bare wire vs. banana plugs vs. spades.

[bryantm3]

does using wire ending in some sort of terminal, like a spade or a banana plug, offer any difference (betterment) in sound at all?

and also, does anyone know where i can get about 23 feet of 12 gauge or 10 gauge wire ending in spades or banana plugs without using paypal (cos my paypal account is broken)?

 

[j_garcia]

There is no difference at all with spades, bananas, pins, etc... I prefer bananas.

You shouldn't need to order from anywhere, you can just order whichever connectors and put them on yourself. If you want them terminated, check bluejeans, who can terminate them how you want.

 

[bryantm3]

so there's zero difference in bare wire and banana plugs in reference to sound quality.

 

[billnchristy]

The only difference I know is ease of use...bananas or whatever other than bare are easy in/out, no twisting, no wire splinters...just easy to use.

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

The biggest difference is safety to your equipment. There is probably no bigger snafu than blowing an amp output with a frayed speaker wire grounding out at the rear of the receiver's speaker outputs. I've done it before, as I'm sure many have.

You won't notice any difference in sound, but you will get much better ease of connection, less chance of shorting out your amp/receiver, and if you live near a coast - less chance of oxidation at the exposed spliced speaker cable.

 

[westcott]

I agree with Buckeye. Safety is a big consideration. Reliability of the connection can also be affected by improper mounting of either a bananna or spade plug.

My preference, I use spades at the speaker. When soldered, are very reliable.

I use locking bannanas on the back of the receiver because spades are hard to accomodate safely. Don't scrimp here. Use locking bannana's.

I have no problem using bare wire at the speaker, as long as you are careful and do not strip too much insulation. Not recommended at the receiver, as Buckeye pointed out.

 

[j_garcia]

so there's zero difference in bare wire and banana plugs in reference to sound quality.

There is definitely no improvement. Is it worth it to use them for the reasons mentioned? Yep. I haven't had anything actually fry, but I have had issues related to stray wires before, so I always use connectors now.

 

[markw]

Using bare wires on the back of a modern Ht receiver is asking for trouble.

Save yourself the grief. Use banana plugs.

Speakers are another story but I still prefer bananas due to their convenience.

 

[majorloser]

My 2 Cents

LOCKING BANANA PLUGS!!!!!

I wouldn't use anything else. Easy to connect, color coded and once locked almost impossible to pull out. Spades and pins require the 5-way binding post to be fully tightened. In some cases these are just plastic nuts (or outer covers) that can crack. Locking bananas expand inside the metal of the binding post.

You can even pick up speaker wire "pants" to give your connections a clean, professional look for just a few bucks more.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Banana plugs...A+

The initial setup is about the same with bananas vs bare wire (you still have to connect the bare wire to the plugs vs the reciever). If you ever decide to move, change your speakers or play around with different speakers to compare sounds, you'll really appreciate having the banana plugs. It's a simple connection on both the speaker and the reciever/amp. Locking banana plugs is a plus, but not always neccessary.

My $.02

 

[bryantm3]

so anyone know where i can get locking banana plugs on the end of 10 or 12 gauge wire without using paypal (preferrably credit card over secure site- like music123.com or amazon or something)

 

[majorloser]

Try Accessories 4 Less:
http://www.accessories4less.com/cgi-bin/item/IXOS211

or

Cobalt Cable:
http://www.cobaltcable.com/loose_locking_banana_plugs.htm

or

Ram Electronics:
http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/speaker-con-ram.html#602

 

[mustang_steve]

In theory, there is one more component in the chain, which can alter the electrical parameters of the cable.

in actuality, it doesn't matter. Large spades are theoretically best, but it doesn't matter since in the case of the spade, the binding post is the weak link.

Go for what is practical for you. If you need pins, get some monster cable flex-pins...they are like pins, but made out of a braided cable, with the end permanently soldered together to avoide fraying. It gives FAR better contact than a regular pin, and is aobut as easy to install.

I myself use banana plugs. Easy in, easy out...just the way I like it.

 

[Hi Ho]

As everyone else has said, there really isn't any difference in sound quality but there is definetly a difference in ease of use. I install systems daily and usually end up having to use bare wire. It is a real pain trying to attatch bare wire to the back of a receiver, especially in tight spaces.

 

[Zer0beaT]

I just finally got bannana plugs for the first time and I'm happy that I did.

I'd always just went bare wire. But the past year or so I've had to move stuff around, just a few feet mind you, but enough that I had to unattach the speaker wire from my reciever and the speakers.

After a couple times of that I'd had enough, it's a pain hooking up bare wire on a Yamaha RXV757, and both ends were starting to get chewed up a bit and they were definately discolored so I guess that's oxidisation.

I went with the regular (non-locking) bluejeans cable plugs. I needed 10 pairs so locking would've been over $50 while the regular ones were under $40.

I have to say, I'm not sure what the attraction of locking plugs are, as the standard ones fit extremely snug and I can't imagine any scenario where they would lose their snugness or become unattached. Anyway, the bluejeans plugs seem like great quality. I priced around locally and under $4.00 for a pair of gold bannana plugs especially this quality is a good 1/3 the price of what I could find in local audio stores.