funny connection of spade cables


Hi all. I have kind of dumb question here. I recently bought a Quad 909 amp, and got excited and wanted me new cables, so ordered from Audio Advisor a pair of their bi-wire Audioquest Slate, which were in sale. I ordered spades on both ends, before bothering to check if the amp takes that. Of course, it does not. Intended to cut the spades off and use bare wire, but then I saw they are so nicely terminated I decided to postpone that until I figure out what to do. So here is what I did: The terminals on the 909 have classic banana connectors, but also a pair of side slots in which bare wire can be inserted. I discovered that one of the arms of the wide spade fits perfectly in there, leaving the other arm outside, and once tightened fits snugly. Sonically it sounds good, there is definitely an improvement over the no-name cables I had before, but of course I have no internal reference to compare this to.
My question is, what and how much am I losing in terms of sound quality? Is there any danger in using them like this? How much improvement will I have it I do cut them off and use them bare? Anything else I could do, like wrap the free spade arm in something? Would using one of those spade-to-banana adaptors, which AA sells quite cheap, be a better option?
'nough questions for ya? :)
Thank you very much!
roc_doc
This should sound better than using any kind of "adapters" Just make sure the other half of the spade doesn't touch anything. You could put a few layers of heat shrink tubing over them, or cut them off if you don't mind compromising their resale value. The bare wire may sound even better, but that will degrade as the conductors tarnish over time.
Thank you Hifi. It does put my mind at ease. Yes, the "free" arm of the spade does not touch anything, I placed them in so the two phase terminals are far away from each other. And it sounds pretty sweet...
Happy listening. If anyone disargrees, please chime in...
I would just put a piece of electrical tape over it just in case something does hit it while its in use..I know theres not much of a chance but you never know..I would also agree at some point clipping off the spades and going Bare wire and getting maybe a little more performnce..And maybe a little piece of mind.......
My 2c: Leave the spades on as you have it. Periodically (every 6 months) clean spades with Kontact or contact cleaner pro gold or something and re-insert. Cutting off spades will make re-sale difficult. Besides, not sure how audioquest does it, but if like Cardas,you try to strip away insulation to bare wire, you will not find bare wire exactly but wire with urethane coating to prevent oxidation.
You could trade someone for cables with banana terminations UK style.
As long as all of the joints and connections between the wire and the amp are clean and secure, there is no technical reason why any of the alternatives that have been mentioned would sound different from any of the other alternatives. I say that as an electrical engineer as well as an audiophile.

I too highly recommend using Pro Gold on the contacts, every 6 months to 1 year or so.

Regards,
-- Al
Thank you all. To be honest, this set-up is actually much more secure than the banana connections I have on my secondary system, where the bananas are never in tightly and I always worry about their being yanked out. I may have discovered something a lot better by accident, it fits in tightly and nicely. And the sound is great. So, if it ain't broken, I won't fix it...
Happy listening.
I had the same problem. Opened up the Quad 909 and unsoldered the existing strange binding posts and replaced with Cardas/conventional binding posts that take spades. It also caused me to wonder regarding sonic differences in cables (which I believe in) when the electronic output board to binding post wires internally in the Quad (as most amps) are inferior quality albeit a short run.