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Bananas rule, spades drool. End of discussion.

I just checked my speaker connections. All using bananas, all nice and tight.

The number of times I’ve had spades get loose instead though.....

Point is, and it really is kind of a tongue in cheek thing, bananas beat spades for long term reliability in almost all setups.  If you have to use a Cardas or Mundorf speaker terminal to ensure your spades stay tight it kind of proves my point.

erik_squires
erik_squires OP
15,715 posts
 

BTW, I'm sure you can get good spades to stay tight... but if you ask me over all the time I've been working with speakers, plugging and unplugging them and troubleshooting them, bananas have been head and shoulders more reliable.

erik_squires OP
15,715 posts
 

Oh, and PS, the contact area of a split banana is quite large.

erik_squires OP
15,715 posts
 

Let me go a little Youtube snake oil on you all:

With banana plugs the electricity doesn't bend!! The electrons coming off the wire keep going straight, ,but with spades it has to do a 90 degree turn!! Of course this affect sound staging because of all the phase noise. 

🤣

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,796 posts
 

@erik_squires 

I like this topic. So, serious question for you: 

What about banana plugs that compress and get looser over time?

zlone
406 posts
 

I agree with Erik having found a loose spade or two. I will second locking bananas as the best solution and one that I believe bumps up the surface area in contact with the speaker. The spade issue has always stuck me as something fairly easy to fix with a spring or lock washer, but then there will we will need 7n OCC gold plated versions of those too.

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