Bananas Vs Spades???


Just curious. Someone on another thread mentioned that (WBT) banana terminations degrade the sound. Anyone ever compared spade terminations to bananas using the same speaker cables? Notice any differences? Sorry if this has been hashed over before.
128x128rja
Yes this has been gone over many times. I agree completely with Gmood1. Why put a possible source of degradation in the signal path? Doesn't signal purity make sense?
Whenever possible use bare wire. I'll found that there is little difference between a spade/banana. However, there is a difference between the types of connectors and whether they are crimped/screwed or soldered. If your amp or int. amp has really cheap binding posts you might want to replace with something better such as Superior Electric BP30/31 gold-plated binding posts. Really good and very affordable. Bill.
If you want the convenience of banana plugs, go with a quality brand of Z-style plugs. You'll get more surface area contact then with a spade or bare wire and a snug fit, though not as tight as can be achieved with the other two approaches. Don't bother with the regular-style of banana; the Z-plugs definitely give you a better fit.

You can see the difference between banana and Z here (this is a UK site):
http://www.hifi4less.com/Banana_Plugs.htm
I have the same cables (length, brand, model), one pair factory terminated with WBT spades and the other pair with bare wire. There is no contest. Bare wire is superior.

I also have factory terminated Kimber Select jumper cables with WBT bananas and other cables terminated with WBT bananas. Same thing. The banana connectors really do a number on the sound....don't know why, they just do. I have never liked a cable with WBT termination. Confusing, because Kimber uses them on all their top notch stuff.
"You'll get more surface area contact then with a spade or bare wire and a snug fit, though not as tight as can be achieved with the other two approaches".

Like I said ..I rest my case. ;-)