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

fishbones

hearingimpared wrote: »

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.

I agree 100%. I have spades on my $300 pair of Audioquest cables...and I hate them :mad:. You can never tell if they are tight enough ('cause they keep tightening down - 'til you wonder if you're going to break something). They have also started breaking loose of the wire because of the straight connection they were designed with - not very friendly for components with the speaker terminals at the bottom of the unit.

I have pretty much decided to cut them all off and tin the bare wires. I can't see how that would be at a major inconvenience over anything else - stick 'em in, tighten it, done. I believe any connector (especially when it's a different metal than the wire) is creating a possibility of degrading sound quality. And, I think 'nanners' are a risky proposition...unless they're locking.

my 2 cents...

acmf74

i recently got my first pair of BFA Nanners from Signal Cable. these by far are the best fit I have had in my system

over50

I`ve had banana plugs for 3 years. I do not think it helps with sound quality, but mostly will help setting up and looks cool. Just look at all the stuff the back of the AVR has and all those connections. Anything that's make my hook up easier and quicker i`m in favor of. Recently i moved things around on my TV stand, the plugs really help and made my job easier and quicker.Just my 2 cents. Have a good day.

schutz2106

Never have used anything buy nanners for 15 years. never have had a problem. I believe they were thrown in on a system I bought long ago...

ecod123

Like most, I went from bare wire, pins, spades and then to nanners. To my untrained ears, the nanners were an improvement over the bare wire and pins. But in terms of convenience, especially since I suffer from incessant upgradeitis and the resultant disconnecting & reconnecting of speaker wires, the nanners are godsend.

hearingimpared

Post # 65 reported . . . spam!

schutz2106

And what is the problem with post # 65 ???????????????

fishbones

schutz2106 wrote: »

And what is the problem with post # 65 ???????????????

There was spam at post #65, but it looks like the mods deleted it. Now yours shows as 65, fyi.

schutz2106

ok I calm down..... Just thought what the heck was spam in my post..........
Time for bed.... Had a long day....

dorokusai

I'm sure it wasn't useful knowledge and if it was, the other Polkies have already touched on it. This forum is pretty quick to answer with solid stuff...but an odd wackadoodle suggestion may pop up now and then.

rubin

I don't know what brand I have but the plug fit is tight, some sort of spring loaded strap on it.The wire is held by a set screw and a loop which you squeeze with pliers.

steveinaz

Banana's have loads of surface area, good solid connection, and extremely convenient; what's NOT to like?

fishbones

rubin wrote: »

I don't know what brand I have but the plug fit is tight, some sort of spring loaded strap on...

<childish giggling>






...sorry, couldn't resist.

cheif pontiac

lessthanzero wrote: »

Thanks for that info and the link. I had read that the sawtooth banana plug was better than the "regular" type due to the fact that there is more of a surface contact. do you find that it stays firmly in the receiver? I was thinking of the locking type so it would not move if I were to pull the receiver off the shelf to make connections.

I thought the locking type meant that there was a set screw in the plug to lock the wire in place not lock the plug into the receiver.

I have the GLS, they seem to fit a little loose in some binding post. I have some Monster banana plugs that I have had for 15 years, moved to 6 places, swapped equipment around tens of times and they still fit tighter than a virgin.

steveinaz

The early Monsters had a cross-cut on the pin that you could spread with a provided screwdriver, to make for a tighter fit.

cheif pontiac

steveinaz wrote: »

The early Monsters had a cross-cut on the pin that you could spread with a provided screwdriver, to make for a tighter fit.

Mine have the crosscut, I have never had to spread them. If anything squeeze them. Even after being plugged an unplugged a couple hundred times.

rubin

They also prevent shorting by keeping the bare wire concealed. A couple loose strands you could damage an amp.