Banana Plug Question (1 Viewer)

[Matt Stone]

I've decided to go with these for convenience's sake, but I was wondering which I should go with. Are there advantages buying expensive monster plugs, or should I go with cheapies. Any webstore links would be great too.

...oh, and mods...feel free to move this to wherever you see fit.

 

[Dave Schofield]

I just picked up a bunch of these:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd..._ID=2462&DID=7
PartsExpress is a very good online retailer, IMHO.

 

[Matt Stone]

Do they feel heavy duty. I currently have a pin setup and they are real shoddy. The fall apart if the wind changes

 

[Marc Rochkind]

There are two broad categories of banana plugs as far as the "banana" part goes: locking, where you twist or slide something to force the banana apart and lock it into the jack, and non-locking. Within each type, some plugs hold better than others.

At the other end, there are a half-dozen or so ways to attach the wire, some involving soldering, some crimping, and some with just pressure from screwing something in.

And, there are gold plated and non-gold plated.

I bought about 8 or so different plugs to look them over, including the absolute top-end WBT. The Radio Shack 278-306A definitely held its own in the group considering the price, only around $3 each or so. It's gold plated, non-locking, and pressure held.

 

[Ted Lee]

i'm using the rat-shack ones (sorry, don't know the catalog number) and am totally happy with them.

they're the ones that screw apart. you thread the wire through the bottom piece, then spread the wires out, then screw back on the top piece. they're totally solid - i've even stopped checking the connections...which i used to do once in a while.

maybe someday i'll buy some more expensive ones to see if i hear a difference...

 

[Bob McElfresh]

For behind the speakers (if your speakers accept the spaceing & dual-bananas) I use the Radio Shack xxx-308 dual plugs. The solid spacer bar prevenst shorts if a kid/dog yanks the wires out while the power is on.

For behind my receiver where the dual bananas stick out too far, I use the single bananas from Radio Shack xxx-306.

These are each about $6 / pair. They look nearly identical to the Monster/Niles units for $12 a pair.

I was using Monster TwistCrimp plugs, but they would pull loose every 2-3 weeks with 12 ga wire. I have not had a loose wire in 2 years with the Radio Shack units.

Good Luck.

 

[Harold_C]

If you use locking bananna plugs, be careful not to overtighten the mechanism that locks them into the jack. I've got some of the fancy Monster Cables locking plugs that tighen with an allen key. Over a period of time, they get tighter and tigher, so after a year or so, it is nearly impossible to get them out without breaking the allen key off.

Tighten them just to the point where they barely resist being pulled out. They will get tighter on their own.

Given the number of wires that connect to a receiver or multi-channel amp and the resulting tight quarters, I would probably rather have non-locking banannas. You can always make for a tigher pressure fit by just bending the "prongs" out with a little screwdriver before inserting them.

I recently used some very simple Radio Shack single bananna plugs. The wire just solders into a nice big hole in the connector that will accomdate larger gauge wires. They have rubber outer insulation that can be trimmed to accomodate different thickness insulation on the wires. These were pretty convenient to use if you have a soldering gun handy.

 

[Matt Stone]

Thanks for all the great info guys!
I ended up ordering some of the dayton ones...and since they're pretty cheap, it's no big deal. When I saw Monster plugs at best buy for 20 bucks, I started thinking that maybe I need to research this decision a little more
Thanks for the help.

 

[Marc Rochkind]

Harold:

Why do they get tighter on their own as they age? Any idea? If I had to guess, I would guess that they would get looser!

 

[Dave Schofield]

Boo, bad taste