Bananas rule, spades drool. End of discussion.

@larryi had a tube related experience where I was moving my amp around installing speaker cables fussing with close binding posts with spades.  Fired up my amp and tube preamp all was good.  Added isolation springs under my amp and my right channel had a slight noise and went silent.  Moved amp and  checked speaker post and spades had spun and were touching.  Checked all cables and interconnects and couldn’t get the channel back = thought I blew the channel.  Arranged to have it sent to mfg to repair and right before I was going to send  it I thought let me check my preamp tubes.  Turns out one of my brand new NOS 6SN7 tubes failed without noise exactly when I was adding my iso springs.  What are the odds on that…surprised me and lesson learned.

I also like bananas specifically the WBT Type are what i use due to being able to tighten them.

Spades are a pain to connect and to keep tight. Lets not even get into the fact there is no standard size so its a hit or miss if they will fit on your application. we all know how equipment manufactures like to use various sizes because they can.  How many of you have stuck one of the legs of a spade into the hole of the binding post because it would not fit around the stud? 

Bare wire has always given me issues in most 5 way type binding posts anyway, The bare wire is in a guillotine and if you over tighten they sheer off the wire or bend, kink the wire strands. This is not an ideal connection and also loosens quickly and causes issue to the bare wire, Also bare wire corrodes and you loose connectivity there over time. Obviously this happens to all metal connectors regardless of type but the individual wire strands have far more surface area then tined or with a connector.

yup agree bananas are the ones I prefer.

Bananas are fun - like a clip-on bow tie.

DeKay

@dekay for the fashion plate win !

For the record, i’m not a fan of IEC power connectors…. Now, give me a freakin Hubbel Hospital grade outlet with incredible clamping force…..

@glennewdick I’ve had both WBT and Furutech locking bananas. I’m not sure if the Furutech’s I got were fake or not but the WBT’s were absolutely better.

The Furutechs were made of thick pot metal, deformed when expanded, and the diameter of the banana was rather on the small side.

Another A’goner recommended these, and I use them exclusively. The spring and barrel construction is pretty thoughtful. The barrel ensures a long wide contact with the socket, and the spring keeps it plenty tight. I have 8 of these with heavy cables pointing straight up and they are just as tight now as they were 2 years ago.  For safety you really must use the heat shrink sleeves which are included.