BananaPlugs

Posted by: Ardbeg10y on 09 October 2018

I had an interesting experience. I noticed a significant difference in soundlevel between my left and right loudspeaker. I thougth this was caused by the fact that one of my loudspeakers is closer to a sidewall and therefore reflections made the loudspeaker sounding ... well ... louder.

I played with the balanceknob on my Nac 72 and I had to turn about 30 degrees to the left to bring the balance in the setup. Can't be true, I thougth and started to check the setup.

To my shame, I found that one of the loudspeakers was connected using the Linn K20 cable direct in the loudspeaker connection post - fixed by the B&W screw posts, and the other loudspeaker was having these:

So, I removed these evil plugs and connected the loudspeakercable the same way as the other loudspeaker. Tada! Balance instantly back. Still a small difference, but thats likely to be caused by the wall nearby the loudspeaker.

Never thought that cheap bananaplugs can make such a negative impact. I now need to consider to make some decent F-connections.

Posted on: 09 October 2018 by Loki

I once owned some similar plugs engineered by Michell (as in Synchro). They had separate internal cylindrical 'washers between the screw and the cable so that the strands weren't twisted or mashed. They were expensive (£8 each in the late 80s) and beautiful and convenient. But...they did nothing for SQ. I ended up giving them to a friend to connect his 135s to his massive Revox floor standers as a way of ensuring that his NACA4 could be in full contact with the insides of the weedy spring clips win those speakers. They worked in that context.

Posted on: 09 October 2018 by ChrisSU

I had some of those Michell plugs too, solidly made, and to get a good tight fit I found gripping them with a pair of pliers helped. Then I flogged them on ebay and started using soldered bananas, and wondered why I had ever bothered using anything else.

Posted on: 09 October 2018 by Bob the Builder

I use relatively cheap banana plugs at the speaker end but they are soldered as are the Naim plugs at amp which are really just two banana plugs joined together albeit ones with very solid connections.

Posted on: 10 October 2018 by Ardbeg10y

I just realize that I must have the same plugs at the amp side. Need to order the naim plugs today ... On my Supernait it made a good difference as well.

Posted on: 12 October 2018 by Ardbeg10y

I got the Naim Plugs for free by my good dealer. Hurrah! Some soldering to do this weekend - will educate the kids.

Posted on: 12 October 2018 by Huge

Either cold pressure welded (not a DIY job) or a properly made soldered connection (N.B. not a 'dry' joint - see the FAQ) are the way to go; and matching plating materials between plug and socket (nickel to nickel and gold to gold [or chrome]) is also preferable.

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by FangfossFlyer

Anybody tried Chord’s new banana plugs?

Richard

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Mike-B
FangfossFlyer posted:

Anybody tried Chord’s new banana plugs?

They look like Deltron pins with Chord's own sleeving.    I'll be keeping my gold plated Deltrons in my gold plated binding posts.

Posted on: 13 October 2018 by Obsydian

Yes I used Chord Ohmic speaker end as they are Focal, a small but worthwhile improvement, particularly tidying up bass, cost wise relatively cheap.