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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
geoch's avatar
geoch
354 posts
 
Hello Randy,

Interconnect:
The unshielded solid core: Physic Harmonic "ECO"
The shielded stranded : Belden 1800F/KLEI Absolute Harmony

Speaker cable:
The solid core : Physic Harmonic "ECO"
The stranded : Duelund DCA-16GA

Power cables:
The solid core : Physic Harmonic "EXTREME"/Iego 8095
The stranded rectangular : Yarbo SP-8000PW/Sonar Quest Gold plated (Aluminum body)

Regards 


toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@geoch that’s exactly why I don’t solder. I crimp the ever loving crap out of it. Then heat shrink it.

For AC I do the same with copper spades, but give it a could of wraps of plumber’s tape before I heat shrink. I’m probably just doing it wrong, but solder seems to weaken after repeated connect/disconnect.
But that’s just my finding. I never decided to try to improve the solder connection and just focused on better crimped connections.

That being said, the quality of the crimp and the connectors used affect the sound.

Everything affects the freaking sound.
It never ends...
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@whitestix I’m even more confused now. I used the SureGrip100 BFA/Banana (Silver). I looked on their site and they say it’s a cold weld connection, which means crimp. The 100s aren’t supposed to have screws..

I’m psyched you’re happy with them. The new BFA style blows my mind with it’s simplicity and solidity. I’m sure playing around with even more refined versions can bring improvements and, like @geoch says, you can refine your connection to the nth degree, as you so choose.
whitestix OP
721 posts
 
Todd,
I see what you see on the AQ website, but it you Google the connectors, virtually all of them show the connectors with a little allen wrench, which indeed mine has.  The literature on the box states the following:  "Cold-Weld System for an ideal connection, better than sounding that solder: Tighten allen-screws ...  to create an ideal connection between the plug and connection, then slide the non-magnetic-interference ABS casing over the banana and screw in place."   This might be hype, but I can't solder worth a damn so these work fine.    
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