Banana Plugs

Bob in St. Louis · « **on:** 5 Nov 2006, 12:14 pm »

I won't just come right out and say, "What's the best......."

I checked out the DIY banana plugs from Rat Shack, both the house brand and the Monster brand. Didn't look too impressive to me.
Wasn't very confident about the connection 'strength'.

Any recommendations to a solder type connector. Any brand to stay away from?
(By the way, I'm old school and am assuming that solder is the best way to go. All I find in stores are 'solderless'.)

Bob

Andrew JC · « **Reply #1 on:** 5 Nov 2006, 12:28 pm »

You may want to check these out http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?products_id=544

Blackmore · « **Reply #2 on:** 5 Nov 2006, 12:40 pm »

Hey Bob:
If you didn't absolutely have to use soldered, you ought to contact electricbear on AC GAS circle and ask him about the Audioquest bananas he sells at his store. Twin set screws, silver coated, really snug fit. Not your typical banana; look them up on AQ's website. More expensive than the DIY banana, though.

See you at the Christmas party at Scott's

alana106 · « **Reply #3 on:** 5 Nov 2006, 01:07 pm »

Hi Bob,

Not sure if you noticed the banana plugs on the DIY cables we ran to your speakers from the VTL. I purchased 16 (4 Pkg) of these off of EBay. They each have 2 set screws, and the outer housing is also metal. These could never be considered the "Best", but I found them to be a good value for the $. Your welcome to drop by and take another look, if interested, or borrow a set of these DIY cables I built. They're about 10" long, and I'm currently not using them. (URL for these plugs listed below)

Alan

http://cgi.ebay.com/KnuKonceptz-BFA-type-Banana-Plugs-4-8awg-Speaker-Wire_W0QQitemZ220032946945QQihZ012QQcategoryZ32838QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #4 on:** 5 Nov 2006, 02:22 pm »

Andrew, those do look nice. They've got a got price and solderable 'to boot'.

Blackmore and Alan, I not totally married to the idea of soldering, but some of the cables I'll be DIYing will be solid core Cat-5e. I'd be worried that the set screws would guillotine the small gauge conductor. Is this not true? Especially the twin set screws that are 180 degrees apart, and vertically offset, that seems to me like the screws would act like a pair of scissors. Alan, I was going to track you down to ask about yours in particular. I'm glad you replied. I really liked the way your terminations fit in the jacks. Blackmore, I'm trying to terminate as many cables as I can for a home theater, so you can imagine how many I'm going to need. Looking for something that won't break the bank.

Could a guy remove the set screws in any type/brand of connector to apply some solder (assuming plastic isn't present)?
Am I being excessively 'anal retentive', or is this just the way the industry does it???

Bob

alana106 · « **Reply #5 on:** 5 Nov 2006, 04:00 pm »

Quote from: Bob Jackson on 5 Nov 2006, 02:22 pm

I not totally married to the idea of soldering, but some of the cables I'll be DIYing will be solid core Cat-5e.

The cables we used were actually constructed with 12 strands of silver coated 22 Ga Teflon wire. I just stripped and twisted the bare ends. They seem to make a really tight connection.

You will probably get more suggestions here on AC. These just seemed really good for the $$. Again, if you want to take a pair of these home to try, let me know.

Alan

Bob Reynolds · « **Reply #6 on:** 5 Nov 2006, 09:45 pm »

DH Labs has nice banana plugs; Mike at ACI probably sells them. I've used locking versions from Bryston in the past. I'm currently using some from Vampire. But I'll be going bare wire as soon as I get around to pulling them off.

I'll be glad to sell you either the Bryston's or Vampire's.

Scott F. · « **Reply #7 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 12:37 am »

Hi Bob,

Audioquest makes a nice set of silver or gold plated BFA banana plugs.

http://www.audio-direct.com/item_large.aspx?ItemID=25581372-cf78-4955-b760-2c496ede95f7
These are the silver ones but they also have gold plated ones. They can handle up to 9 gauge. You can crimp and then solder them.

Tim should be able to get them as he's an AQ dealer. Trouble is they come 40 to a pack (which sells for $140 - - or $3.50 each). WHo knows, maybe Tim can get them in small quantities. I'd be interested in same if he could (hey Tim are you reading this?). That or maybe we could split an order? I'd be good for 20 or so.

Personally, I really like these connectors. Klaus uses them on his Groneberg cables. They are very low mass and have tons of conduction surface plus they grib very well.

Before you go through all the trouble to make up 5 or 6 channels of CAT5, have you listened to CAT5 before?

ohenry · « **Reply #8 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 01:11 am »

Here's a good and cheap way to go. Simple, low mass and very snug. Large solder bucket as well... Part 17HR549

http://www.mouser.com/search/refine.aspx?Ntt=17HR549

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #9 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 03:04 am »

I got these from diycable and they work great. You can do it solderless like I did or solder it if you wish. The locking feature comes in handy.
http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?cPath=26_136&products_id=545

pearsall001 · « **Reply #10 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 03:13 am »

Check out GLS Audio locking bananas. I have them & they look & work great.
http://www.speakerrepair.com/

srb · « **Reply #11 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 03:58 am »

I second the BFA style banana plug recommendation. They are lightweight and a very good fit. I have them plugged into 5 different binding posts, and the fit in each is perfect.

Audio Advisor has the Analysis Plus gold-plated BFA bananas at 4/$9.95.

http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=ANAGB4

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #12 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 04:31 am »

HOLY COW GUYS!!!!

That's a lot of good ideas. Give me a day or so to look at all that (I'm ready for bed right now).

Thanks to all!

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #13 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 04:28 pm »

Quote from: srb on 6 Nov 2006, 03:58 am

Thanks srp, I like the look of those. Nice price too. aa
Does the silver barrel unscrew from the gold section?
And could they be soldered? (is there enough room in there for solder??

Thanks
Bob

Berndt · « **Reply #14 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 04:39 pm »

I must say, I bought the diycable expanding bannanas when they were overstocked.
In use though having a locking terminal and an expanding bannana seems to be overkill.
I bought some signal cable speaker cables with normal bannanas and I don't miss the expanding ones, they would get collet lock and refuse to let go unless I tapped them, then I thought, I don't want to have to beat my connections apart.
I still have 6~8 of those expanders if you want to try them, pm me your address.
Bill

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #15 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 05:05 pm »

Wow, thanks for the offer Berndt.

How much?
Is it the one's "Andrew JC" (reply #1) linked to??
There's no chance they'd get stuck and NEVER come out, is there?

Bob

Berndt · « **Reply #16 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 05:31 pm »

these ones...

http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?cPath=26_136&products_id=545

You loosen both the bannana and the binding post and then tap the end to have it come free.
Not my cup of tea.
Just over engineering a non existing issue, IMHO.
Just send me an address, they are yours.

srb · « **Reply #17 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 05:55 pm »

Quote from: Bob Jackson

Does the silver barrel unscrew from the gold section?
And could they be soldered? (is there enough room in there for solder??]

Actually the ones I have are the Nordost Z plugs from Madisound.
http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?cart_id=1704910.27704&pid=803
They are more expensive at 8/$38.49. (I was able to get a better price, but I bought 3 pkgs.)

They don't have the silver barrel that the Analysis Plus has (which I would assume is permanently attached, but I don't know that for sure). I see no reason why solder wouldn't flow into the connection.

BFA stands for British Federation of Audio, and is a set of specs that the plugs must meet. They have a taper which allows them to maintain a good fit with any binding post that accepts bananas. Again, I like the light weight minimalist approach, and there is nothing to go wrong with them.

Steve

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #18 on:** 6 Nov 2006, 06:00 pm »

Yea, I'd love to give 'em a shot. Thank you very much.
PM on it's way.
Thank you Berndt

Bob

TIC · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Nov 2006, 02:16 am »

I agree with a couple of the previous posters, BFA style banana plugs are Da Bomb! They have no moving parts (unlike expanding units) hold snugly but don't bind, and they have 100% external surface contact for the length of the plug.

I've used the Nordost and the AP. I didn't have a proper crimping tool and had issues with the crimping ring on the AP plugs. If I try them again, I think I'll just take the crimp ring off and solder them like I've done with the Nordost.

Enjoy,

TIC