banana plugs or bare wire?

[mustang-gt-2002]

how do you have your speaker cables pluged into your receiver/AMP/speakers?

are banana plugs worth the price. to do my receiver & speakers it will run me $5.50X18 pairs = $100

or is bare wire better.

getting a new stand today and just thinking of it now. so buying off the internet won't work.

[blujacket]

I use them. Get them here http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

[JimShaw]

Originally Posted by mustang-gt-2002

how do you have your speaker cables pluged into your receiver/AMP/speakers?

are banana plugs worth the price. to do my receiver & speakers it will run me $5.50X18 pairs = $100

or is bare wire better.

getting a new stand today and just thinking of it now. so buying off the internet won't work.

I like them for the convenience BUT monoprice.com has them for 2.40 a pair

[mustang-gt-2002]

Originally Posted by JimShaw

I like them for the convience BUT monoprice.com has them for 2.40 a pair

Originally Posted by blujacket

I use them. Get them here http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

thanks for the link. but need them today may have to put them on later.

[Tempest]

They are just to make it easier to connect/disconnect and perhaps to look cleaner if someone is happening to show off the back of their receiver... other than that regular wires are just fine.. I would go with just 12g wire from monoprice.com or any other place that sells wire at resonable prices..

[jeff92k7]

I do neither. Banana plugs are great if you need to connect/disconnect them frequently but short of that, I don't see much point in them.

I coat the ends of my speaker wire with solder to seal the ends and keep the wire from oxidizing and then just stick the soldered end through the binding post hole and screw down the terminal/post just like you would do for bare wire.

Sidebar... I always find it funny to read the arguments that people get into over pointless concepts like bi-wiring, using ultra expensive (overpriced) speaker cables, and/or adding expensive precious-metal plated connectors. They always seem to forget that there is really very little contact point between the cables and binding posts, or plugs and binding posts, etc.

[Pirate King]

Originally Posted by Tempest

They are just to make it easier to connect/disconnect and perhaps to look cleaner if someone is happening to show off the back of their receiver... other than that regular wires are just fine.. I would go with just 12g wire from monoprice.com or any other place that sells wire at resonable prices..

Exactly. All of my connections are bare wire. Because I do not connect/disconnect. Monoprice.com is a great place to shop.

[zedd_117]

With my new set-up I went with banana plugs after reading all of the praise they got on this site. I have to say, I'll never go back to bare wire again! They are a breeze to hook up and install. They just feel more secure then a bare-wire hook-up.

[Travis]

I use bare wire.

I've always believed a system is only as good as the wekest link. So, why put in an extra lin, and risk it being weak. Maybe I'm oversimplifying, I'm sure someone will post yes.

Unless you are switching speakers from amp to amp every 2 weeks, why bother with clips. Put in the bare wire and finger tighten the posts nice and firm and your done.

[mdabb]

Bare wire is fine, but if you go with banana plugs I would check out the locking banana plugs at Blue Jeans cable. They make a nice solid connection and are very affordable.

I prefer spade lugs myself for more contact area. Keep in mind everything is going to oxidize sooner or later, even solder. Just clean up the connector with a contact cleaner every once in a while and it's all good again.

[Sonny]

I use bare wire also & everything is fine.

[DavidAg02]

Banana plugs for convenience.

[LifeOfAPirate13]

I used banana plugs they are very easy to put on and if you are removing them it takes a whopping 1 second compared to a min plus to unscrew and then remove. Its really up to you no benefits or loses either way.

[Fors*]

Just my 2 cents, but I use bare wire. Never really thought about getting banana plugs.....

[DavidAg02]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

Just my 2 cents, but I use bare wire. Never really thought about getting banana plugs.....

They aren't really worth it if you rarely unplug your gear.

My media cabinet is closed on all sides except for the front. I have fans that help to pull the hot air out the back, and cool air in from the front. As a result, it get's pretty dusty in there. So every 3 months or so I take all my gear out for dusting/cleaning.

Having the banana plugs really saves a lot of time.

[MJailme]

I too did not want to buy banana plug's because of the price. Couple weeks ago on monoprice.com they had them for .98 a pair. So I finally bought 21 pairs for 21 bucks (can't beat that). I did not notice a sound difference. However it's a whole heck of alot easier to connect. Well worth it.

[Steve]

I use banana plugs for convenience. It was also easier, since there are a bazillion wires/cables connected to the back of my receiver, to make sure there weren't any stray wires anywhere that could cause a short that I might not be able to see in the jumble.

[Marquoz]

I added banana plugs when I was upgrading my speakers, it's a tight fit on the back of my receiver, so it was much much easier to plug everything in versus having to unscrew, rescrew the wires. I've still got half of them as bare wire as I haven't needed to remove them yet.

I did it for ease of removing the plugs in the future. I plan to move hopefully very soon and I'll have to undo everything. Having banana plugs on them will make that a breeze. It also makes it easy to upgrade my speakers!

[Beta Man]

I use them for convenience but the fact that I've heard people here state they can tell an audible improvement is laughable (to me..... ) whatever floats your boat I guess.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I use Banana plugs on the receiver end (convenience issue) and Spades on the Speaker end as I think they provide for a more solid connection.

John