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Banana Plug, Pin or Spades?

Bodyblue said:
Well how often do you change speakers?
Click to expand...

I rarely change speakers. I don't collect speakers and have little interest in most vintage speakers. The few that pique my interest have Banana jacks anyway. Besides, all the speakers I've bought since 1976 were equipped with Banana jacks.

I use expanding Banana plugs for everything including my Maggies. Even though they have a set screw on the jack.
 
Different connectors on amps and speakers require different connectors. So there is no easy. answer. If banana plugs I prefer the ones with the center needle thru the pin to expand for a tight fit. The the speakers have the spring loaded connectors that grab the wire or gold pin, replace them. IF the speakers have the old fashion screw terminals then use the gold soldered on space lugs. If you are going to use the screw on type of banana plug with the whole at the base I prefer the soldered on gold pins . As I tri- amp I solder the wires from the amps directly to the drivers for the left and right speakers for everything else I solder the wires to the crossover directly. The amps all use banana plugs so I use the plugs with the screw in center needle to expand the plug as if fits into the amps connectors. All connectors are gold.
 
I use banana jacks for everything that I have as I don't own any speakers/equipment anymore that use spring loaded connectors, flat head screw down terminals, etc. I only have a few pairs of speakers that I swap around minimally.
 
Looks like I might be the last person using pins.
Oh well.
RCA brand used to have pins that accepted small gauge cables, now it seems only large gauge cable pins are available.
Seems like crimp on pins are scarce to say the least. Tried the AQ crimp on pins and was not really happy with those. Most appear to have those little teeny screws that either strip out their hole or get dropped and lost in the carpet.
 
Curly_Racks said:
View attachment 1608739 View attachment 1608740 View attachment 1608742 View attachment 1608743 View attachment 1608739 View attachment 1608739 View attachment 1608740 Hi, I’m going to make my own speaker cables with some 10 gauge copper leftover from my solar panel install - just because:)

I ordered some spades and banana plugs (Nakamichi) and apparently I was way off base. The spades are much larger than I need. What would someone use these for? Car Audio maybe?

But my pleasant surprise was the banana plugs actually fit right into the binding posts on my receiver.

With that said, my speakers have spring terminals and I don’t think these would fit there. Do I need those 2 mm pins? The plugs are 4 mm.

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
What are those banana plugs called in your first pic. ?
How do you plug speaker into these vintage things ?
Any banana mugs for these ?40CCDDE3-4086-421D-9F71-F7061F942E93.jpeg
 
Curly_Racks said:
View attachment 1608739 View attachment 1608740 View attachment 1608742 View attachment 1608743 View attachment 1608739 View attachment 1608739 View attachment 1608740 Hi, I’m going to make my own speaker cables with some 10 gauge copper leftover from my solar panel install - just because:)

I ordered some spades and banana plugs (Nakamichi) and apparently I was way off base. The spades are much larger than I need. What would someone use these for? Car Audio maybe?

But my pleasant surprise was the banana plugs actually fit right into the binding posts on my receiver.

With that said, my speakers have spring terminals and I don’t think these would fit there. Do I need those 2 mm pins? The plugs are 4 mm.

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
What are those banana plugs called in your first pic. ?
How do you plug speaker into these vintage things ?
Any banana mugs for these ?View attachment 1610755
 
goodolpg said:
No.
Use bare wires or spades.
DO NOT LET ONE SIDE OF THE WIRE TOUCH THE OTHER SIDE OR BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN.
Click to expand...
WHAt are spades ? Yeah I haven't hooked them up I’m afraid of them touching . I used speaker wire tape last time , electrical tape to be sure it wouldn’t happen before .
 
darkblue94 said:
Nice.
What is it that keeps you from using Google before you ask all these "what is..." questions?
Click to expand...

If people used Google to research their questions before asking questions here, there would be a whole lot less traffic on the AK forums.
 
index.php


Those will be fine.
Should only cost about 50 cents.

Depending on your wire you may need to get blue ones.
Or yellow ones.
Keep in mind the price may change with the color change.

>>>>>>>>>Make sure no stray strands from one wire come into contact with the other wire.<<<<<<<
 
Last edited:
ultumax said:
What are those banana plugs called in your first pic. ?
How do you plug speaker into these vintage things ?
Any banana mugs for these ?View attachment 1610755
Click to expand...

Perhaps the Spade plugs? I ordered bananas and then spades as well... they look like a field goal post. I’m thinking spades would fit your set up although the ones I received are big. What’s the measurement on your terminals?
 
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