Banana plug - to do or not to do?

matchan · July 2011

Is there any advantage at all to banana plugging ? I have the bare wire now. With the speaker, the bare wire runs a little into the terminals and some bare... not sure if this is a bad thing...

wutadumsn23 · July 2011

Banana plugs are a good option, especially if you move or adjust your system often. It is more of a convience than a must have, but it does clean up your connections some and allow you to be able to fine tune your setup without having to hassle with the connections.

-Jeff

gdb · July 2011

They're good if you've got the room in back of the gear for them to stick out straight, if not, spades are better.

EndersShadow · July 2011

gdb wrote: »

They're good if you've got the room in back of the gear for them to stick out straight, if not, spades are better.

+1. My Integra's screw down connections were a PITA to get to due to the limited space between the wall and my AVR. And since I have like a 75+ lb DLP + 5 channel amp and other gear, moving it out and back in over and over just wasnt working.

With Bananna's I can get them connected somewhat easy with everything left the way it is.

mufsoman · July 2011

I found that my threaded terminals had a tendency to loosen with bare wires over time. Seemed like each time I checked them, they were loose. I have naners on everything now.....

CCNJ · July 2011

No sound advantage (IMHO) but I like banana and spades over bare wire for convenience and neatness. Just remember that not all bananas are created equal. I terminated some speaker wire myself with bananas that I bought and while it was easy, the bananas were not a great fit and were easily pulled out of the back of my amp and speaker if either was moved. I recently bought a pair of Audioquest Type 4 speaker wire with factory terminated banana plugs and the fit was perfect.

zingo · July 2011

The other advantage to bananas is if you solder them, you protect the copper from the air. Your bare wire will oxidize over time, and oxidized copper does not conduct very well. A quality silver plated, copper banana plug with silver solder will conduct the signal just as well as bare copper wire.

Another option is just to get some high quality, silver solder and tin the bare copper wires. This will protect the bare copper from oxidation, yet still let you use screw or spring terminals.

matchan · July 2011

thanks all. ordered some nakamachi plugs

saemark30 · July 2011

I like a solid direct connection with no solder interface and connector losses even if that means cleaning the copper wires.

Mr. Sharpe · August 2011

matchan wrote: »

Is there any advantage at all to banana plugging ? I have the bare wire now. With the speaker, the bare wire runs a little into the terminals and some bare... not sure if this is a bad thing...

Convenience of plugging and unplugging without having to worry about stray wires poking into other terminals. I use them because of this reason and it neatens things up. I have some of the dual plugs but I'm going to get some of the single ones the wire just comes out the back of so the wires aren't bent over the plugs.

cembros · August 2011

I like plugs and spades, it's much more convenient. I always hated using bare wire, I found it to be messy.

Mr. Sharpe · August 2011

I find the worst part about using bare wire is it can get into the other output on the receiver or amp.

HTguru1982 · August 2011

For speakers I'm kind of indifferent but for your receiver, it makes a world of difference. I can't stand how tightly packed the binding posts are on receivers. With thicker cable, it's downright maddening trying to connect speaker wire.

kolbywhite28 · September 2011

Banana plugs are way better than bare wires but note that banana plugs may also cause accidents such as electrical shocks, burns & short circuits when energized with voltage.

20hz · September 2011

kolbywhite28 wrote: »

Banana plugs are way better than bare wires but note that banana plugs may also cause accidents such as electrical shocks, burns & short circuits when energized with voltage.

shocks ?
Speaker wires are low voltage and should not be disturbed when the equipment in on .
burns short circuits ??
I have found that old spring terminals end up with times the speaker goes off , but gold 5 way binding posts never have that problem .

Mr. Sharpe · September 2011

lol Welcome to club Polk

HTguru1982 · September 2011

I like turtles.

heiney9 · September 2011

kolbywhite28 wrote: »

Banana plugs are way better than bare wires but note that banana plugs may also cause accidents such as electrical shocks, burns & short circuits when energized with voltage.

Nah, that's probably from the crack pipe you're trying to light when hooking gear up :rolleyes:.

Never heard of such a thing unless one is retarded and shorts the plugs out. No one should "hot" swap cables, ever! Unless you own an Aleph :biggrin:

H9

Mon40CSMM10 · September 2011

Pioneer warns about the speaker terminals when the receiver is on.

As for hot-swapping cables, I just hot swapped left front and right front banana plugs after realizing I could revert to having Monitor 40 speakers in the main/living room if I inverted the speaker so that the port was on the bottom (grills still attached right side up with the Polk Audio logo at the bottom as usual)*. I just connected negative first, then positive. No sparks or any other noises, just music as I connected the banana plugs into the speakers.

WilliamM2 · September 2011

Mon40CSMM10 wrote: »

As for hot-swapping cables, I just hot swapped left front and right front banana plugs after realizing I could revert to having Monitor 40 speakers in the main/living room if I inverted the speaker so that the port was on the bottom (grills still attached right side up with the Polk Audio logo at the bottom as usual)*. I just connected negative first, then positive. No sparks or any other noises, just music as I connected the banana plugs into the speakers.

Sure, it can be done if you are careful. But why bother? It's pretty easy to hit the off button on the remote.

mantis · September 2011

Banana Plugs rule all other suck ****. I'm a huge Banana guy as I swap around my system so much I would hate bare wire or Spades. I actually don't like spades as they are to much effort. Good surface contact but not worth the time and effort.

Mr. Sharpe · September 2011

Mantis sayd it all. I also move my stuff around a lot and Banana's make it very easy to connect and disconnect. I am currently using Monoprice brand plugs but I'll be getting Monster soon since they aren't $24 a pack now and the wire jacket fits up in the black of the connector itself whereas monoprice you have to get the wire stripped the perfect length, if you don't do this they will either be too long or too short so there is exposed wire on the back of the plug or the wire gets into the screw threads.

Mr. Sharpe · September 2011

hiyaguyoek wrote: »

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Hey, you're reported.

TECHNOKID · September 2011

Reported again! You are lucky admin is busy as hell but you will eventually be gone for good! The new bulletin board seems to attract spammers as hell! :rolleyes:

Mr. Sharpe · September 2011

He hasn't set up his subscriptions yet so he won't see that... neither will he see he got banned lol

Banana plug - to do or not to do?

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