WOW: I'm convinced!

[Sir.Byrd]

I just installed four pairs of these

on my speaker wire instead of banana plugs.
I immediately noticed a BIG improvement in sound quality, it must be the better connection. I really tightened them down on the amp, I used a pair of pliers.
The most surprising detail is that I am getting more gain at a given volume setting than before, it must have been a fairly resistive connection before.

The best part is that they were only $38 for all 8 of them.

 

[mr.jones]

Interesting....where did you you get the terminal ends? Are they silver plated?

Thanks

 

[Sir.Byrd]

http://www.partsconnexion.com/product7468.html
Rhodium over gold over copper I think.

 

[whoaru99]

What's the spade opening size?

 

[Sir.Byrd]

 

[Bigerik]

Cool!

 

[Mr. Lin]

It's because of what they're made out of more than the fact that they're spades, in all likelihood. I've mentioned before around here the gains I've gotten from using all-copper RCA plugs (conducting parts), speaker terminations, and even binding posts for speakers.

I've actually never heard of someone plating rhodium over gold. IME rhodium typically goes over silver or copper, and palladium is used on top of gold sometimes. Anyway, it's a good angle to approach the issue from, I think. Personally I now prefer bananas, provided they're of high quality (like your spades here), but I only prefer them by a little bit over spades.

That price is not bad, I don't know how I missed those on their website.

 

[Sir.Byrd]

Yeah, they seem to be a really good deal.
I bet these are just rhodium over copper, with the same style being offered with gold plating instead?
Who knows.

 

[usedto]

What is the possibility that your banana plugs/sockets needed a good cleaning and tightening (expanding)?

 

[Art K.]

Spades make a better connection and it's no mystery to some of us that they sound better than bananas. I have 2 sets of speaker cables in which you can change out the spades for bananas and vice versa in just a few seconds and by just changing them on the speaker end makes a substantial difference. Same cable and the terminations are made of the same material.

 

[SPL db]

It's all about the mechanical connection made at the contact point.

For the most part, spade lugs accomplish this better than banana connectors.

A bit more surface area along with a tighter connection.

 

[Sir.Byrd]

What is the possibility that your banana plugs/sockets needed a good cleaning and tightening (expanding)?

This might be a factor, but they were pretty good for the most part.

Now I don't have to worry about that because the spades are soldered in place.

 

[Tangent]

Never realized that - I'm going to try this.

Thanks, everyone!

 

[dumptruck]

Spades make a better connection and it's no mystery to some of us that they sound better than bananas.

And then you have us bare wire guys .

 

[etocynned]

The "Original" Connection!

I don't think id buy connectors for my wire.

If i wanted a spade connection I'd split the bundle of wire. I did it all the time in car audio, they use screw down clamping terminal strips for the robustness of the connection.

 

[JBL GUY]

I am not a big fan of banana plug connectors for audio.

I am with Sir.Byrd. Quality spade lugs for me.

 

[Sir.Byrd]

And then you have us bare wire guys .

The "Original" Connection!

I don't think id buy connectors for my wire.

If i wanted a spade connection I'd split the bundle of wire. I did it all the time in car audio, they use screw down clamping terminal strips for the robustness of the connection.

The reason why I don't use bare wire though is that copper wire will corrode over time, and eventually you'll run out of wire if you keep trimming the end!

 

[SPL db]

Plus no chance of that stray wire contacting the other channel shorting it out. :thmbsp:

 

[Rockyhill]

I just installed four pairs of these

on my speaker wire instead of banana plugs.
I immediately noticed a BIG improvement in sound quality, it must be the better connection. I really tightened them down on the amp, I used a pair of pliers.
The most surprising detail is that I am getting more gain at a given volume setting than before, it must have been a fairly resistive connection before.

The best part is that they were only $38 for all 8 of them.

What is the outside dimension (width) of these? My terminals are closely spaced.

Edit: I don't see this exact model on the Cardas website. It may be 0.471 ?

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=oem&pagestring=&content_id=1

 

[bobbyonions]

After reading this thread, I decided to experiment with my system. Banana jacks on both ends from amp to speaker on one channel, and bare 14g copper wire on the other channel.
Listening in mono, panning from speaker to speaker, I could not hear any difference. I swapped the wires left and right, still no difference. Also swapped amp channels with the same results.
All I can say is that in my system with my ears I cannot hear any difference at all. I'll stick to bananas for the same performance with the added convenience.
Of course anyone may experience all other kinds of results.