Banana plugs - to buy or not to buy??

[Oldboy]

Hello all,

Just after some advice for my system, i have been looking at banana plugs this morning on thatcables website and was thinking of buying some as they are only £8.99 for a pack of 20 as i'm not happy with the bare wire connection on my amy. I noticed the other day when i was forced to move my amp that the speaker wire had suffered some disclouration which i thought can't be good, no? I'm just wondering if banana plugs are worth the money and if there is any benefit in sound, also, would i be better off spending a little extra or does price not really matter for this type of product? I'm regretting not getting the speaker cable terminated with plugs when i bought it tbh.

Any advice much appreciated, thank you!

 

[The_Lhc]

The discolouring is oxidization and you're right it won't help the sound, you can trim the bare section off and redo the connection to get around that. I think Banana plugs will only help with this if you solder them to the cables, otherwise it'll still be possible for oxygen to get into the cable, unless the plugs are sealed in some way.

Banana plugs do make connecting up to the amp and speakers easier though, and neater, no chance of stray wires touching the wrong terminal!

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Good quality plugs with 2 screw threads + Vascelene. Works for me.

 

[Paul.]

Agree with the above, they wont make your system better, but they will make it sound sweet longer if you move things around alot. Its best to solder them if you can as that prevents oxidisation.

Also, its tempting to look at the big plugs and expect quality due to the weight, but in actual fact you want a low mass plug, you want to put as little material as possible between the cable and component.

I went for some nackamichi plugs on ebay, very nicely made and very cheap. No discernable loss in sound quality.



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-pcs-Nakamichi-Speaker-banana-plug-connector-Gold-New-/110648052588?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item19c3234b6c#ht_2358wt_966

 

[Anonymous]

You can go totally crazy and get WBT0644 midline banana plugs but these would set you back 80 GBP for 4

 

[robjcooper]

I have those same Nakamichi plugs, also bought from ebay, and would highly recommend them too.

Rob

 

[festing11]

Nice looking plugs!

What diameter wire can you fit into them? I've got QED XT, would these fit?

 

[Paul.]

The plugs accept 4mm. The jacket on your XT cable is 5mm, but I would imagine the cable itself is about 2mm once you have peeled it.

 

[jarra]

Re: Banana plugs - to buy or not to buy??

Good quality plugs with 2 screw threads + Vascelene. Works for me.
Panasonic 42G20. Yamaha 2065, AE Aegis Evo 5-1, Sony S570, Seagate theatre +, Wii,

Robin, just were are you putting the plugs..

 

[The_Lhc]

Jarra, rather than copying and pasting a post you wish to reply to, use the "Quote" link and put your reply at the bottom, much neater.

 

[jarra]

the_lhc:Jarra, rather than copying and pasting a post you wish to reply to, use the "Quote" link and put your reply at the bottom, much neater.

Like this......Thanks.

 

[The_Lhc]

jarra:
the_lhc:Jarra, rather than copying and pasting a post you wish to reply to, use the "Quote" link and put your reply at the bottom, much neater.

Like this......Thanks.

Perfect!

 

[RobinKidderminster]

One in each ear ofcourse ! Thanks jarra

My QED cable fitted a treat - so much better than bare wires. (I find QED cable stays in the ears better than 30A mains)

 

[jarra]

RobinKidderminster:

One in each ear ofcourse ! Thanks jarra

My QED cable fitted a treat - so much better than bare wires. (I find QED cable stays in the ears better than 30A mains)

I am a bit naughty at times.

 

[Always cut the red wire!]

Hi all,

Was contemplating adding banana plugs to my cables too. Do you have to solder the Nakamichi plugs in?

Thanks in advance

 

[robjcooper]

ATCTRW,

No, they just have a couple of screws which clamp the cable in place. For thinner cables you can use both and for something thicker, just the one. (My XT Anniversary silver fitted nicely) They are well made too.

Rob

 

[Oldboy]

Many thanks to you all for replying.

Special mention to Paul for the recommendation and i have ordered a few packs of the nackamichi plugs so it's just a case of waiting for them to arrive now, many thanks!

Whenever i have had to move my kit i've had nightmares about having to wire up the amp yet again lol as they don't make it easy to wire them up with bare speaker wire, eh! You need really small hands just to feed the wire in so i can't wait to see an end to the problem

Once again thanks to all that took the time out to reply it was very much appreciated

 

[festing11]

Would you recommend having the plugs on both ends of the wires or just the amp end??

 

[Paul.]

I have them on both ends for the fronts three, but only on the amp end for the rear speakers as I have to thread the cable through the stands for tidiness. If it weren't for the stands I would have the rear speakers plugged as well.

 

[Anonymous]

I must mention that the NACHAMICHI banana plug's are not only good quality they look nice and are a lot cheaper than many other's. I use them in my system and am very happy with them but to tell you the truth i do not think that they improve the sound nor make the sound quality any worse just the same as if you were using bare wire also you have the piece of mind that no bare stray wire will short circuit your amp which can easily happen, so therefore everyone should really use them just to be on the safe side. Thank's for listening.

 

[monkeey]

I say go for it! Find some good banana plugs and just go for it. They don't cost that much. I personally use banana plugs from connectionlab. Again, a friend recommended me, I'm not an expert in this kind of things, but yea, they work pretty good for me

 

[chebby]

I say go for it!

Reported as spam as you are just picking off old threads to promote Connectionlab.

 

[JamesMellor]

The speaker cables are copper so they will always oxidise , see the Statue of Liberty , banana plugs make it alot easier to terminate your cables so go for it , they will still discolour unless you "tin " them up , but you can just cut them back every year or so and the plugs will still make this easier

 

[chrisfromca]

I directly to buy the cables from nakamichi. I like their cables. Very nice.

 

[ellisdj]

For products like this furutech for me or wbt xhadow, eichmann are all good.

Furutech because they are well madee occ copper, non magnetic - thumbs up if i could do it