Connection: Bare Wire or Banana Plug

[audipheonix]

Is there any difference in SQ for the type of connection used?

Is banana plug is better than bare wire or vice verse?

 

[john1000000boy]

No difference in sq imho. Makes a tidier connecion and allows the speakers/amp to be easily disconnected. Keeps Mrs 1000000boy happy being able to hoover under floorstanding speakers too

 

[Paul.]

Have a look at the gold plate nakamichi ones on eBay, v cheap and sounds transparent. Take a look in the thread in my sig if you want a look at them.

 

[eggontoast]

Is banana plug is better than bare wire or vice verse?

Only for practicality.

 

[Anonymous]

Have a look at the gold plate nakamichi ones on eBay, v cheap and sounds transparent. Take a look in the thread in my sig if you want a look at them.

I use these. Much easier than bare wire.

 

[Anonymous]

Bare wire belongs to the 70s!

banana plugs are much easier to connect. For the same reason I'm not fan of spades

 

[amcluesent]

I prefer spades as you can solder the cable (silver solder!) and then tighten down the nuts on the binding posts.

 

[plastic penguin]

Is there any difference in SQ for the type of connection used?

Is banana plug is better than bare wire or vice verse?

No, they make no difference with SQ. They do, however, make it easier if you're moving speakers around - and a bit tidier.

 

[shafesk]

Is there any difference in SQ for the type of connection used?

Is banana plug is better than bare wire or vice verse?

There is no difference in SQ but banana plugs are far more convenient....I would suggest having them soldered from the manufacturer of the cables, failing that you should look for ones you can screw in yourselves. The outlay is worth the convenience, not to mention the fact that you don't have to worry about stranded speaker wire shorting anything out.

 

[shafesk]

Have a look at the gold plate nakamichi ones on eBay, v cheap and sounds transparent. Take a look in the thread in my sig if you want a look at them.

Ahh yes, I remember seeing yours in your system thread, they do look spectacular....massively jealous as they are not available where I live

 

[altruistic.lemon]

Have a look at the gold plate nakamichi ones on eBay, v cheap and sounds transparent. Take a look in the thread in my sig if you want a look at them.

Surely if they sound transparent they don't have a sound so they can't sound anything?

 

[Paul.]

Have a look at the gold plate nakamichi ones on eBay, v cheap and sounds transparent. Take a look in the thread in my sig if you want a look at them.

Surely if they sound transparent they don't have a sound so they can't sound anything?

Tis the point I was trying to make. They don't make any difference whatsoever ever.

 

[the record spot]

Bare wire is my choice. Less hassle than threading the wire into the banana plug and screwing it down. Less time to connect to the speakers, less faff. Simple choice for me really. Who said it belongs in the 70s...?

 

[Anonymous]

Trying to put banana on unterminated cables is weird :?

Buy TERMINATED cables with banana plugs instead, that's it :wave:

 

[the record spot]

Too late mate; all done, wired in and for the five minutes max I spent doing it, the end result's just fine. Easy peasy.

 

[matthewpiano]

Makes no difference. Once you've settled on a particular cable it really doesn't matter whether its bare wire, spade, or banana plug. Just happens that my current QED XT Evolution has QED Airloc banana plugs fitted. If I use my Chord Carnival Silverscreen it is bare wire and if I use my Chord Rumour 2 it has screw-on Milty banana plugs on it. Doubt I'll be changing from the QED now though as it sounds great and I've lost interest in messing around.

 

[Anonymous]

Surely a soldered banana plug is permanently connected, whereas bare wire will sooner or later become loose and possibly short out, or degrade the sound by not having a firm connection.....

Common sense ?

TH

 

[the record spot]

In the year or two I'd used 322-strand, I tightened them maybe once every three or four months. Maybe less. Never had a problem yet.

 

[Paul.]

Surely a soldered banana plug is permanently connected, whereas bare wire will sooner or later become loose and possibly short out, or degrade the sound by not having a firm connection.....

Common sense ?

TH

I think the main argument for soldering is that the unexposed copper (or whatever mysterious element cables are made from these days) in the joint between plug and screw can oxidise, causing a reduction in SQ. Im just not that fussy though

 

[Anonymous]

I read somewhere that the airloc plugs which are pressure welded can work a little loose over time, same way that bare wire thats screwed into the binding posts or banana plugs can work a little loose. Then again, a soldered connection has more metal to metal interfaces. I cant believe its gonna make that much difference, if any at all.

I use a mixture of banana plugs, spades, soldered and airloc across my systems, convenience is a good thing though.

 

[iceman16]

I use banana plugs for my speaker cable,but for biwire links bare wire is better for me IMHO.

 

[Anonymous]

Straight off, bare wire will in-fact sound better than terminated speaker cable as there is nothing in the way of the signal. Over time cable oxidises and becomes worn out, this is the whole purpose of the banana plug - to make your cables last longer

 

[Overdose]

Best connection or convenience?

 

[the record spot]

Personal preference surely..."best" from an audio perspective is moot. At best, as it were. 8)

 

[SteveR750]

Good thread, and an interesting topic. Personally, I'm a bare wire man, simply because I'm a cheapskate and didn't want to pay for termincation, and cant be bothered to solder them myself. I have often wondered about oxidation, and also the reliability of the mechanical connection between banana and terminal. In both cases, is it not feasible that there will be small variations in capacitance, and resistance. After all, simple brass jumpers are frowned upon with twin terminal fitted speakers and often replaced with jump leads made from the same speaker cable. I'm not saying there is any sound difference, indeed personally I'm largely deaf to different cables and I/Cs so jumper leads and cable terminations are irrelevant other than the convenience factor.