Spade vs Banana vs Bare Speaker Wire Terminations: Which is Best?

Ever wonder what type of speaker cable termination is best? We compare banana vs spade vs bare wire to give you the answer. Is it all about surface area or is there some other consideration that is more important? Watch this video to find out how to best terminate your speaker cables.

For the full written review, please visit:

Audioholics Recommended Cables:

Audioholics Recommended Electronics:

Audioholics Recommended Speakers:

Follow us on:

Patreon:

FACEBOOK

GOOGLE PLUS

TWITTER
#wire #speakers #audiophile

[ValueAudio]

I was sole proprietor of Value Audio, an audiophile oriented sales company, for 20 years. I got into the business selling truly fine cabling and it remained my specialty throughout the life of my business. I developed an excellent national & international reputation for high performance-high value equipment & cable expertise, often blowing peoples minds. I carried Acoustic Zen, Analysis Plus, WireWorld, and DH Labs - and sold all price points from $200-15, 000 per pair of speaker cables, and have an excellent ear for subtle and not so subtle differences in cable and connectors, and am excellent at system matching for sonic character. I did my own custom termination work on DH Labs, using high value, non-hype quality connectors I’d purchase from Analysis Plus.

Here are a few of my discoveries regarding connectors:

Avoid solder, and go for a very solid, largely air tight crimp instead. A fine crimp is 100% conductive between connected materials, while even the best solders m about 15% conductive.

Avoid any connector that screw directly to wire strands. They will fray out the wire & loosen, providing lousy connections & lead to oxidation. If you use screw on barrels, pit a crimp sleeve over the bare wire, crimp tightly and screw down to that.

Low mass designs tend to be clearer and more transparent than beefy, heavy on the metal parts, which disrupt current flow &!create Eddy Currents. The this came to my attention first through Nordost recommendation of ‘Z-Plug’ hollow BFA banana instead of spades, as well as raves over Eichmann’s development of low-mass interconnect plugs. Also, large barreled plugs are often made of inferior sounding metals, often low grade brass and/or ferrous alloys with less than ideal sound. Z-Plug pins are Beryllium Copper, which has a good sound. I would use the Z-Plugs with Beryllium Copper crimp-on barrels - a very good, transparent sounding minimalist low mass, design.

Big locking bananas are best only if you need the security of a connection that won’t come off accidentally while you mess around behind your speakers & amp.

Comparing Spades to Bananas: while spades can be pure copper based (though almost always plated, as are Z-Plugs), I found spades to typically sound more mellow, and less clear on upper mids & highs, than fine crimp-on bananas. Spades do seem to have the capacity for higher current carrying ability, which can improve bass. I’d usually go with bananas at the amp, as it manages cable routing better there, and I’d use spades at the speaker end. This would also allow me to make custom jumpers using Z-Plugs at both ends for biwireable speakers. It usually sounds best to hook the spade to the bass, and use the jumper’s Z-plugs to bring more transparency to the higher frequency driver(s). The spades would help provide good current.

Problems with loose spades as described in the video could be solved to a large degree with this tightening technique: Align spade barrels (where wire connects) at a 4 o’clock position, tighten speaker terminal nut down. Then tighten further to 6 o’clock by twisting both the nut and the spade so they move together. It should provide a tight fit. Loosen by doing the opposite.

Don’t mar the terminal nut with pliers. If you must use pliers, put something like a small sheet of rubber or cloth between them. Be very careful not to over-tighten using pliers — your speaker terminals are held on with nuts on the back (inside the speaker), and the post itself will twist, which not only misalign the bare wire hole, but could also tear your internal wiring off.

Let me know if you’ve found this information helpful.

Best regards,
Jefferson Delman
Value Audio

[kusgilb]

I always use silver soldered bare wire. Not saying it's any better, but I like that it handles connector compression better when soldered. It also helps with eliminating stray strands of wire.

[jillpeacock]

I started watching you when you were sick. Now I can't seem to turn you off. I'm learning things from you, I had no clue about before. It's good to see you so full of energy... Explaining everything to us. Hope you continue to have good health. Thanks for informing us on what to expect, how things work, what's going on. You seem like a really nice guy, and I really like how you teach us about the banana, raw, and spade. You can just imagine what I was thinking they were. Lol. God Bless you

[ericnortan]

I like banana because they are simple to use. As an electrician, I say if done correctly bare wire is the best connection. Proper wire size for the terminals and no "wild hairs". But I use banana on everything cause I like to play with other speakers and it makes it easy
Stay safe, glad to see you are doing well.

[DavidKowalski]

After years of experimentation, I go with raw wire, with at least the amplifier ends tinned. Added terminals just put something between the wire and the binding post. Your connection to the speaker or amp then depends on the connection between the the wire and the added terminal. I have seen factory-added terminals such as spades cause large gauge wire to crimp and break over time. Whiskers are definitely a concern but this can be avoided by tinning the ends of the wire.

[erod]

I used to go raw on the amp and at the speakers for many years, but now I do banana plugs on both. If you get tight fitting ones, they're much better overall I believe because they can are so easy to switch in and out of different speakers and amps.

[laurentiudinca]

I use bare wire on both sides, and it works just fine. Glad to see you feeling better, Gene.

[dxd]

I'm using Nakamichi BFA banana plugs to both amp and speakers with 12 gauge low pf speaker wire. A good friction fit, sounds very good too.

[AndyBHome]

I really like the Parts Express banana plugs with the "floating slug" inside. It let's you turn the locking sleeve without any twisting against the the bare wire.

I used to "tin" the bare wire ends with standard lead solder. That actually worked pretty well too because you eliminated any whiskers and the soft lead deformed to the shape of the space they were being screwed into.

[JasonOldfield]

I have to say, I was a raw guy up until I watched this video. I recent experienced a situation where I was hearing static from my LF floorstanding tower (which gets moved more than any other speaker to get behind the entertainment center), only to find that my binding posts were both very loose. Seeing your resistance measurement experiment sealed it for me, and I used the links you provided to order myself some banana plugs. They'll be going on as soon as I get them.

Thanks for the information, and hope you are fully recovered!

[optimusvader]

Glad to see you Gene, you look great Brother. I Hope you feel a lot better . I like to go raw like you said in the speakers ( Sometimes the banana plugs they are a little bulky for some speakers ) but in the Receiver or amp they work great also look really clean with it ! Great video and information . GOD BLESS YOU and as always ; we will keep listening 🔊 !

[FyrBridd]

Its all about SpeakOn! Wish they were used more widely, such a strong connection

[Rometiklan]

Great to see you making more vids, Gene! As you recommended, I've been going with banana plugs on the amp side, raw at the speakers. Thanks for posting!

[fxstd]

I've been using both Blue Jeans Locking Banana's and Parts Express Angled Locking Stacking Banana's. I really like the angled locking stacking banana' connectors. They accept very large gauge wires up to 8 AWG. and they allow you to use a good speaker cable like Monoprice 12/4 CL2, attach the angled connector on each of the 4 conductors on each end (8 connectors needed in total for this example). Because the angled banana's are stackable, you then have the flexibility to stack the connectors in a couple different ways allowing you to very easily and quickly use them in a either a bi-wiring or bi-amping situation. Parts Express makes a great product as does Monosaudio, although I haven't tried the Monosaudio angled banana's yet.

[Gez]

So glad that someone has addressed this. I am an audiophile and I can concur wholeheartedly I hate Spade connectors for the very reasons you have outlined. My preference is good quality compression banana plugs all day every day. Before these I used bare wire but I used to tin them to avoid the whisker thing. Yes you could say I would get oxidization of the silver solder but no more so than bare copper. The only tangible benefit I can see in using Spades is decent ones will be gold plated so wont oxidize but every one I ever used on thicker gauge is almost impossible to tighten properly.

[FairyNL]

3:16 don't ever do that to me again... 😥

[seanlacroix]

Sewell banana plugs for me. They've always worked great. Used to have the nakamichi ones but they became loose over time.

[joernploeger]

I used to do bare but to many issues as you mentioned and I moved on the banana, so convinient especially when you have to move things, just unplug and plug in done. No issues with sound as well!!!

[randir]

I once had a short from bare wire connected to one of my speakers. It made a loud pop and shut everything off, scared the crap out of me but luckily my speakers and AVR survived.

[FFFan]

I bought a set of banana plugs for my Monoprice 5.1 premium speakers and my basic Denon 5.2 receiver, turns out they were too big to fit into anything. Ended up using bare wire instead, lame but it works fine.

Glad to see you doing better, buddy, I've been sharing your vids and I made sure to send this one out to friends to let them know you seem to be better. Stay healthy, and keep listening!