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Spades vs. Bananas

cody@tara

cody@tara

Manufacturer: TARA Labs
Hello! Cody from TARA Labs here again.

Over the years, we receive many emails asking about termination for speaker cables. What we have found is that in the USA, the preferred termination is spades. But in Europe, it seems that bananas are the preferred terminations. I personally like spades, but would love to hear which termination you prefer?

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I don't use any termination as of yet, but when I make new cables, they will have spades at the speaker end, and bananas at the amp end.
I don't want the cables detaching on the speaker end, and potentially shorting out, so spades there.
This is not a concern at the amp end, as I use insulated binding posts, so bananas there for convenience.
 
Frankly, I prefer bare wire. If I have to use a connector, I "believe" that spades make the better connection, but prefer to use bananas as they are just that much easier to connect and disconnect. Sonically, I guess my first choice would be a high quality spade torqued down with a decent binding post wrench.
 
Bananas - less likely to short out, spades also seem less versatile to me. Guessing here but maybe people who opt for spades like super tight speaker connections?

(simultaneous posts ;))
 
I have used bananas on everything. That was until I got the Focals. Using spades on the Focals, and bananas on everything else.
 
I like British amps, so I like bananas. One banana fits everything, not so with spades, which come in all sorts of sizes.
 
Adda said:
I don't use any termination as of yet, but when I make new cables, they will have spades at the speaker end, and bananas at the amp end.
I don't want the cables detaching on the speaker end, and potentially shorting out, so spades there.
This is not a concern at the amp end, as I use insulated binding posts, so bananas there for convenience.
Click to expand...

LOL - I take exactly the opposite position!
I run mostly vintage tube amps, so at the amplifier end I need spades - bananas are not an option. And not those big ridiculous modern spades we often see on decent cables, but the smaller spades that will fit the terminals on older McIntosh, Fisher, Scott, Dynaco, etc.

At the speaker end usually I prefer the convenience of bananas when possible. I've never had one detach. Ever.

BTW - Cody, please tell me a company secret...
 
Naptown Rob said:
LOL - I take exactly the opposite position!
I run mostly vintage tube amps, so at the amplifier end I need spades - bananas are not an option. And not those big ridiculous modern spades we often see on decent cables, but the smaller spades that will fit the terminals on older McIntosh, Fisher, Scott, Dynaco, etc.

At the speaker end usually I prefer the convenience of bananas when possible. I've never had one detach. Ever.

BTW - Cody, please tell me a company secret...
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, it's just that, a banana plug can be pulled right out, spades are pretty much stuck on there.
My power amp has no protection circuit what so ever.

If I ignored worrying about my amp, then I'd go for bananas.
 
I use dual bananas (Pomona plugs) on all my amp ends because they all are set up and spaced correctly for them, and have been for over 40-years since I use Crown. My more modern speakers are all set-up for dual-bananas, too. Very tough to short-out even if they become disconnected. But on my older JBLs I don't really have much choice unless I replace the binding posts, so on those I use bare wire ends.

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I prefer a good quality banana plug at both ends where possible. If I can't use bananas it's usually just a tinned end.
 
Either a serriptitious Market Research query or a troll.
Regardless... the fish are biting today :-)
 
there are locking bananas (monster for instance) which aren't cheap but make better contact (nearly molecular) and can't be pulled out. spade can be confidence inspiring as to solidity as well. bare wire is a tenuous contact that can spawn shorting between poles.
 
hifitommy said:
there are locking bananas (monster for instance) which aren't cheap but make better contact (nearly molecular) and can't be pulled out.
Click to expand...

These are what I use. Some expensive and others are knockoffs. Still, never had any problems with them being pulled out - accidentally or otherwise.

Don't like the standard bananas as, over time and use, they lose their ability to make a solid contact.

Used spades a long time ago but to easy to get pulled out.

YMMV.
 
FWIW, whatever we do may not matter all that much...

"As to the question of whether a spade, banana, or bare wire connection is intrinsically better. I can't help but think this is the wrong question. Any of these methods, if done with a good airtight connection, works fine and can sound equally good. It all comes down to the care an attention paid to the connections during construction. Premium cable manufacturers put far more time, effort, and thought into making optimal terminations, which is just one of the many reasons they cost more and last longer than the high-volume mass-market stuff." –AudiophileReview.com, April 29, 2013
 
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