W

wprogers

Enthusiast
I bought so-called solderless dual banana plugs and for the life of me I cannot figure how to get the speaker wire to stay in minus me either soldering or using adhesive (which I am sure is wrong). Help a newbie (in the difficult world of audio hookup) out please. It won't let me show pictures yet. But it is has room for thread inside but I cannot figure out how I would thread a wire and have it stay in place.
 
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M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
Are they the type that has a little set screw to hold the wire?

You may have to strip a little more than you normally would and then fold the wire over on top of itself to make it thicker.
 
sholling

sholling

Audioholic Ninja
If these are the ones from monoprice feed the wire through until about 1/8" is sticking out the end and spread the wires evenly over the edges and screw on the cap. There may be a better way but it's worked for me.
 
W

wprogers

Enthusiast
No, they are the type with a threaded hole on the bottom, there are no holes in which to put the wire and then clamp. Just one long hole with a banana ending.
 
W

wprogers

Enthusiast
ok one last post and then I will show a picture,
 
W

wprogers

Enthusiast
Nope, they don't have the holes to trap the speaker wire. Those are the kind I think I am going to have to buy. Probably check the forum out for some good prices.
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
Those bananas appear to be the crimp type. Either you take off the white shell and crimp the body or you crimp the white shell.
 
W

wprogers

Enthusiast
I don't think they are crimp style, there does not appear to be any collapsable part on either the metal or plastic.
 
Haoleb

Haoleb

Audioholic Field Marshall
It looks like the ones in your picture have holes for the wire right where the little notches are in the plastic. Im guessing you have to push them together. What i mean is put the bannana end on a table or something, and push down on them from the top where the plastic is.
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
I think I see how they work. They have a lock nut before the tip. I'd bet you loosen the nut, feed the wire up the shaft and out the little hole before the lock nut and then tighten the lock nut to secure the wire.
 
W

wprogers

Enthusiast
I think I figured it out, I wrap the wire around the middle smooth bar and screw down. Thanks if someone already said this I just didn't understand. These are some crappy banana plugs. When I invest in some blue jeans cable I will get some decent ones.



sorry about this crappy one.

 
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B

bdenize

Audiophyte
If you allow me to make a remark....

DON'T use banana plugs. This is not good.
I have never found a good one.

I changed to spades and automatically removed the problems of sound balance and so on.
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
I changed to spades and automatically removed the problems of sound balance and so on.
Speaker termination, whether it be bare wire, spades, or bananas has zero effect on the sound. Banana plugs are the most convenient but there are so many types that it can be hard to choose. Spades don't work on the vast majority of receivers because their '5-way' binding posts actually have a little collar that prevents the use of spades - so its either bare wire or banana.
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
If you allow me to make a remark....

DON'T use banana plugs. This is not good.
I have never found a good one.

I changed to spades and automatically removed the problems of sound balance and so on.
Of course you are allowed to make a remark :D

What is wrong with banana plugs? Are there some pixie dust in some that alters the sound somehow?
 
B

bdenize

Audiophyte
I never got a correct contact with them (on amplifier) resulting in un-balanced sound (left/right) and modified sound characteristics.

Sorry guys, but I think the forum are done for sharing experience and help others to make the right choice.

Anyway, I use spades because my amp allow it. Bare cables can do it also of course.

I just say it is difficult to find good bananas.
 
R

rnatalli

Audioholic Ninja
Monoprice has very inexpensive banana plugs that haven't given me any problems. Definitely worth a look.
 

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