Speaker Cable Termination Opinions - Bananas or Spades


I'm ordering a set of speaker cables and need to decide on the speaker end terminations. 

There are only two choices so how difficult can it be.  

My concern stems from the fact that I reverse the speaker cable polarity regularly to align with CD recordings.  I've found some CDs are presented/recorded out of phase so I swap the phase at the speakers to align with the CD.  

Depending on the CDs I'm listening to at the time I might change them every other day or every couple of weeks.  But they get changed regularly.  

Bananas are the easiest to work with in this circumstance but the style of the banana that is available is the zig zag split sleeve.  My concern is that with repeated insertions I will wear away the coating on the hole in the binding post which in time might change the sonic influence.  For that reason I'm leaning towards having the terminations prepared with spades which will not introduce the abrasion level that the banana could possibly create.  

My preference is to not deteriorate the condition of the binding posts but it sure would be convenient having banana plugs.  

Are my concerns about the banana plugs unfounded?

My other solutions, and believe me, I think about them, are to swap the phase at the amp end where I plan to configure the cables with spades or to purchase a BAT preamplifier which has a phase button.  


pinball101

Showing 1 response by dill

If you choose to use banana plugs don't use the Nakamichi. Although they advertise "gold plated copper", they are actually brass. The stems are thin metal and tend to bend. I recommend the Supra or the more expensive Cardas.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPRA-COMBICON-BANANA-Connector-pair-24k-gold-plated-copper-NO-SOLDERING/15...