[srb]

Yes indeed!  I invented the "binding post bypass system" in the late 90s.

Really?

No, I "invented" them in the mid 80s.

Steve

[Ric Schultz]

I have never used binding posts on my amps or speakers or connectors on my speaker wires ....well, at least since the late 70s.  I am glad you "invented them" earlier.  Most inventions are re-inventions.  What products used your "invention"?  My first product with the re-invented binding post bypass system were the Christian Ltd. 10.5 speakers in 1998.  Ridge Street Audio used the binding post bypass system in the Sasoon speaker in the mid 2000s.  I know of no other commercial use of them except for all my power amps that I have sold.

[richidoo]

The Electra tube connector is good.  But not sonically as good as a clamped connection. And you have to terminate your wire with their connector.  So, anyone with expensive speaker wires with spades will have to sell their cables or modify them (and who wants to modify their speaker wires so they lose all their resale value?).  Plus, you cannot have jumpers to other speaker inputs or mount speaker enhancers (Zobel's, Ground danglers, Synergistic goodies, etc.).  Not very practical and not totally transparent.  I would take a pair of silver WBTs any day over the Electra Tubes.

I would rather have pure silver posts over electra tubes also. Silver is the best by far. But I do like electra tubes design over posts for a couple reasons. They are pure copper, not brass so they are better conductor than most posts in their price range. I use WBT mid-line expanding banana connectors with them, so you don't have to use the electratube plugs. I like that the electratubes put no screw threads in the signal path like almost all traditional posts. The contact area of the electra tube is larger than any spade/post connection. Plug and jack are tapered identically so a slight push and twist seats them together very tightly with good friction. With a little Caig gold added it makes a very good speaker connection. The signal wires if installed according to their recommended method, fully inserted into the tube are separated by only 1/16" inch of pure copper. I agree they are not as convenient as 5 way posts.

The bypass method does sound good, I have used it with cheap Radioshack posts with excellent results. But I have found that clamping stranded copper wire or pure solid copper wire doesn't stay tight long term. My own opinion is that pure copper is too soft to spring back against the clamp, so it slowly flows and the tension is lost. This is why many pro audio drivers have spring loaded terminals.

[Arcticdeth]

I have gold plated nakamichi banana plugs, would having silver with gold make for a poor connection, dampen any of the sound?  Silver posts with gold plugs into them??  Do they make silver plated banana plugs??

[S Clark]

At the speaker I've gone with $.25 plastic wire nuts with a bit of electrolytic grease to seal the nut, but not get in the wire.  No oxidation, no added metal mass, and a stronger connection than clamping with a binding post or nylon bolt and nut.  I can't find anything that checks so many boxes as well... and did I mention the 25 cents part?  I seldom disconnect, so there is little inconvenience.

[Chops]

YUP !!!  Actually, the WBT inputs make the biggest difference

This is what Klaus told me during several phone calls, hence why I went with them and the gold WBT binding posts. I definitely put a LOT more into my Khartago Kismet amp than I had originally planned, but it's all well worth it in the end!