Banana Plugs, to do, or not to do...??

helipilotdoug

Finally found what I was looking for Re: Nakamichi plugs.

We have noticed products labeled as "Nakamichi" showing up on eBay. They are being shipped from Hong Kong, Japan, and the UK. Some look similar to the GLS Audio products. We contacted Nakamichi and this is a copy of their email response:

From: Service Support [mailto:servicesupport@nakamichi]
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 3:02
Subject: RE: Nakamichi Banana Plugs & RCA Plugs

Dear Sir

Thank you for your inquiry.
Please be informed that Nakamichi does not make Banana Plugs or audio accessories such as RCA plugs.

Best regards
Service Support
Nakamichi
servicesupport@nakamichi

This on a GLS dealer's ebay ad, so can't say for sure if it's for real! I'm assuming it is.

TORI3

Bananas for the security.

Bare wire into the receiver has become a pain. But then again, I screw with my equipment way too much.

lessthanzero

TORI3 wrote: »

Bananas for the security.

Bare wire into the receiver has become a pain. But then again, I screw with my equipment way too much.

I agree, I just ordered some locking banana plugs from Blue Jeans Cable. I like those folks, they always get back to me very quickly if I have a question..........!! Decided that I am going to only redo the AVR and bi-amp the fronts at the same time.....

MLZ

Side entry bananas at the amp since I had trouble with the thinkness of my Canare 4S11 bare wires into rear entry bananas and also into the jacks on my Onkyo A-9555.
I have bi-wire spades on my RTi8's because I like the look (but then whose looking at the back of my speakers?)

wutadumsn23

I just put nanners on all my connections to and from my gear. I too mess with stuff way too often and adding the nanners has made it a million times easier than the old bare wire connections. Plug and play I like to call it, lol.

-Jeff

Trunkmonkee

I used the monoprice ones on mine, and I have to say it sounds great. If you're the kind of person that buys $10,000 interconnects, they're not for you, if for no other reason than that they will bother you in the back of your mind. I have yet to have an issue with it unscrewing, although I suppose you might have more of a problem if you are constantly switching out your system.

hearingimpared

Trunkmonkee wrote: »

I used the monoprice ones on mine, and I have to say it sounds great. If you're the kind of person that buys $10,000 interconnects, they're not for you, if for no other reason than that they will bother you in the back of your mind.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Why oh why do these guys pull these ridiculous dollar figures out of their asses when trying to make a point that something cheap sounds good! UGH! Then try to qualify it with it being a braggard thing!

concealer404

Trunkmonkee wrote: »

I used the monoprice ones on mine, and I have to say it sounds great. If you're the kind of person that buys $10,000 interconnects, they're not for you, if for no other reason than that they will bother you in the back of your mind. I have yet to have an issue with it unscrewing, although I suppose you might have more of a problem if you are constantly switching out your system.

I spent over 1 million dollars on my cables. I've never been happier. You have no idea what you're missing out on.

Trunkmonkee

hearingimpared wrote: »

Why oh why do these guys pull these ridiculous dollar figures out of their asses when trying to make a point that something cheap sounds good! UGH! Then try to qualify it with it being a braggard thing!

I... like to brag about how cheap and worthless my equipment is... apparently? News to me, but okay!

Anyway, my point is that fundamentally the quality of the analog signal, assuming a short 12ga cable length with no interference and no grounding issues, depends on the contact surface area and the metal used in contact. In this case, the surface area is good, since it's a banana plug; the surface material is gold plated over copper, which is also good for audio.

The issue you'll potentially run into is the thickness of the gold plating. If it wears off, your quality will decrease, and potentially affect the sound. This won't happen if you don't switch out your system much. My other point was that you will probably not notice a difference in *audio* quality between the monoprice plugs and a very expensive set of plugs unless you are the kind of person who has a very expensive system that has the capability to differentiate between the two. If you have a Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, etc, that most people here have, you will never even notice because your system doesn't reach a level where the only thing you need to upgrade are interconnects. In fact, the speaker outs on such receivers are not even gold or copper, so your analog signal degradation will happen initially regardless of your cable.

Thus, unless you are like HB27 who needs a quality construction and thicker gold plating because he is always switching out his system, it's unlikely you will ever notice a difference in audio quality between the two.

concealer404 wrote: »

I spent over 1 million dollars on my cables. I've never been happier. You have no idea what you're missing out on.

LOL!!!! Hilarious!

hearingimpared

Trunkmonkee wrote: »

I... like to brag about how cheap and worthless my equipment is... apparently? News to me, but okay!

No-one said anything about you bragging about your system. I was simply stating that people who use $10,000 cables, for example, into a conversation typically do so with the intension making the $10k cable owner look foolish because it's just for bragging rights and has no benefit in improving the SQ.

That is the typical use of using such high priced cables in a conversation where cheap monoprice or any cheap piece is being discussed. That's my experience reading posts in CP.

Trunkmonkee

Got it. I meant to use it simply to show that it didn't make sense unless the rest of your equipment matched, which for most people it won't. I don't have anything against people having $X in a system, I wish I had one... :cool:

acmf74

anyone ever try Atlona?

http://cgi.ebay.com/1PAIR-ATLONA-LOCKING-SPEAKER-BANANA-PLUGS-3-18-AWG-/200377974576?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

JAC

1) Bare Wire - Post tightened with nut driver
2) Spades - Post tightened with nut driver
3) BFA Bananas

In that order

JAC

Addendum

Locking Bananas can compete with Spades

BFA Bananas look like this:



They have a barrel like banana that has a greater contact area than the bottle nose banana

Ranger0912

Or, just take the easy way out and call Frank at Signal Cable for custom mades.

kawizx9r

GLS Audio locking plugs.

I'll give WBT's a try, once I get better speaker cable later on :eek:

acmf74

Ranger0912 wrote: »

Or, just take the easy way out and call Frank at Signal Cable for custom mades.

I just ordered a set of Ultras yesterday

messiah

kawizx9r wrote: »

GLS Audio locking plugs.

I'll give WBT's a try, once I get better speaker cable later on :eek:

Yeah, I'm rockin the GLS nanners with Kimber, and am quite happy based on what I spent. If my audio budget increases in the future, MIT's might be in my future.

gp4jesus

kawizx9r wrote: »

I'll give WBT's a try...

What are WBTs?

gp4jesus

Hey JAC... ...how much for those AQ nanners and where did find them?

Also what are BFA bananas?

messiah

gp4jesus wrote: »

What are WBTs?

http://www.wbtusa.com/pages/0600t.html

messiah

gp4jesus wrote: »

Hey JAC... ...how much for those AQ nanners and where did find them?

Also what are BFA bananas?

http://www.needledoctor.com/Online-Store/Audio-Connectors

mo976

I got the Nakamichi on ebay they are solidly built enough and dont cost alot! I dont hear a change in the sound but im also not using audiophile grade equipment. My setup is Onkyo sr508 with tsi100 fronts, cs10center and owm3 surrounds and standard 14ga cable. if your going all out on your eqipment and wiring then sure spend on the nannas as well but if you on a budget I dont think it will make a diferance in the sound.

lbp775

Just got the Nakamichi ones from ebay also. I have only heard positive things about them. I'm using bare wiring right now but decided on these for cleanliness and ease of use. I'll use these until I decide to revamp my whole cabling system.

BKSinAZ

lessthanzero wrote: »

Is changing the wiring of the speakers and amp from bare wire connections to banana plug really worth it? Some schools of thought indicate that bare wiring of both the speaker and amp is "more pure" and less prone to connection problems, however, the other school of thought is that the use of banana plugs facilitates "ease and speed" of connections, AND gives a better connection due to the physics of the banana plug itself. It seems that once you connect all of the wires it stays that way until an equipment change.
So, what say you.....??

I've owned many pieces of really nice gear since 1985 and I've never heard a difference between bare wires and plugs. This is just my opinion. However, I do think the quality of wire will have more of an impact on sound....up to a certain point.

Bryan
Tucson, AZ

gp4jesus

At the risk of igniting what would be a heated debate, the following is my opinion based upon my 30 years experience with home/auto audio & theatre. To anyone who diagrees or finds it offensive, wholy or in part, my apologies.

IMHO if your equipment* has 'Nanner Jacks that can handle 10 gage or heavier I believe "the plugs" may not be necessary, my chief reason** for using them. Plugs add connections between equipment, hence the potential to degrade the signal. BTW I'm a firm believer in heavy gage wire*** particularly for equipment that handle the lower frequencies and/or you like to crank your system.
* AVR, amps, speakers. My speakers can easily take 10; can barely squeeze 12 into my amp "jacks"
** I agree they make changing & testing WAY easier
*** let know if I can PM you more details on my "gage experiences"

my $.02 tony

sm88

I was always under the impression that spades are the go to choice, as there is more of a contact surface between the cable itself and the flat surface of the binding post. Most of the high end systems I've seen that don't use bananas for convenience use tightly screwed down spades. Bare wire is fine as well but it can be harder to insure a very good contact, especially with cheaper binding posts.

I took apart and worked on an amp once actually and the internal connections were not soldered bare wire, they were ring terminals (essentially spades). Just food for thought!

BKSinAZ

gp4jesus wrote: »

At the risk of igniting what would be a heated debate, the following is my opinion based upon my 30 years experience with home/auto audio & theatre. To anyone who diagrees or finds it offensive, wholy or in part, my apologies.

IMHO if your equipment* has 'Nanner Jacks that can handle 10 gage or heavier I believe "the plugs" may not be necessary, my chief reason** for using them. Plugs add connections between equipment, hence the potential to degrade the signal. BTW I'm a firm believer in heavy gage wire*** particularly for equipment that handle the lower frequencies and/or you like to crank your system.
* AVR, amps, speakers. My speakers can easily take 10; can barely squeeze 12 into my amp "jacks"
** I agree they make changing & testing WAY easier
*** let know if I can PM you more details on my "gage experiences"

my $.02 tony

I agree.

hearingimpared

sm88 wrote: »

I was always under the impression that spades are the go to choice, as there is more of a contact surface between the cable itself and the flat surface of the binding post. Most of the high end systems I've seen that don't use bananas for convenience use tightly screwed down spades. Bare wire is fine as well but it can be harder to insure a very good contact, especially with cheaper binding posts.

I took apart and worked on an amp once actually and the internal connections were not soldered bare wire, they were ring terminals (essentially spades). Just food for thought!

In my experience the problem with spades is that it is almost impossible to get them torqued down tight enough to keep them in place thus causing more connection issues and having to go back and keep tightening them from time to time. Even with the Cardas posts, getting them really tight risks causing the post to spin in its mount.

That leaves me with tinned wire or naners which I prefer naners for they ease of inserting and removing. Of course really good naners a going to be much better for conductivity than cheapies.

Unless of couse if you want to go nuts and solder your wires to the post or the internal wire!:rolleyes:

DaveHo

Spades typically have the most surface area & that's what I use. Bare wire connections tend to get loose over time. Quality banana plugs are great for connections to an AVR since it's usually already pretty crowded back there.

-Dave