Banana plug vs Spade speaker cable connection

[ninja12]

Does anyone know if it's better to connect to your speakers using a banana terminator or a spade terminator? Or, does it not make a difference.

 

[Haoleb]

Banana's are the easiest if you need to plug something in alot or perhaps in the back of a cabinet and dont have much room. But spades are a better connection. Bananas will loose their tension that holds them in place and be prone to falling out. Except for the high priced ones which i would imagine are better. Spades are very secure. But spades can be hard to get onto the binding post on the back of a reciever if its speaker terminals arent laid out well.

Bare wire is perfectly fine too.

 

[ninja12]

I was thinking that the Spade connection would be better too. I am using banana plugs now, and I notice they are not to secure.

 

[j_garcia]

Actually, I don't find spades to be all that great. More than once I had spades lose their contact because the posts are often prone to vibrating loose and all of the tension on the cables is on the bottom which aids in pulling them out. I don't use expensive bananas and I have no problem with them at all. When they lose tension, you just tweak them out again with a small screw driver and they are like new, but that only happens if you are disconnecting and reconnecting your gear a LOT. I've been using the same set of bananas for years without issue. Not to mention, all Marantz gear in the last however many years (at least 10) have binding posts designed so that you cannot use spades... Not all posts are created the same though, so some bananas may be a bit loose in the socket.

The reality is, there is exactly ZERO difference between the two electrically.

 

[alphamajor]

I'm currently using the locking banana plugs from Blue Jeans Cable. Prior I was just using bare wire in the screw-down terminals. While I have never tried spades, using the bare wire in the terminals was a pain. It always seemed as though I could never get the screw-downs tight enough.

The locking bananas are very nice and exceptionally well constructed. Being an electrical engineer I appreciate good plugs and contacts, and let me tell you, these are top notch. Once they are cinched down, they will not come out unless you want to damage something. With just a few twists they are unlocked and slide out with no force at all. A very unique design.

Just my $0.02. YMMV.

 

[highfihoney]

Bananas all the way for me,ive never had a loose connection from a banana but i have had my share of problems with spades.

I know everybody loves to hate monster products but they make one he!! of a good banana plug.

 

[mike c]

banana plugs can be used in just about everything ... speakers, receivers, amps. it's a bit harder to pull them out though.

I like spades because they are easier to remove, but receivers even some amps don't accept spades.

in the end, bananas over bare wire ANY day ... trying using bare wire on the rotel binding posts.

 

[allargon]

Hmm... so bananas are still easier to deal w/ than spades on the back of receivers as well as wall plate bindings. I can totally understand bananas for speaker binding posts. I just wanted to verify that people are actually finding room for 14 banana plugs on the backs of their 7.1/2 receivers.

Gearing up for a big order of cable and interconnects...snagged a subwoofer off Audiogon. I will post more later.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I only have banana plugs on the back of my 7.2 setup. Originally I had used bare wire and it was an awful PITA when a week later I had to take them all off. Since that point it's all bananas. IMO, they fit better and look better, as in are cleaner and more manageable, than bare wire and are probably one of the simplest and quickest connectors to work with.

Jack

 

[MinusTheBear]

My first choice to use is the plain old bare wire connection . If the wire is thick (12-10 awg) I prefer the locking banana plugs (especially on the back of the receiver).

 

[j_garcia]

There are only two speakers connected to the back of my receiver; the others go to their amps

 

[phlakvest]

I just wanted to verify that people are actually finding room for 14 banana plugs on the backs of their 7.1/2 receivers.

I think it would be a greater feat to find room to connect 14 spade connectors to the back of a reciever. Spade connectors will have to connect to the binding posts from the side. Banana plugs can come straight out of the binding posts.

I use banana plugs on my reciever cause its a pain to get bare wire into the connectors. I use bare wire on my speakers because I can get to the binding posts easily.

 

[j_garcia]

Marantz has special binding posts on most of their gear that does not accept spades. That would probably be a small indicator as to what they DON'T like