Best Speaker Connection

MikeT.

MikeT.

My Name is Flounder
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I like banana plugs for speaker connections. Question to the group based on your experience. I’ve got good gold-plated Z-type banana plugs with two screw down points on each plug for bare wire, unlikely for both screws to loosen at the same time and cause problems. But I’m a believer in Murphy’s Law. So what say you to soldering my tin-plated Belden wire to the Z-plug bananas? This assumes I can make a decent solder connection which is 85% likely ;)
 
I had the audioquest Z-plugs with the set screws. They are great as long as the wire gauge is large enough. An single run of DH Labs T-14 in them required doubling the bare end of the wire over or it would slip out. Trying to tighten the set screws down enough on single wire resulted in the set screws going all the way through. What gauge is the Belden?
 
You can always tin the end with solder then use the set screws as intended.
This works with wire that has small gauge wire strands
 
Try1256 said:
I had the audioquest Z-plugs with the set screws. They are great as long as the wire gauge is large enough. An single run of DH Labs T-14 in them required doubling the bare end of the wire over or it would slip out. Trying to tighten the set screws down enough on single wire resulted in the set screws going all the way through. What gauge is the Belden?
Click to expand...
@Try1256 , the Belden is 16 gauge. Your DH Labs T-14 is 14 guage from what I read (T-14=14 gauge, makes sense). Maybe @MrEd is onto something. Maybe flatten the tinned copper bundle, then solder the flattened end so the set screw wouldn’t slip off the side. You think silver solder? I have some on hand.
 
Wntrmute2 said:
I would use these ferrule connectors.
Click to expand...


These are crimp on through Amazon but I don’t have a crimping tool. Dang!

OEM Systems Pro-Wire Solderless Crimp-On Banana Plugs, 16 Pack (IW-16PLUG)
 
MikeT. said:
@Try1256 , the Belden is 16 gauge. Your DH Labs T-14 is 14 guage from what I read (T-14=14 gauge, makes sense). Maybe @MrEd is onto something. Maybe flatten the tinned copper bundle, then solder the flattened end so the set screw wouldn’t slip off the side. You think silver solder? I have some on hand.
Click to expand...
Just strip a little bit more of the insulation off and fold the wire back on the insulated wire. Slide it into the barrel off the banana and tighten the set screws. The bare wire will make the connection and the insulated part will add enough thickness so it wont slip out.
 
MikeT. said:
@Try1256 , the Belden is 16 gauge. Your DH Labs T-14 is 14 guage from what I read (T-14=14 gauge, makes sense). Maybe @MrEd is onto something. Maybe flatten the tinned copper bundle, then solder the flattened end so the set screw wouldn’t slip off the side. You think silver solder? I have some on hand.
Click to expand...
Silver solder is what I use, yes.
 
MikeT. said:
And with solder, correct?
Click to expand...
If you have a high pressure ratcheting style crimper and the correct die for your connector size, there shouldn't be any need for solder. This assumes a copper connector, not brass.

Something like this works quite well, the pressure is so high that the wire and connector become one, literally melted together, they can never be separated. If you release the tool and quickly touch the crimp spot it's briefly hot enough to burn your fingers.
 
There is chatter around the "net" that if you solder the stranded wire before you clamp it down with a set screw the soft solder can flow under the pressure leading to a loose connection in the future. Don't know the validity of that argument but I do like the security of the crimped ferrules.
 

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Digging around in my parts drawers, I found no fewer than four (4) sets of banana plugs. One better set, which I’m not sure why I didn’t use last time around, has set screws and a well to flow solder. And they are heavy, could be gold plated copper but we all know mistakes can be made buying electronics by the pound.

Honestly, I actually do remember why I didn’t use them. I had some Crutchfield flat 16 guage wire, before the Belden arrived, screwed down tightly and covered very nicely in heat shrink. The cables sounded great and I’m not sure if the cable sounded great or the connectors were very good. In my excitement to get the Belden installed quickly I just snipped the connectors off, leaving them in the heat shrink. They are now stripped down and ready for the Belden.

@Ernie , I see crimp on, duh.
 
I bought them from my local dealer, for very little money. They are available online from the major US dealers. I have used them with silver solder, when asked, but I crimped them for my own use.

I have a pair of Tangent RS-4 speakers that won't take a standard US banana plug, whether it's the 'leaf' type, or the one with the swell in the centre. For those I use the Deltron 4mm, which have set screws. Also pretty inexpensive.
 
MikeT. said:
And they are heavy, could be gold plated copper but we all know mistakes can be made buying electronics by the pound.
Click to expand...
If they are brass you can't crimp them, brass will crack or shatter under that kind of pressure, it is harder than copper. I guess there could be special hardened steel dies that are capable of crimping brass, but I'm not aware of any, I've only crimped the relatively softer copper connectors.
 
I'm of the opinion that the ultrasonically-welded bananas used on the Blue Jeans Cable speaker cables are about the best you can do if you are going the banana route. If you don't want to spend that kind of money but want something mechanically secure, I'm awfully fond of the Pomona dual-banana plugs used on scientific / laboratory equipment.
 
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