WOW: I'm convinced!

Bare wire, pins, plugs, lugs, spades, even unfolded paper clips stuck into those stupid pioneer speaker connections...

...never heard a lick of difference.
 
I use Anti-Cables (basically 12g magnet wire) and hammer the ends flat so they make nice contact with the binding posts.

If concerned about CU oxidation, tin the ends.
 
And then you have us bare wire guys :D.

yep, I use banana plugs on my PA but that is put up and tear down, on the home stereo 16 gauge copper wire twisted and formed to fit around the post then I hand tighten the lug, on the amp I run the twisted wire through the hole on the post and tighten the lug down with a hand driver snug. I have tried slightly soldering the wires but anymore I prefer to use bare wire with a coating of de oxit.
 
I have tried slightly soldering the wires but anymore I prefer to use bare wire with a coating of de oxit.
Try just tinning the very tip to prevent loose strands and make insertion easy, if threading, or to hold into a loop, if looping. That's what I do, when I feel like it, which I usually don't.
 
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

Look at the first page, there is a diagram there...


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. :dunno:

But I didn't do bare wire, I did spades. Try it with some quality spades and get back to me.
 
I think a lot of the times that folks notice an improvement when they swap cables, it's at in part due to having displaced a partially corroded connection.
 
I think a lot of the times that folks notice an improvement when they swap cables, it's at in part due to having displaced a partially corroded connection.
Not for me it isn't. I do most of my swapping when the gear is new.


Yeh, i think drknstrmyknight's supposition may be true some times, but doesn't begin to really explain what causes the audible differences. It reminds me of a post on another forum that suspected the differences were caused by the person's head position changing after getting up to do the swap and then sitting back down. This also has some merit I believe, but also doesn't begin to fully explain IMO.

I think most of the folks who report experiencing audible differences in cables (I'm one of them BTW) are working with some pretty clean/new hardware. I take all my cable connections apart and clean them a few times a year and it does make an audible difference if I've let it go too long, but so does swapping out clean cables for different clean cables on clean connectors.
 
Yeh, i think drknstrmyknight's supposition may be true some times, but doesn't begin to really explain what causes the audible differences. It reminds me of a post on another forum that suspected the differences were caused by the person's head position changing after getting up to do the swap and then sitting back down. This also has some merit I believe, but also doesn't begin to fully explain IMO.

I think most of the folks who report experiencing audible differences in cables (I'm one of them BTW) are working with some pretty clean/new hardware. I take all my cable connections apart and clean them a few times a year and it does make an audible difference if I've let it go too long, but so does swapping out clean cables for different clean cables on clean connectors.

Not that different types of connections do not make a difference.

But head position may play a larger roll than one might think.

Slight changes in position may cause changes in the action of the pinnae.

Again, I am all for substantial, solid connections. Spade lugs over wire connections and banana plugs.

It is difficult to come to a single conclusion, when more than one variable is involved.
 

Attachments

  • Untitled.jpg
    Untitled.jpg
    131.8 KB · Views: 15
The first time I heard a definite difference with cable swapping was using the dual outputs of an arcam CD into two dints on an arcam amp. Had a partner swap inputs so I didn't even have to move. Instant switch, same cut of music and everything. Was switching between monster interlink and Tara labs rsc prime 1 meter lengths. What a difference, converted within minutes. I don't understand the mechanics of it but my ears are the tools I use to enjoy my system so they get the final say.

Great thread!
 
I'm not here to perpetuate a war against spades, but I don't think all banana plugs are created equal, so therefore it's a little ignorant to dismiss "banana" plugs.

The average banana plug has a small contact patch. Has anybody tried some decent connectors like these, http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXTJH8&P=ML
The contact patch is huge compared to normal 4mm connectors (standard banana plugs), and it is a very tight fit too, also these connectors are designed for loads of 75 amps or more (well over 1000 watts with the voltage they are intended for) with no voltage drop or signal loss.

I haven't used these exact ones, but I do have other ones similar (not as good, admittedly), which have quite a large contact patch. They are designed for radio control, but they are perfectly compatible with standard 4mm bananas. Just solder it to the wires and voila.

Just saying.............
 
Back
Top Bottom