Editing Electrical connector (section)

===Insulation-displacement connectors===
{{main|IDC (electrical connector)}}
Since stripping insulation from wires is time-consuming, many connectors intended for rapid assembly use '''insulation-displacement connectors''' which cut the insulation as the wire is inserted.<ref name="ieee" /> These generally take the form of a fork-shaped opening in the terminal, into which the insulated wire is pressed, which cut through the insulation to contact the conductor. To make these connections reliably on a production line, special tools accurately control the forces applied during assembly. On small scales, these tools tend to cost more than tools for crimped connections.

Insulation displacement connectors are usually used with small conductors for signal purposes and at low voltage. Power conductors carrying more than a few amperes are more reliably terminated with other means, though "hot tap" press-on connectors find some use in automotive applications for additions to existing wiring.

A common example is the multi-conductor flat ribbon cable used in computer disk drives; to terminate each of the many (approximately 40) wires individually would be slow and error-prone, but an insulation displacement connector can terminate all the wires in a single action. Another very common use is so-called [[punch-down block]]s used for terminating [[unshielded twisted pair]] wiring.

[[File:Bi-amp capable.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|right|[[Binding post]]s on a [[Bi-amping and tri-amping|bi-amplified]] loudspeaker]]