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  #1  
Old 07-02-2023, 01:42 PM
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Default Banana or Spade Ends?

Purchasing new speaker cables and my amps and speakers are both good with either banana or spade connectors. The new 'Z' banana ends are very tight. Am wondering if there is any advantage or reason to go with spades over banana ends these days?
What do you think?
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Old 07-02-2023, 04:17 PM
clpetersen clpetersen is offline
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Very doubtful there is a technical/performance advantage of good bananas vs good spades. I generally use angled spades at the speaker ends solely for cable management.
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Old 07-03-2023, 09:19 AM
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I ordered my cables with spades. They will not break like bananas have on me in the past but that was with some very heavy stiff cables. FWIW
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Old 07-03-2023, 11:02 AM
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Think I'll go with banana at the speaker end as my shop tells me the copper terminals on Devore speakers are relatively soft and somewhat easily marred by a wrench. Will go with spades at the amp end of things.
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Old 10-24-2023, 10:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2 View Post
Think I'll go with banana at the speaker end as my shop tells me the copper terminals on Devore speakers are relatively soft and somewhat easily marred by a wrench. Will go with spades at the amp end of things.
When I was using 2 pair of speaker cables for bi-wire, on the amp end one pair had spades and the other had bananas, which allowed me to connect both to the same terminal; all bananas on the speaker end. When I switched to a bi-wire cable, I got all banana terminals on both amp and speaker ends. The connection on both ends is smooth and solid.

A possible factor in this is that the terminals on my amps and speakers are vertical, unlikely to result in connections slipping over time; if your amp or speaker terminals are horizontal you'd want to be sure the connectors fit well, even more so if you'll be messing around at the rear of either amp or speaker frequently.
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  #6  
Old 10-24-2023, 05:47 PM
Kal Rubinson Kal Rubinson is offline
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Locking bananas.
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Old 10-24-2023, 06:40 PM
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I went banana at the speaker end spades at the amp.
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Old 10-25-2023, 01:24 PM
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I used to prefer bananas at the speaker end, but after I built up my GR-Research Encore X-LS using Danny's tube connectors (which are internal to the speaker cabinet), I had issues with the prongs on banana plugs bending. So, it's spades on both ends for me now. Bananas might be less of a potential problem for loudspeakers e.g. floorstanders, where the speaker cable is dressed on the floor rather than hanging from a standmount and pulling on the female banana connectors.
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Old 10-25-2023, 03:11 PM
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I am more of a Spade guy, whenever possible.
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  #10  
Old 10-25-2023, 05:53 PM
PeterMusic PeterMusic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2 View Post
I went banana at the speaker end spades at the amp.
Also an MC275 here--definitely spades at the amp (I've had both)
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