Banana plugs on Audioquest Type 4 tarnished?

[4Ron]

As you can see from the photo the banana plugs look tarnished. I had these stored away for a couple of years. Will this affect the sound? If so is there any way to clean or is replacement needed?

 

[Verdinut]

You've just been swindled by the Fraudioquest speaker cable manufacturer. Had those connectors been gold plated, this would not have happened.

I notice that they even tell users to connect them with "AMP END" to the amp and the"SPEAKER END" to the speaker. That's bullshit as all audio signal, be it music, speech or noise is alternating current so the cable can be connected either way.

I would ask a competent technician to replace the connectors with good gold plated expanding banana plugs.

 

[Pogre]

Replace 'em with these. They'll work equally well and won't tarnish.

Monoprice Speaker Wire, Braided with Banana Plugs, 2-Conductor, 14AWG, 3ft - Monoprice.com

Monoprice Affinity™ Premium Braided Speaker Wire combines great looks and durability with exceptional sonic performance, making it the ideal speaker wire solution for the serious audiophile. The

www.monoprice.com

These are a little fancier.

Monolith by Monoprice 14AWG Oxygen Free Copper Multi-Strand Conductors PE Insulated Speaker Wire with Gold Plated Banana Plug Connectors, 6ft - Pair - Monoprice.com

Monolith™ 14AWG Speaker Wire terminated with banana plugs has been engineered to bring dynamic, true sound that is accurate to the source. Separate insulated bass conductors eliminate undesirabl

www.monoprice.com

 

[lovinthehd]

Clean 'em up with some metal cleaner and use them, but doubt the little tarnishing has an audible effect anyways. Do they still work? Don't buy Fraudioquest in the future, tho.

 

[Verdinut]

Clean 'em up with some metal cleaner and use them, but doubt the little tarnishing has an audible effect anyways. Do they still work? Don't buy Fraudioquest in the future, tho.

The question is that if a metal oxidises, as seems to be the case here, its conductivity is reduced. I don't trust the results, and since it's a Fraudioquest product, i trust it even less, I would at least replace the plugs.

 

[lovinthehd]

The question is that if a metal oxidises, as seems to be the case here, its conductivity is reduced. I don't trust the results, and since it's a Fraudioquest product, i trust it even less, I would at least replace the plugs.

Maybe. Is the actual amount of conductivity that could be reduced actually relevant, tho? Not aware of particular measurements let alone any audible effects myself to review, tho of course it's nice to have a clean connection and actual quality 24k (bets off if lesser quality) gold plate altho I find that unnecessary on the other hand .

 

[Verdinut]

Replace 'em with these. They'll work equally well and won't tarnish.

Monoprice Speaker Wire, Braided with Banana Plugs, 2-Conductor, 14AWG, 3ft - Monoprice.com

Monoprice Affinity™ Premium Braided Speaker Wire combines great looks and durability with exceptional sonic performance, making it the ideal speaker wire solution for the serious audiophile. The

www.monoprice.com

These are a little fancier.

Monolith by Monoprice 14AWG Oxygen Free Copper Multi-Strand Conductors PE Insulated Speaker Wire with Gold Plated Banana Plug Connectors, 6ft - Pair - Monoprice.com

Monolith™ 14AWG Speaker Wire terminated with banana plugs has been engineered to bring dynamic, true sound that is accurate to the source. Separate insulated bass conductors eliminate undesirabl

www.monoprice.com

You probably have the better solution. Getting the Monoprice cables would cost less than having new plugs installed by a technician on the cables.

 

[TLS Guy]

I don't like the look of those cables at all and they are absolute junk. That could easily result in a high resistance connection.

Send them to the recycling center pronto. You unfortunately bought those cables from a fraudulent company. They are junk cables masquerading as quality cables, which they are not.

 

[lovinthehd]

I don't like the look of those cables at all and they are absolute junk. That could easily result in a high resistance connection.

Send them to the recycling center pronto. You unfortunately bought those cables from a fraudulent company. They are junk cables masquerading as quality cables, which they are not.

What's the particular relationship with a bit of oxidization and higher resistance?

 

[Mark E. Long]

I’d chop off those plugs and put the mono price plugs on i use them decent price and are as far value goes there supposedly in the top as far as measurements go reviews say they measure as some of the best . They’ll accommodate large gauge wire too heck i shoved canare 4S11 twisted pairs in them with no problem what so ever .
I’d try to mabey reuse the actual cable but it could be trash like the plugs too .

 

[TLS Guy]

What's the particular relationship with a bit of oxidization and higher resistance?

Oxides are not only poor conductors, but often semiconductors!

 

[lovinthehd]

Oxides are not only poor conductors, but often semiconductors!

But how much oxidization actually creates what amount of higher resistance in a case like this with a speaker cable banana plug like this? Is it really worth tossing a cable for (or just replace the banana plugs actually if the length/gauge of the cable is sufficient otherwise)?

 

[TLS Guy]

But how much oxidization actually creates what amount of higher resistance in a case like this with a speaker cable banana plug like this? Is it really worth tossing a cable for (or just replace the banana plugs actually if the length/gauge of the cable is sufficient otherwise)?

Absolutely! That degree of oxidation could easily upset a speakers bass tuning and frequency response. The resistance of a cable should not be more than 5% of the speakers impedance. For a four ohm speakers that is 0.05 ohm, for an 8 ohm speaker 0.1 ohm. That degree of oxidation would very likely exceed that. I would absolutely not use those cables.

 

[lovinthehd]

Absolutely! That degree of oxidation could easily upset a speakers bass tuning and frequency response. The resistance of a cable should not be more than 5% of the speakers impedance. For a four ohm speakers that is 0.05 ohm, for an 8 ohm speaker 0.1 ohm. That degree of oxidation would very likely exceed that. I would absolutely not use those cables.

Is there any link you can provide for some measurements of such?

 

[TLS Guy]

Is there any link you can provide for some measurements of such?

No, only my experience. I remember a time before plugs were gold plated. They were prone to oxidation and it used to cause havoc frequently, especially on RCA plugs.
Speaker terminals were usually of the screw type back then.

I did do a search of the conductivity of oxides likely to be present on that plug, and the conductivity is of the order of 300K ohms per cm. So it would not take much to cause unacceptable resistance.

By the way metal oxides are used extensively to create the resistance in resistors.

Oxidized plugs like those in the photograph are very bad news.

 

[lovinthehd]

@TLS Guy so it is beyond saving if one uses a deoxidizer like something from DeOxit or similar? Good enough for old controls on analog gear but not good enough for a banana plug?

 

[TLS Guy]

@TLS Guy so it is beyond saving if one uses a deoxidizer like something from DeOxit or similar? Good enough for old controls on analog gear but not good enough for a banana plug?

DeOxit is far from a cure all. If you do the math it would take 0.00000033 mm of oxide to produce that 0.05 ohm resistance. In any event if you clean a control we are talking components with 10K to 100 K Ohm resistances, and not four to eight ohm speakers. It is only courting trouble to continue to use those cables. Good speaker cables are not expensive.

 

[lovinthehd]

So how about physical removal of oxide if you can't get it off with a specifically made deoxidizer? Some sort of fine emery cloth or sand paper? Assuming you wouldn't take too much material off in the process (altho it looks like you could expand/spread the prong a bit to increase contact surface some).

Just seems extreme for a bit of corrosion to throw it out completely. At least snip off the plugs and replace them with others (if you even need the banana plugs) as the wire is certainly still good itself.

 

[Verdinut]

So how about physical removal of oxide if you can't get it off with a specifically made deoxidizer? Some sort of fine emery cloth or sand paper? Assuming you wouldn't take too much material off in the process (altho it looks like you could expand/spread the prong a bit to increase contact surface some).

Just seems extreme for a bit of corrosion to throw it out completely. At least snip off the plugs and replace them with others (if you even need the banana plugs) as the wire is certainly still good itself.

The wire may not be good either. Some of the cheap copper speaker wires turn green. I have seen some and that's junk. It wouldn't surprise me to see those Fraudioquest wires turned green if someone removed the plugs on them. It is indeed wiser to replace them with some affordable cables such as the Monoprice ones.

 

[j_garcia]

Those plugs just look DIRTY. DeOxit should clean them up just fine. Though you priobabaly already spent too much on those connectors. I like BFA style, but those ones are insanely priced. I use these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008D2TC4M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1