[Vangelis]

What is the best sounding spade lug adapter for Magnepan 3.7s? Magnepan used sell an adapter, but their not shown on their web site. 

[SwamisCat]

Shouldn't we first ask if there are any sonic differences between lug adapters?  Just saying....

[Davey]

Spade lugs don't interface with Magnepan connections anyway, do they?

Dave.

[pansixt]

Damn Davey, and SwamisCat, A simple answer will suffice.

Vangelis, anybody's adapter will be fine. As long as it is a secure connection.

James

OK, in the interest of not feeling anyone's wrath (especially Davey's) the best connection would be the simplest. In that there is no special bond between materials. My feeling is that you need to connect your wires directly from one end to the other.
(Directly and securely) and if you want to use some TWIX or the new equivalent of that's fine. After that, just move on and listen to the music.
Peace.

[kevin360]

Spade lugs don't interface with Magnepan connections anyway, do they?

Dave.

That's the reason for the question.

These ought to be fine - $25 for a set of 4, gold or silver plated.

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-220-audioquest-1002-banana-adapter-set-of-4.aspx

If you'd prefer something more expensive, these will do the trick - $60 a set.

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-6810-cardas-cab-single-banana-plug-ea.aspx
http://cardas.com/cab.php

[Davey]

Nobody gets my sense of humor. 

But I agree with pansixt the best connection is the simplest.  Using an adapter introduces two connections that needn't be there....banana to banana jack, and spade to banana adapter.  If it were me I would take your gardening shears and clip the spade lugs off the existing speaker wires and plug the bare strands into the Maggie jacks and tighten the shit out of the set-screws.

Even better would be to remove Magnepan connection plates and replace the stock banana jacks with heavy duty binding posts that can screw down onto large wires and insert your bared stranded wire.

Cheers,

Dave.

[kevin360]

Actually, I do appreciate your sense of humor. I can't argue with your suggestions (although, your math is in error - it only adds one additional connection point for each wire) and I went one step further with my MMGs - my speaker wires are soldered directly to the crossovers and routed out of the holes left by removing the connectors. I haven't done the same with my 3.7s (using damned expensive cables - I know; don't say it ).

Still, the question posed by the OP has an answer, which I tried to give. I didn't mean to imply that it's the best option, but it ought to work well enough.

[Davey]

What some folks might consider (if they don't want to dismantle the stock banana jacks on the Maggie plates) is to use cable with a wire size smaller than the banana jack holes, tin that wire, take the loose the plates and then stick the tinned wire through the holes and solder directly inside to the wiring where it attaches to the Maggie posts.  Generally, there is enough insulation already uncovered to allow this.  That yields a solid connection to the lead-out wires that can be un-soldered/reversed without ever disturbing the stock Maggie internal connections.......if that's a concern.

However, remember that even if that is accomplished the cheap push-on connectors to the transducer are still in use at the other end of those internal wires.    Some of those are a bit sloppy from what I've seen.

I just don't think it makes much sense to spend big bucks on fancy gold-plated external spade adapters, when what resides out of sight inside the speaker is so marginal.

Cheers,

Dave.

[kevin360]

Once again, your reasoning is unassailable. What lies beneath the connector plate is why I suggested that the $25 (for the set - not exactly big bucks) adapters would be fine and phrased the second suggestion as I did. It's also one of the reasons why I added the eye-rolling comment about the speaker wires I'm using with my 3.7s. One of these days, I'm going to dig deeper into them - at least, I have dumped the cheesy stuff on the connector plates (and after playing around with various things, I settled on no accouterments and soldered what's left).

[rollo]

  Bare wire vs any connector is always a less resistive connection. For me I went with copper non plated wire soldered inside outboard crossover to speaker.
   Speaker wire to crossover, bare wire to new copper connectors. Copper to copper using non plated materials will do just fine.


charles

[jarcher]

For my 1.7's (and other speakers) I used these because I use bulk 12 gauge heavy gauge speaker cable and most connectors won't fit.  I shrink wrapped the end in the hopes of retarding oxidization, which is probably wishful thinking, though OCC cable seems to hold up better than most.   

http://www.amazon.com/Ocelot-Banana-Plugs-Plated-Connectors/dp/B003BKW2K2/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1406744198&sr=8-9&keywords=sewell+banana+plugs

Yeah, 24 : I have too many speakers.  But the price is right as is the construction.  Eventually the gold plating rubs off depending on use, but then you can just get some more.  The housings seems to be of decent construction. 

As others have said, wiring direct as possibly into the maggies would seem ideal, but that means you better want to keep those speakers and cables some time as prospective buyers are not going to be crazy about that if disclosed.  I don't think many want to buy maggies non factory mucked with, no matter what real benefit, even if they end up mucking with them themselves.

[jk@home]

I suggest if you want to use spade connectors, replace the stock binding posts with Cardas Patented posts, that accept spades or bare wire (and modified for bananas). Cardas makes different material contact posts that contact the spade or wire, for a better matchup. They work great.

http://www.cardas.com/cpbp.php

[cityjim]

Best sounding lug is no lug. More gimmicks you add in the signal path only reduces sound quality.

cityjim