Speaker Cable with Included Banana Plugs - Anyone ever buy these?

[Kleinst]

All my systems have fairly cheap and generic speaker cable and I put banana plugs on my self. Usually speaker wire I buy on Amazon and the runs are short enough I haven't put much thought to the guage I am buying

I noticed these and am hesitant to buy but they look nice. Any value in this or is it just nice and tidy with likely no sonic advantage?

Amazon.com: Mediabridge 12AWG Ultra Series Speaker Cable - Gold Plated Banana Tips (18 FT) - CL2 99.9% Oxygen Free - Black (SWT-12B-18B) : Electronics

Welcome if you have had any experiences with this kind of cable.

 

[isolar8001]

I have one of those for my center channel (3 foot)....its pretty nice. Very sturdy and well made.
(ya gotta love that one Amazon reviewer that said he had to break his 3 footer in though )

 

[Kleinst]

I have one of those for my center channel (3 foot)....its pretty nice. Very sturdy and well made.
(ya gotta love that one Amazon reviewer that said he had to break his 3 footer in though )

Interesting, yea takes a month or two to break in

Did you notice anything different with it? Or was it just knowing you had a nice neat and well put together wire?

 

[Kingnoob]

Interesting, yea takes a month or two to break in

Did you notice anything different with it? Or was it just knowing you had a nice neat and well put together wire?

Looks to me like they save you the time of cutting speaker cables up and adding banana plugs yourself(which I don’t mind doing) . So yes a smart buy ! Go for it ..

 

[isolar8001]

Interesting, yea takes a month or two to break in

Did you notice anything different with it? Or was it just knowing you had a nice neat and well put together wire?

I guess you mean, did it sound different ? Of course it didn't...its a 3 foot speaker wire.
Maybe if was using 64 gauge or something previously there might be a difference.....any claims that a general use speaker cable sounds better falls into snakeoil territory.

 

[fmw]

I prefer to tin the ends of my speaker wire and clamp them securely in the binding posts. It is cheaper (almost free) and stronger than using banana plugs.

 

[lovinthehd]

Interesting, yea takes a month or two to break in

Did you notice anything different with it? Or was it just knowing you had a nice neat and well put together wire?

LOL on the break in thing....hopefully you're joking. Unless there is some deliberate attempt to alter the signal, or provide insufficient wire, why would you expect to notice anything different with a change of wire? Personally have only added banana plugs as needed myself, never bought a set of pre-made speaker cables no matter type of termination (blame my grandfather EE sound guy who gave me good info on basic wire a long time ago).

 

[Kleinst]

LOL on the break in thing....hopefully you're joking. Unless there is some deliberate attempt to alter the signal, or provide insufficient wire, why would you expect to notice anything different with a change of wire? Personally have only added banana plugs as needed myself, never bought a set of pre-made speaker cables no matter type of termination (blame my grandfather EE sound guy who gave me good info on basic wire a long time ago).

Yes I was kidding on the break in thing. And I agree that there should be no practical purpose for such a purchase. In some cases my wire is only 16 guage but the runs aren't super long so I really don't see if it would matter or not. I also don't really know how you would be able to tell a noticeable difference frankly.

I picked a used one off Amazon Warehouse to try it out with my center. Expect it was returned if you don't hear anything form me My guess, a waste of my time.

 

[BMXTRIX]

...is it just nice and tidy with likely no sonic advantage?

You really just answered your own question here.

Cable is cable is cable is pretty much the rule. 16 gauge is 16 gauge, copper is copper. If you change up metals, to say, aluminum, then you are doing something different, and not good. If you go to an exotic metal, you may get a slight improvement over copper, but not one you're likely to hear. And, of course, going from a lower gauge like 24 gauge, to 12 gauge is a pretty big overall difference, but still likely not noticeable on such a short run.

All of these parts and pieces you can buy yourself. The most notable is the speaker pants/boots. Since most DiYers don't bother with them.

Looking online, a decent pair of banana plugs might be $1 each. So, $4 for both ends. Add the pants at $1 each - $2 total. Plus, speaker wire at about $.50 a foot - $3 for a 6 foot length. That means you can build this for $9.00 for a 6 foot length plus some time. I expect someone making these by hand, but doing a lot of them, is not paying as much as I listed, and can probably put together a set in 10 minutes or less. Maybe $8 or less in materials, so about 100% markup if being sold directly.

It's not a horrible level of pricing, but it isn't going to actually make anything better if you're already using the proper gauge cabling for your speakers and lengths.

 

[Cos]

With the exception of "dress up cables" for the front three, I use Blue Jeans Cable, I like the ultrasonic wielded banana plugs.

 

[j_garcia]

With the exception of "dress up cables" for the front three, I use Blue Jeans Cable, I like the ultrasonic wielded banana plugs.

Same here. Extremely well built.

 

[lovinthehd]

With the exception of "dress up cables" for the front three, I use Blue Jeans Cable, I like the ultrasonic wielded banana plugs.

What are the "dress up" cables?

 

[j_garcia]

lol, I misread that. I don't have "dress up cables" I use bluejeans for my mains.

 

[lovinthehd]

lol, I misread that. I don't have "dress up cables" I use bluejeans for my mains.

I have no dress up requirements for my cables at all, and just assemble my own....but if I needed the cables to put on some formal wear, can always add some jackets/pants

 

[j_garcia]

That is why I use the 4S11, the jacket it comes with is good enough. No fancy duds needed

 

[Cos]

I splurged a long long time ago, on some Kimber Kable 8TC for my mains and center. I would not do that again. There is no sonic difference between that and the BJC. Even though I did not pay retail for the Kimber Kables, still way overpriced. That being said I had no illusions about sound improvement when I bought them, it was purley for cosmetic reasons.

 

[Kleinst]

Question might be -> Would you expect ANY difference for a relatively short run, say 6-10ft, between a 14 or 16 gauge wire and a 10 gauge Oxygen free copper cable? Maybe slightly increased clarity? Nothing?

 

[lovinthehd]

Question might be -> Would you expect ANY difference for a relatively short run, say 6-10ft, between a 14 or 16 gauge wire and a 10 gauge Oxygen free copper cable? Maybe slightly increased clarity? Nothing?

Clarity? What electrical property does "clarity"? For that length run no, there should be no difference between the different gauges. Oxygen free makes no difference vs ETP copper. CCA (copper clad aluminum) would be needing a lower gauge for same distance as copper, but easiest to just not buy CCA. Maybe spend some time here http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

 

[Kleinst]

Clarity? What electrical property does "clarity"? For that length run no, there should be no difference between the different gauges. Oxygen free makes no difference vs ETP copper. CCA (copper clad aluminum) would be needing a lower gauge for same distance as copper, but easiest to just not buy CCA. Maybe spend some time here http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

Thanks, that is a helpful link. Unfortunately, I had unknowingly bought cable that includes CCA. Just didn't know it was a thing. Frankly those systems sound just fine. So I'll have to consider worth upgrading that cable over time or let it be. But this is an area I don't know if everyone including me is properly educated. The good news is the margin for error is probably pretty small or relatively less important.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks, that is a helpful link. Unfortunately, I had unknowingly bought cable that includes CCA. Just didn't know it was a thing. Frankly those systems sound just fine. So I'll have to consider worth upgrading that cable over time or let it be. But this is an area I don't know if everyone including me is properly educated. The good news is the margin for error is probably pretty small or relatively less important.

It's education by choice IMO. Maybe I was lucky, my grandfather, a distinguished EE and pro sound guy, told me long ago when setting up my first system that typical zipcord was just fine in most cases around the house. I always found that easy to source at the local hardware store and could buy large lengths at discount and customize to need. I generally used bare wire ends rather than tinning/spades/bananas. I do like bananas for convenience/easy changes, too. I have used CCA on various runs, nothing particularly wrong with it as long as you realize its limitations (including physical aspects as it is somewhat brittle).