Bananas,spades,or bare

[Johnst]

Going to buy/make new speaker cables and it appears I can use Bananas, Spades, or bare wire at the speaker end. (RT800i) So what works best? Thanks in advance for your help, John

[Zeros]

Here you go, search is your friend:

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91213&highlight=banana+spade

[concealer404]

I think spades or bare wire (tinned) are considered best in terms of connection.

I, and most people prefer nanners, for ease of use.

[nguyendot]

I switch out speakers too much, so bananas.

Spades if you don't intend on disconnecting very often!

[danz1906]

Welcome to the Club!

Bananas!

[polkatese]

nanner...nanner.

[louhamilton]

My personal preference is bananas at the speakers and spades at the amp or receiver. This will be the format of my new speaker wires.

[Murray1]

I think spades or bare wire (tinned) are considered best in terms of connection.

I, and most people prefer nanners, for ease of use.

What does tinned mean. I used canare wire and bare wired directly to speaker. Do I need to redo since I did not tin them.

[nguyendot]

What does tinned mean. I used canare wire and bare wired directly to speaker. Do I need to redo since I did not tin them.

Tinned keeps the wires together, and can prevent some corrosion.

You don't have to...

[Zeros]

What does tinned mean. I used canare wire and bare wired directly to speaker. Do I need to redo since I did not tin them.

Here is a link about tinning wires if you are interested in what it looks like and how it's done.

http://www.teamnovak.com/tech_info/how_to/solder/index.html#Anchor-TINNING-23240

[braaaaay]

guys,

where can i buy a good price banana plugs? thanks :)

[Zitro]

http://www.parts-express.com/wizards/searchResults.cfm?FTR=banana+plug&search_type=main&WebPage_ID=3&searchFilter=banana+plug&x=0&y=0

[jacob.simpson]

Monoprice.com
one of the best value for the stuff, and they are very good in CS,
same stuff in other places cost anywhere between $5-$12

[louhamilton]

guys,

where can i buy a good price banana plugs? thanks :)

The GLS Audio ones on Amazon look really nice.

[mhmacw]

Hi johnst, tinned with aftermarket binding posts. until your talking 2500$ for 8 ft speaker wire a set of monster bi wire cables/tinned and a set of all metal binding posts will be you r best bet. IMHO

[sTiLlLeArNiNg]

My personal preference is bananas at the speakers and spades at the amp or receiver. This will be the format of my new speaker wires.

I wanted to go this route with my last cable build but couldn't find spade's that i liked here locally so i went with "nanner's" all around, i used cryoed multi-contact LS4's and IMHO they are the cat's @ss :)

I'm currently running 2 x 4ft 6" cable's (per speaker) with bare/tinned end's (4% silver solder) from my xpa1's > RTi A9's, i need to get around to covering them up with some Techflex to make 'em look nice :)


nanner...nanner.

boo boo :p lol

The GLS nanner's look good and PartsExpress has some nice one's as well

[Pauly]

Nanners! Ease of use in my book.


Pauly

[jacob.simpson]

I usually prefer them Bare:p but for ease of use Banana:D
monoprice.com rocks with pricing and cs

[packetjones]

I have banana's all the way around. Never used them before the recent setup and will never go back to anything else. Got them at monoprice for a great price.

[louhamilton]

I'm hoping to get some of these:

http://i23.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/e8/c8/5031_3.JPG

With these as the spades:

http://i.ebayimg.com/15/!BP(SJW!BGk~$(KGrHgoH-CoEjlLluzl+BJzS!kTSJg~~_12.JPG

ordered in the next month or so.

[ben62670]

Nanners. Another vote for GLS.

[jaxwired]

I use bananas, but I do like the idea of spades better. The problem I found with spades is that there are like 4 different kinds all with different inside and outside widths. I actually had to bend some I had before to make them fit. Some amps and speakers have slots for the spades rather than just an open post. So they have to fit into the slot. Anyway, my point is, bananas are standard and always fit, spades are non-standard and don't always fit. So....bananas....

[hearingimpared]

Welcome to Club Polk Johnst! I used to use spades and tinned wire but found that I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, to get the nut tight enough to keep them in place. I was constantly torquing down and got fed up with it. So I now use bananas exclusively and have noticed no degradation in SQ.

[Knucklehead]

If you want to use bare wire not tinned, just treat the ends with de-oxit and your good to go.

[Krazyz1]

I like Parts Express gold plated banana plugs . Fit perfect on my A9's , but on my ROTEL RB-1090 were 1/2 a hole off??? Had to use singles at the amp.

[Ranger0912]

I agree that, if you switch out a lot, bananas are the most convenient. However, I personally prefer spades for the solid contact they provide. I'm not too big on twisted bare wire.