The man from Del Monte - does he say YES?

[admin_exported]

I've always assumed that the minimum number of connections the better.
But are there disadvantages with this theory?

Take speaker cable and connections for example.
Up to now I've never used banana plugs. Just simply connected one end of the cable to the amp and the other to the binding posts on the speakers. My justification for not using Banana plugs is that this increases the number of connections from 2 (Amp to cable to speaker) to 4 (amp to plug to cable to plug to speaker) ie doubling the possibilities of rubbish entering and the good stuff leaving!

But am I right? Or am I barking up the wrong tree and are Banana plugs a good idea?

;-)
Serenity

"Dont turn round just yet - the man behind hasn't finished reading!

 

[Anonymous]

Banana plugs do make it easier to move the kit about when you want to clean as they facilitiate easier disconnection and reconnection. Personally I can't hear any difference but then I have very old, poor quality ears.

 

[Anonymous]

Good Point. My hearing ain't what it used to be. Hence I'd be wasting my time spending 000's on HiFi kit.
Which means I probably wont hear and diff with or without Bananas.

But, assuming they are a good simple add-on that does improve things. Is it a waste of time (and detrimental) to use cheap (ie < £1 from ebay) type plugs. OR is there little difference between those cheapies and ones costing at least 4x as much such as QED Airlok?
Cheers
;-)
Serenity

 

[Anonymous]

Serenity:Good Point. My hearing ain't what it used to be. Hence I'd be wasting my time spending 000's on HiFi kit.
Which means I probably wont hear and diff with or without Bananas.

But, assuming they are a good simple add-on that does improve things. Is it a waste of time (and detrimental) to use cheap (ie < £1 from ebay) type plugs. OR is there little difference between those cheapies and ones costing at least 4x as much such as QED Airlok?
Cheers
;-)
Serenity

I get mine from Audio Excellence they are sort of a half way house in terms of quality.

TBH I think with all interconnects and speaker cables / accessories there is a law of diminishing returns that operates. So due the my old and worn out ears the very expensive stuff does nothing for me.

That said the more joints in the signal path the more opportunities there are to degrade the signal. And those Airloks do look sooo nice. I was however under the immpression they could only be fitted when you had the cable made up and not retro-fitted by amateurs at home. Might be wrong.

 

[Anonymous]

I think you are right. You need some magic gizzmo to fit them, so it would mean new cable and airloks fitted at point of purchase.

Probably not a bad thing. but will my cloth flaps be able to notice a sound improvement? Personally I dont care either - BUT I'm curious to know if HiFi Boffs can tell the diff between the 3 variants:-

unterminated cable,

that same cable and ebay special bananas

that same cable with crimped on Airloks

;-)

Serenity