Bananas rule, spades drool. End of discussion.


I just checked my speaker connections. All using bananas, all nice and tight.

The number of times I’ve had spades get loose instead though.....

Point is, and it really is kind of a tongue in cheek thing, bananas beat spades for long term reliability in almost all setups.  If you have to use a Cardas or Mundorf speaker terminal to ensure your spades stay tight it kind of proves my point.

erik_squires

@immatthewj

Yes, me neither, but from my in depth studies on a dozen other things that shouldn’t matter, but do… little stuff that other folks with more experience than I recommend that don’t cost much, I’ll just do. Not worth the hours of fiddling to figure it out.

Yes, most speaker manufacturers put finger friendly devices that a wrench will not fit. I have Sonus Faber… oblong tighteners that the tightest would be to use your thumb to help turn. 

but from my in depth studies on a dozen other things that shouldn’t matter, but do… little stuff that other folks with more experience than I recommend that don’t cost much, I’ll just do. Not worth the hours of fiddling to figure it out.

I agree--no argument here.

After seeing this thread, I went and inspected my spade connections on the speakers and amps. My amps are McIntosh and they provide a handy wrench. None of my terminals were loose after two years. McIntosh uses very good terminals and I have very good spades on my speaker cables from Morrow.

By the way, hope you all know I'm not unhappy if you like spades and have never had a negative experience with them.  😁

OP Erik - I always enjoy your informative and well-informed posts. Thanks! 

There are 4 metallurgical options on the Viborg link you provided, 

Each one has a brief summary as follows: 

1) Gold Plated - 【Enhanced Sound Quality】

2) Pure Copper - 【Superior conductivity】

3) Rhodium Plated - 【High-quality construction】

4) Silver Plated - 【High-quality conductivity】

danmar123's reply above compared silver plated and pure copper, preferring the latter. 

What's best for sound quality? 

Over to All... 

Thanks again, 

Ken