[Pundamilia]

Do the august members of this forum have any observations or better still empirical results on using banana plug connectors vs. spade lugs on speaker wire? Assuming that one is always using quality connectors, does one type offer more surface area contact, and hence less resistance, than the other? We see many discussions about different types of speaker cable, but rarely is attention paid to the type of connector.

[Mark Korda]

Hi Pundamilla, my vote is with spade lugs. Think about the pressure you can make on the metals contact with the turn of a strong wrist and a screw. The banana plug just can't generate that force that will make the contact more secure than that of a hand tightened spade lug.
   I'm not a cable guy. I use Monster Gold stuff and Radio Shack solid core #18 twisted in a helix fashion. With my Dynaco amp screw terminals and the Shack wire twisted with little loops on the end. I'm getting a (rock solid) minamilists connection. It made Stereophiles best of list in the C or D catagory. I have the article an issue.
   When you think about what to get for connectors think about your car battery and how its connected. When I ever got stuck I'd sometimes tighten those terminals and sometimes, whalah!
   Well, thats my two cents.......Mark Korda

[Wind Chaser]

I prefer bananas over spades; less metal between the wire.

[mresseguie]

This is purely my opinion, but I prefer banana connectors. Of course, there are lousy banana connectors and some really good ones.

[weatherman1]

Speakers of European build (origin) come with spade only connections unless they are older units.  I use good quality gold plated spades with double clamp screws in the barrel, 14awg OF copper wire tinned with silver and secured by shrink tubing.  Speakers are Focal.  I use banana connectors with large tight gold plated connectors on my ML Montis because the connectors are available and make for easy connect-disconnect.  The only problem with bananas is that they are inherently a less stable connector.  My cat just rubbing on the speaker wires as he walks behind the speakers has partially pulled them out.

[JLM]

I vote for banana plugs:

- funnier to say

- can't over tighten (and possibly break the post - really shouldn't have to use a wrench)

- easier to make a connection (especially with those recessed cups used on many speakers)

- immediately gets the cable away from the amp for less clutter (especially on A/V receivers)

- less risk of damage if accidentally yanked on

- use compression style banana plugs (that can be tightened)

[Big Red Machine]

Totally correct. Pressure makes the best connection. Unfortunately the configurations of cabling you buy is all over the map. The newest terminals from WBT are ratcheted so you cannot break the post off with overtightening and I have broken many a banana off due to weight of the cable or an oops. Certainly a banana is convenient, but how often are you making the connection? These days some manufacturers are adding rubber inserts inside the bananas to increase outward pressure and give them some more stability against bending.
Can't tell the difference in sound and I have never seen anyone try to measure it, so in the end it is your preference.

Hi Pundamilla, my vote is with spade lugs. Think about the pressure you can make on the metals contact with the turn of a strong wrist and a screw. The banana plug just can't generate that force that will make the contact more secure than that of a hand tightened spade lug.
   I'm not a cable guy. I use Monster Gold stuff and Radio Shack solid core #18 twisted in a helix fashion. With my Dynaco amp screw terminals and the Shack wire twisted with little loops on the end. I'm getting a (rock solid) minamilists connection. It made Stereophiles best of list in the C or D catagory. I have the article an issue.
   When you think about what to get for connectors think about your car battery and how its connected. When I ever got stuck I'd sometimes tighten those terminals and sometimes, whalah!
   Well, thats my two cents.......Mark Korda

[FireGuy]

I always use bananas.  Can't beat their changeability.  Plus, as long as you employ good wire and termination you won't hear a difference anyway.

[milford3]

Always use bananas.  Can't beat their changeability.  Plus, as long as you employ good wire and termination you won't hear a difference anyway.

+1.  You don't hear any difference.  Bananas for me too.

[srb]

The banana plugs I recommend are the BFA (or "Z") type or the locking type.  I don't recommend the standard spring contact type as they have the least contact area and retention force.

BFA or Z-type Bananas
The BFA (or "Z") type use a thin, slightly tapered split tube that maintains contact for a high percentage of the surface area (which is more area than spade connectors). They are a tight fit in most binding posts, but I have run across a few posts whose ID were a bit larger than "standard" and the fit was not as tight (but still better than the spring contact type).  They are minimalist low-mass, which is generally a good thing.

Because of the requirement to have springiness to maintain good contact, they are most often made from a gold-plated beryllium copper alloy, so they are not pure copper.  There is one I have come across (but not yet tried) that shows high promise, made by Furez, which is made from pure copper and uses an elastomeric insert to provide the contact pressure.

Locking Bananas
The locking type banana has a solid contact pin split down the middle which is expanded by another smaller center pin as the threaded collar is tightened.  These provide the greatest contact force but a little less surface contact area than the BFA/Z.  They are usually fairly high mass.

The inexpensive ones are usually gold-plated brass with less copper content than the beryllium copper, but there are also some higher end ones made from either very high copper content brass or pure copper.

----------------------------------------------------------

The metallurgical content of either style plug (as well as spades) also brings into question the construction of the mating binding posts.  They vary widely in quality and copper content, but other than DIY projects or those blessed with speakers and amplifiers coming from the factory with high quality binding posts, few of us are going to modify a good stock component, particularly if under warranty.

My personal favorite so far has been is the Multi-Contact LS4.  Swiss manufactured, low mass and not extremely expensive (< $25/8).  They do require soldering as the hardened spring alloy would break if you tried to crimp.

If you're a set-screw type of person, Audioquest makes a decent quality version, but more expensive at ~ $40/8.  I do have a set of these on my surround speakers, but if you can solder, why introduce one extra mechanical connection into circuit?

Steve

[*Scotty*]

The beryllium copper alloy used in the banana plugs has 10% electrical conductivity when compared pure copper which is the standard at 100%. So in this case the electrical conductivity of the alloy used in the connector is limiting factor rather than the total surface area involved in the connection.
Scotty

[MarvinTheMartian]

I have had good success with these on my last two DIY builds.
Easy to install. 12AWG at least , 10AWG is very tight.

http://www.electracable.com/tubeconnector.htm

Shawn

[ohenry]

For the banana heads: I've used the Deltron 584 from Newark Electronics.  A pro-audio guy recommended them and they seem pretty good for a relatively cheap price.  The linear spring is good at making the connection snug.  Also, they make cheaper versions using nickel instead of gold plating.



Edit for typo... 

[DaveC113]

It's cheaper to get pure copper spades and the contact is better quality.... but it is possible to get good quality pure copper locking  bananas like the Furutech FT-212.

[Wayner]

BFA banana plugs are all that I use. Spades are at the mercy of a wrong twist of the connector body (righty-tighty, lefty-loosy). BFA plugs put a constant direct pressure to the inner barrel of the speaker terminal and have a larger area of contact.

ner

[srb]

The beryllium copper alloy used in the banana plugs has 10% electrical conductivity when compared pure copper which is the standard at 100%. So in this case the electrical conductivity of the alloy used in the connector is limiting factor rather than the total surface area involved in the connection.

I don't have a conductivity meter but rudimentary current and voltage measurements haven't shown any reduction in current or voltage drop across the connector, and they sound good (I've also tried bare wire and copper spades), but I do like the idea of pure copper, and if I get my hands on the 100% copper Furez BFAs, I'll report back.

 

I don't have much experience with dissimilar metals in speaker connections over time, specifically bare copper (the Furez BFA are bare un-plated copper) and gold-plated brass (all of my binding posts), but I assume some people have to be using that combination.  If it's just a matter of copper oxidation, a ten second burnishing with synthetic steel wool per terminal once or twice a year is an easy and not unreasonable task.

Steve

[mav52]

I use both, never had an issue with either. 

[restrav]

I don't have a conductivity meter but rudimentary current and voltage measurements haven't shown any reduction in current or voltage drop across the connector, and they sound good (I've also tried bare wire and copper spades), but I do like the idea of pure copper, and if I get my hands on the 100% copper Furez BFAs, I'll report back.

 

I don't have much experience with dissimilar metals in speaker connections over time, specifically bare copper (the Furez BFA are bare un-plated copper) and gold-plated brass (all of my binding posts), but I assume some people have to be using that combination.  If it's just a matter of copper oxidation, a ten second burnishing with synthetic steel wool per terminal once or twice a year is an easy and not unreasonable task.

Steve

The only problem that I have with the above would be that, you seem to be understimating the rate of oxidation of Copper. more like once every two weeks, a banana copper connector will be noticably oxidized in just a couple of days and you can see that in the change of color for the darker dull brown color from the original shiny metal.

[Wind Chaser]

Binding posts can be audibly superior, if you use them to clamp the cable to the actual lead. But this necessitates drilling holes into the back of your amp and speakers to thread the leads through the amps chassis and speaker cabinets into the binding posts. So instead of the signal passing through the medium of the post, the signal makes direct contact from lead to cable to lead.

This procedure affects resale value, but difference is clearly audible.

[rif]

I like banana.   I've had problems in the past with spades being too large to fit in the slots used on some binding posts