Bananas Vs Spades???

I have the same cables (length, brand, model), one pair factory terminated with WBT spades and the other pair with bare wire. There is no contest. Bare wire is superior.

I also have factory terminated Kimber Select jumper cables with WBT bananas and other cables terminated with WBT bananas. Same thing. The banana connectors really do a number on the sound....don't know why, they just do. I have never liked a cable with WBT termination. Confusing, because Kimber uses them on all their top notch stuff.

"You'll get more surface area contact then with a spade or bare wire and a snug fit, though not as tight as can be achieved with the other two approaches".

Like I said ..I rest my case. ;-)

Gmood1, if you thought I was arguing your point, I think you're a little jumpy. Actually, I didn't understand your comment about how bare wire "goes against audiophile thinking." From the posts in this thread so far, it's pretty clear that bare wire is fairly common practice. I use bare wire connections myself.

Anyway, banana plugs have their place, and I like the Z approach (Nordost offers these as alternative to spades) over expanding bananas, which I think are more prone to small contact area. I don't have experience with the controlled comparison that RJA asks about, though.

Jayboard..the comment is more towards what I've read others say. Not trying to argue at all. I've seen several post where the poster claimed the bananas or spades would be sonically better than bare wire. I've never been able to understand this because common sense should kick in some where...unfortunetly in some cases..it never does.
I just find it funny.

No harm no foul..I've tried the Nordost Cables with the Z banana approach. Nothing wrong with it.. just not worth the money IMHO.

Cheers

Then I understand than the bare wire is the better for music reproduction. Isn't?