do banana plugs make any difference?

and if so = which types are the best....? im using Zanash silver speaker cable....can you get silver banana plugs?

 

There's a fashion of a kind for Nordost-style Z-plug because they're minimum metal - a bit like a curled up leaf shaped like a hollow plug. It's not necessarily Nordost that make them. I've a feeling Eichmann might make them now (known for minimum metal RCAs) and maybe even silver plated.

 

would you solder 100 banana plugs into each other and connect those up to your speakers?

Nope?

Then why use plugs when you can use none, silver doesn't tarnish so it's perfect for bare wire, and silver foil gives a great flat contact area.

 

Things that occur to me:

1) Yes, they do make a difference - they make it easier to plug in and unplug your speakers.

2) Z-plugs are produced by the several million by the german company multi-contact. £4.99 a pair on various hifi suppliers, a lot less from RS.

3) Silver does tarnish. Not as quickly as copper, but it does.

What I do? I have bare wire (2mm diameter solid core) at the speaker, running directly through both pairs of binding posts (ie the same piece of cable acts as the jumper), done up VERY tight with a socket, to Z-plugs at the amp end (about 0.75m away - monoblock behind each speaker). Works for me and sounds fine, so I don't worry about such things anymore.

 

Clearly you're not the guy in the house who cleans the silver! Actually, it tarnishes very easily, it's just that the tarnish is conductive, so no problem.

 

my speakers (kef 104/2) dont allow the speaker cable to be inserted through an eyelet as there isnt one and the connectors (red and black) are plastic...i therefore only have the holes in which you would usually push the bananas into...as the silver cable is flat and thin, how do I get it to stay in the holes? does this make sense? banpe

 

The reasson I ask, by the way, is that the vocals on a cd I was playing recently, really sounded awful - scratchy and thin ---i I tried removing wires , cables etc, to find the culprit, but then remembered that the banana plugs were real cheapo ones. I took them off and put the silver cables direct into the back of the speaker and the same track sounds much better - im guessing the cheap plugs may have had an impact. Problem is, they wont stay in the speaker sockets and i guess its dangerous to have them wiggling around in the back anyway.

 

nitpcikers: it doesn't oxidise like copper.

 

Eichmann makes Silver bananas. I put some on the end of Zanash silver cables replacing z-plugs he had put on for me. Definitely an improvement over the Zs (worth the cost ???? thats another matter). WBT makes silver / rhodium plated which dont tarnish but v expensive.

Eichmann silver occasionally pop up on ebay at 1/2 price so worth searching them out as this makes the cost/benefit equation a little more on the plus side.

 

Time you learnt to keep a civil tongue.

 

While silver oxide conducts electricity rather well (hence this reputation) the tarnish on silver is actually silver sulphide. Which doesn't.

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All good advice ...as I said at the time !

if you pluging and unpluging these can be useful ...

the ones on your cables are beryllium copper and are next to no plugs !

 

its the speaker end Zanash...they were only terrminated at one end, the amp end...the speaker end were bare (so i used the crappy ones I had at the time) Do you have any you can post me for a small fee?

 

got you .....I'd stay bare !

but pm if you really want a four and we can sort something out

 

after going bare-wired for year - cos I'm a cheapskate - I am considering fitting connectors.

ZANASH, why do you say beryllium copper connectors are next to no plugs? Is there an advantaged mechanical design in these connectors, and what is it?

thanks, Tony

 

you need to get the right ones of course ...the ones I use are from rs and cost about a £1 each ...these are very low mass and as said are made from beryllium copper with a gold flash ..

I've used many different types [20 or 30]over the last 30 years and these are as close to the sound of bare wire as I've found ....

 

OK, interesting. Beryllium (Be) copper alloy is used for its mechanical benefits. Unfortunately Be significantly impairs copper's electrical conductivity.

The softest, lowest content beryllium alloy may be inappropriate as a spring connector yet still has only 48% conductivity of cable OFC. Stronger beryllium copper is significantly lower, as little as 22% and less if not heat treated.

Hmmm, I just talked myself out of fitting banana connectors!

Tony

 

I think your right .....but they have to be better than the brass jobbies or worse steel or chrome version I've heard....

bare is best..... but you need to regularly keep the bare wires clean especially if your using copper cable

 

Dont know if you are interested, but i manufacture solid silver spades to your size requirement. A standard 8mm fitting set of 4 costs £20 (price will be going up as soon as i have exhausted my stock as the price of silver has rocketed recently). I have found them best when crimped onto the speaker cable and, when mechanically tight, silver solder to complete them. They work very well.

John

 

Why not use plastic, something that presses the cable against the insides of the plug à lá 47?

It's the best connector (period)