Nakamichi Bananna Plug Styles

skrol

I did some searching about but couldn't find the answer. Forgive me it I just missed it.

I am looking at Nakamichi banana plugs and I see that there are (at least) 3 styles (Sawtooth, 7-stick, and the regular style). I can see how the Sawtooth may provide increased contact area. The 7-stick also claims increased contact area. I am wondering if these two styles universally fit most binding posts. The standard should be a no brainer.

I'll be using these with my Denon receivers and my Polk RTA11TLs and Monitor 5As. Any recommendation on which style would be best?

Thanks
Stan

jacob.simpson

www.monoprice.com
has some 2 different plugs, open screw type or closed screw type,
both are excellent, i bought 30 pairs of the open type, excellent quality for the price, same retails for around 7 or 11 per pair in BB. The nakamichi are not from N brand, its just printed on these plugs by some Chinese manufacturers. But i have not heard any complaints till now from the users.

skrol

Thanks for the suggestion of Monoprice. I am still wondering about the different types of banana plug ends.
Thanks
Stan

heiney9

Yes, the both styles fit. I used the "regular" style to make some homemade cables a while back. They are nice banana plugs only caution is they won't take anything larger than 13g wire. You can't seat the set screws with anything larger, which means the barrels won;t screw on over the protruding set screws.

Infact any manufaturer that you look at, you should be aware of what the max size wire they will take, as there is very little way around it.

My brother tried to use Canare Star Quad 4S11 and we couldn't seat the set screws deep enough for the barrel to screw on. Total waste, I'm not sure the seller gave that spec in the ebay posting.

H9

gdb

I think the sawtooth style SUCKS !!

skrol

gdb wrote: »

I think the sawtooth style SUCKS !!

That is the kind of info that I am looking for. Why does it suck? Of the other 2, which would be better?

Interestingly the description says that they will accept anything from 8 to 20 awg. Sounds like quite a range.

Are the covers metal or plastic on the silver Nakimichi labeled plugs?

heiney9

skrol wrote: »

Interestingly the description says that they will accept anything from 8 to 20 awg. Sounds like quite a range.

Yeah..............well I can tell you anything larger than 13g and you WILL have issues. This is not a guess or an assumption; it's from personal 1st hand experience.

Yes, there is a small outside chance the units you are looking at have larger internal barrels................but I highly doubt it. These are general consumption mass produced parts that have hundreds of different stenciling on the barrels. I've own the exact same plugs that have the word "Digital" stenciled on them as well a set with the "N" for Nakamichi. They are identical.

The barrels screw on and they are aluminum.

H9

P.s. I have no complaints, they work great for the little I spent on them. You get what you pay for. Look at the Cardas banana plugs abd you'll see why they cost so much.

skrol

I know many top quality plugs have exposed metal covers but I wonder how smart that is. It wouldn't take much to short that wonderfully crafted aircraft aluminum and fry an amp.

jimmydep

heiney9 wrote: »

Yes, there is a small outside chance the units you are looking at have larger internal barrels................but I highly doubt it.

Your correct, I have the same ones and 10ga wire fits but you can't tighten the screws down enough for the aluminum barrels to fit.



Jimmy

heiney9

skrol wrote: »

I know many top quality plugs have exposed metal covers but I wonder how smart that is. It wouldn't take much to short that wonderfully crafted aircraft aluminum and fry an amp.

You just have to be careful and you should never be working with IC's or speaker cables while equipment is powered up anyways.

jimmydep

Just use a peice of shrink tube as an insulator and for strain relief.







Jimmy

skrol

Good Idea. I was just thinking of that.

skrol

I decided to order some of all 3 styles. I'll let me know what I think. I'll let you all know also.

lumpy

I have the Nakamichi regular style with plastic sleeves, not aluminum. I have some of these on 12g cable but it is a flat cable and it did take some effort to get the screws to go in far enough.

RandyBox

jacob.simpson wrote: »

www.monoprice.com
has some 2 different plugs, open screw type or closed screw type,
both are excellent, i bought 30 pairs of the open type, excellent quality for the price, same retails for around 7 or 11 per pair in BB. The nakamichi are not from N brand, its just printed on these plugs by some Chinese manufacturers. But i have not heard any complaints till now from the users.

Ditto! Got 10 pair (closed) in 2 days ago along with the Monoprice 12ga wire and was tickled!

I was ticked that I cut my wire about 1 ft too short but that's another story...:o

Randy

skrol

I got my 3 styles Nikamichi stamped bananas yesterday and they seem fairly impressively built. These include the Standard bananna, the 7-Stick and the Saw Blade.

The first thing that I noticed, besides the weight, is that the Saw Blade is more limited in the gauge wire that it will accept. This is because the contact (blade) runs all the way through. Unless you are using thick wire, this may be a positive the speaker wire is in direct contact with the blade. The other types may have more contacts to have to make. I can't be certain without dissecting them.

Next I tried plugging them into my RTA11TL's and Monitor 5A's. Of the three, the saw blade fit the tightest. The standard was almost as tight and the 7-stick was considerable looser. I'll try other with jacks later. This does not necessarily mean that the saw blade makes a better connection. A small imperfection in the blade or in the speaker jack can create a high friction fit but have little surface area making electrical connection. However, in the absence of such flaws, I can see where the blade potentially can make a superior electrical connection.

I would like to do ohmic measurements of the three but I presently lack equipment with the needed sensitivity. My Fluke 187 can only measure down to 0.01 ohms. If I can borrow a 4-lead milli-ohm meter from work, maybe I'll get some results.

Something else I noticed about the 7-stick is that it has a longer end and sticks out further than the others. Unless I am missing something, I really seen no purpose for the 7-stick type other than it looks more elegant. But who cares when it is plugged in and out of sight.

Recommendations:
1) Saw blade for single contact with wire and snug fit. (assumes it will accommodate wire gauge and no significant flaws in blade or jack).

2) Standard for good all-round fit (both wire and jack)

3) So far, I don't see any reason for the 7-stick. Potentially better contact area assuming that they stay in the jack. Maybe I'm missing something.

skrol

Ok, I found an advantage for the 7-stick. You can join them together with the saw blade to extend your speaker wire in a pinch. The standard bananas are too thick to do this.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

I like bananas that are soldered on. I'm looking at using the "saw" style but cryo treated and minus the "barrel" for my upcoming cable build....

I think solderless connector's leave chance for the connection to fail over time and using a silver based, lead free solder should get rid of any extra "resistance" created by soldering and provide an excellent connection.

Just my $0.02

skrol

These do run the risk of coming loose. I suppose you could tighten the screws and solder. You would likely need a high watt solder gun as there is quite a bit of metal. The jackets are optional and I like the idea above of using heat-shrink tubing.

heiney9

FYI and FWIW, I've had a pair of screw-type banana plugs for 20+ years and the connection has never "failed" or come close to failing. Soldering is not necessary, but each person can make their own choice.

H9

sTiLlLeArNiNg

Since i have to constantly check the terminal's on my speaker's/amp every few day's to keep them tight i think i will avoid any possible headache's with the nanner's and just solder them from the get go! Plus it will seal the connection and keep it from oxidizing over time....

If you get the proper nanner's soldering them is a breeze!

Just my $0.02

heiney9

What type of junky ones did you have that you had to tighten them every two days. Either an extreme over exaggeration or real cheap stuff. Again I realize it's a personal preference, I perfer not to spend the extra time/money doing something I feel is totally unecessary.

If you use high quality copper wire to begin with it takes quite awhile for it to oxidize. I've seen cheap M* copper wire start oxidizing in about 6 months...........use quality high grade copper wire and you'll minimize oxidation by 10 fold or more.

Just my continuing 0.02C

H9

heiney9

skrol wrote: »

These do run the risk of coming loose. I suppose you could tighten the screws and solder. You would likely need a high watt solder gun as there is quite a bit of metal. The jackets are optional and I like the idea above of using heat-shrink tubing.

When I was using the Nak's for about a year, they never once came loose or even seemed like they could. There is no risk if you snug them down properly.

H9

sTiLlLeArNiNg

heiney9 wrote: »

What type of junky ones did you have that you had to tighten them every two days. Either an extreme over exaggeration or real cheap stuff.

I love assumption's how 'bout you? I have mentioned a few time's since i joined the forum that i use bare wire so if you could be so kind as to send a complaint to Yamaha and Polk to tell them that they use inferior product's that would be awesome! Maybe i should try to eat some wheatties or spinach before i tighten them?

concealer404

sTiLlLeArNiNg wrote: »

I love assumption's how 'bout you? I have mentioned a few time's since i joined the forum that i use bare wire so if you could be so kind as to send a complaint to Yamaha and Polk to tell them that they use inferior product's that would be awesome! Maybe i should try to eat some wheatties or spinach before i tighten them?

Maybe one of the above.... I don't see how a bare wire connection would get loose by itself, personally.

sTiLlLeArNiNg

concealer404 wrote: »

Maybe one of the above.... I don't see how a bare wire connection would get loose by itself, personally.

Maybe i listen to my music a lil' on the loud side? I dunno All i know is i crank them sob's down and every few day's they work themselve's loose

skrol

I am presently using bare connections (I look forward to going 'naners) and have hot had an issue with them loosening even with relatively low dollar wire. I do loosen and re-tighten them once in a while just to scrub off any oxidation that might have developed.

heiney9

sTiLlLeArNiNg wrote: »

I love assumption's how 'bout you? I have mentioned a few time's since i joined the forum that i use bare wire so if you could be so kind as to send a complaint to Yamaha and Polk to tell them that they use inferior product's that would be awesome! Maybe i should try to eat some wheatties or spinach before i tighten them?

Well there's the issue, we are talking about (or atleast I am) about **** the (2) set screws (to hold the wire in place) that come with the banana plugs NOT the connectors on the back of the amp/receiver.

Pay attention ;):D.

H9

sTiLlLeArNiNg

I was paying attention, i was simply stating that i already have encountered issues on my AVR + speaker's (the Emotiva is fine after about a week of use) with screw type connection's so when i complete my cable build it will be with as many solder connection's as possible

Might be a good idea for you to fully read a post prior to replying to it?

side note: on those high dollar cable's do they use screw type connector's?

heiney9

But this thread was never talking about an AVR..............it was talking about Nak banana plugs and associated connection of the bare wire......so perhaps you should read before you reply or if you are going to shift topics make it apparent. As hard as I try I'm not a mind reader.

H9

jimmydep

I have 10ga wire into my Nakamichi (standard pin) nanners, I put them in a vise and used the 2 set screws to tighten the wire, then I ground off the excess screw so the cover would fit over the top. I put an 1-1/2" long peice of adhesive shrink tube over the top cover as an insulator and for strain relief, and I guess it could keep the copper wire from oxidizing also.

I am constantly changing my set-up, so the nanners get alot of use. I have yet to encounter any loosening of the wire in the nanners. I think if properly done, the screw connections are 100% secure....... Just my .05c


Jimmy