Is there a difference between...

[flyboylr45]

I am going to build my on speaker wire. I will buy the wire from Blue Heans cable. I had bought these connectors for $5 on clearance at a local Radio Shack. Should I spend the extra money in buying the locking type connector from Blue Jeans or terminate the wires with these. Thanks!!

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4154&stc=1&d=1170618913

 

[MDS]

In terms of sound quality there will be no difference between using bare wire, pins, spade lugs (the connector you bought), or banana plugs. Spades and banana plugs are just a lot more convenient if you have to connect and disconnect the speakers.

If you bought enough of the spades for your speakers, I'd just use them but you'll have to verify that you can actually get them on your receiver's binding posts. A lot of receivers that have '5 way binding posts' don't actually accept spades because they have a little collar on the bottom.

Locking bananas are nice but you could get by with regular bananas unless you have some reason to fear that they will become disconnected easily (like if you have a child that would pull on the speaker wires. )

 

[flyboylr45]

I have a Rotel RMB 1075 amplifier, so it shouldn't be a problem. Thanks

 

[trailertrash]

Rotel?

Just curious, how do you like your Rotel?

 

[j_garcia]

$5 is a good deal for those. I actually like these guys for one reason - the wide shape typically prevents them from ever making contact with each other when they are disconnected (at least with the bananas it does). What I don't like is the rear exit with no strain relief.

 

[MDS]

What I don't like is the rear exit with no strain relief.

Do you know of any banana plugs that do have strain relief? I'm trying to picture what that would even look like. I like the idea of the Monster bananas because it seems simple to just fan out the wire and screw on the bottom piece. I'll never buy solder type or crimp on banana plugs ever again!

 

[flyboylr45]

I really like them alot. The only thing that I can compare them to is the Musical Fidelity A3.2 integrated that I had. They are pretty comparable.