2. cables
  3. 127411-4358

Recommendations for top-notch banana speaker cable connectors

I have raised my appreciation of upgraded cabling recently with the addition of Silnote Morpheus II IC's.  I have 10 ga. ohno copper cabling for my 25' speaker runs.  I currently have banana jacks from GLS Audio (formerly Orange County Audio).  Once plugged in, one turns the connector to expand the pin internally, but they still seem to yield a less-than-secure fit and the metal they use is questionable.  

I have handled WBT connectors at audio shows and they are incredibly fine, but at a price that would bust my audio budget.  Furutech seems to have some more affordable connectors with high purity metals.  I am sure that there are banana connectors available that hit a sweet spot between price and performance and would value any insights you lads might willing to provide.  Thanks, Mark

whitestix
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

You could look into the Audioquest 300 series banana plugs. I have used them and their design allows for a very secure fit when you insert the banana plug. (it’s phosphor bronze, so it is a decent metal and a very strong resistance to flexing). However, you may have a little challenge trying to get your 10 awg wire into this model. I have used 12 awg successfully, but you may need to trim some of the strands on larger gauge speaker wires. You could buy them from Amazon and then return if they don’t fit. Though, if your speakers are bi-wire, you can always split the 10awg speaker wire into 2 sets of Audioquest 300 banana plugs.

Please DO NOT get the Audioquest 500/1000 series. These look nice and are pure copper, but they have incredibly small set screws with hex head inserts. The threads on these strip very easy and so do the hex head inserts!!!

The Furutech has very nice metals and their banana looks to be similar design of the WBT, but I have never used them so I can’t comment. I have used several Furutech products for both XLR and power cord terminations and the Furutech items sound excellent.

If your speakers are bi-wire, maybe use the Audioquest on the speaker side and then get some Furutech/WBT for the amplifier side.

erik_squires
16,185 posts
 
Parts Connexion is running a sale, and have the mid-line WBT's.  Around $160/4

I also like ETI/Eichman, Cardas and Xhadow.
reubent
7,030 posts
 
My favorite banana plugs are the inexpensive, low mass, BFA style bananas. Nordost used to use them and several other speaker cable  manufacturers use them too. I don't know the manufacturer of the bananas, but I think you can get them at parts express and I've seen them on eBay at times. They make a very solid connection and have a very large contact area against the complete inside surface of your banana compatible speaker binding post.

randy-11
1,913 posts
 
go with spades if possible
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
I used to agree with the preference for spades, but the new BFA bananas (suggested by reubent and others above) offer better and more contact with the binding post than spades. I’m incredibly happy with the audioquest SureGrip100 BFA/Banana (Silver). They are crimp on connectors and form an excellent bond with the cables, much better than set screws. So between the stronger, larger contact with the binding post and the solid crimp connection with the cables, these connectors (or any other connector of this design) offer an extremely solid connection between the amp and speakers. They are also inexpensive, which is a big plus. Regarding auxinput's worry about getting 10 awg cables into the connectors, I wouldn't worry. My cables are 9 awg and I was JUST able to get every strand into the connector, though, being made from cat 5 cable, the conductor strands are rather stiff.
More to discover