Yet another Banana Plug question (1 Viewer)

[Mark Bates]

I have been reading the previous posts here on Banana Plugs and have a few more questions.

I am getting the Onkyo 898 next week and I have decided to use Banana Plugs at least on the reciever side for ease of installation. I really think it would be best if I used single straight in Banana Plugs instead of the dual side crimping style.

I found a couple Phoenix dual Banana Plugs that I will use on my speakers, but I really don't see an advantage over using bare wire on the speaker.

On to my questions. Is there any advantage of soldering over the crimp style? Is gold plated better then silver? Is there really any advantage to the more expensive ones vs. the cheap radio shack ones?

I have read about the $.60 radio shack silver crimp style and more expensive ones. Is there any advantage to these $4 or more plugs?

I am sorry if this has been posted 100 times already.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Mark,

I use the $0.60 Radio Shack Nikel Silver Banana's and they

work just fine. They are listed as "crimp" type yet when I

tried to crimp them they split. I would highly suggest that

you solder them if you go that route.

Are banana's better than bare wire? I say yes.. Copper wire

will oxidize in time (in any environement) and it may take

months or it may even take years but eventualy it WILL. And

when it does you will loose the signal or at least degrade

the signal.

Is soldering better than crimping? That depends.. I would

say that a crimped connection that is done under a vacuum

could be a great termination, but in the real world there

is air inside when they make the crimp and it's stuck in

there. Sure the connection *might* be "air tight" but there

is still air inside and that can and will cause oxidation.

Soldering on the other hand forces the air out of the connector

remember liquid displaces air. A perfect solder join will

flow into the connector and wire, filling all voids and

essentialy making an air tight connection permamnently if

it is done correctly.

Is gold better than silver? For that you would need to measure

the resistance of each connector and it's unlikely you will

see a diffrent. Gold looks better..

Are expensive connectors better than the cheap ones? Yes and

no.. A straight banana plug that is of a non locking design

and uses leaf springs rather than a split pin design should

be no better or worse than a similar connector from someone

else. But yes a Locking Split Pin banana like those sold by

WBT are indeed superior to a $0.60 or even a $4.00 connector.

WBT connectors are pricey.. I found the 90 degree angle Locking

Split Pin "Midline" series which are priced at $80.00 for

4 connectors.. They are very nice, but a hell of a lot more

than I am willing to spend!

 

[Saurav]

Gold looks better..

It's also much less reactive than silver, which makes it a better choice for terminations.