether by poor build quality, poor installation execution, or elliptical/radiused tower tube) will be multiplied one inch removed. That is why rotating or reversing the collar often provides a temporary solution.
The ¼” phone jack was invented in the 1870s for use on telephone exchange cord boards and has been adopted for microphones, guitar cords, earphones, headphones, and any number of applications that are low current and not exposed to heavy stress or exterior corrosion.
Per Wikipedia, phone jacks are used on loudspeaker outputs, especially on low-end equipment. On professional speakers, SpeakOn connectors are used which carry higher current and mate with greater contact area.

[yooper]

Thanks for the response, David. Makes sense.... and that's what I was afraid of. I was just hoping there would be a quick, easy fix.

Unfortunately, two of your scenarios don't apply. I always take them down for towing, and they are hanging down from the tower; not mounted horizontally.