[Hobbsmeerkat]

Any suggestions on the best connection for the amp side of the cables? Regular bananas seem to defeat the purpose of tube connectors.

Depends on your amp, & if you're willing to mod it..
Some people really like spades, others swear by bananas..

My little PS-Audio Sprout 100 only works with bananas, but the cable itself was still a big step up over my old zipcord with Tube connectors & low mass bananas.

Bigger amps can be modded to support tube connectors, but it will obviously void any warranty or support on the amp, but it should also add even more clarity to the setup.

[Deano452]

Beautiful work! I'd love to hear them someday, but I've spent enough money for the time being..
Ill stick to my cheap zipcord for now...

They look fantastic well done

[DGoosen]

Just put together a pair of 24 strand cables w/ pin connectors and have another pair ready to solder. I have an LFD integrated amp that will accept pins, my Coda amp probably won't. Pins are kind of loose in my current speakers, (kind of obvious that it was dumb to order pins for both ends in hindsight... assumed they would work well w/ most binding posts). For the second set thinking it might be best to order 8 banana terminals from Danny. Hoping someone can weigh in on how pin connectors compare w/ bananas and maybe why one is better than the other.

[Tyson]

If you're going to do banana plugs, the best out there (IMO) are the KLEI you can get at Parts Connexion.  The fact that they are so inexpensive is just gravy:

https://www.partsconnexion.com/KLEI-83432.html

The second best are the low mass banana plugs from ETI that you can get at VH Audio.  The only downside is they are less robust (the plastic is prone to bending if you are not careful):

https://www.vhaudio.com/bayonet.html

[DGoosen]

Thanks Tyson!
After seeing this,  http://www.image99.net/blog/files/f6ae775e30339e2b0375b739988237b7-77.html   The KLEI bananas look pretty good. The 12 strands of copper wire that each male end will get soldered to is in total an 8 gauge conductor. Not sure if the KLEI bananas can take that much wire. It seems like maybe six strands can go into one barrel and the other six can go into the second barrel (the second one that would usually be used to allow for bi-wiring). Do you know if this is a viable option?

[Tyson]

I just twisted my speaker wire so that it sort of came to a point (was thinner at the top) and then used that and soldered the rest.

[kenfx]

I'm constructing a pair of 24 strand cables w/tube connectors and ran into a soldering gun tip issue.  I have a Weller 9400PKS that came with some cheapo tips, one of which broke after my second soldering job.  Luckily the kit came with a couple other tips but they're not really the right tool for the job.  Soldering iron needs to get HOT quickly to do this right or the polyethylene jackets can get too hot, discolor, and ultimately become brittle.

I'm considering upgrading to a better soldering iron now.

Any recommendations on a good quality 200W or higher soldering iron/gun?