Should I use bare wires, pins, banana plugs or spades on my loudspeaker cables?
A simple question, but is there a simple answer?
The function of the loudspeaker terminal is to make a solid connection to the loudspeaker
cable with as little loss as possible.
You might think of pure resistance and that does play a role.
Even more important is the prevention of oxide and dirt between the contact surfaces.
What you want is a sufficiently large contact area that prevents oxidation and dirt build-up.
Another potential problem is oxidation of the stripped loudspeaker cable ends for that
might also cause problems.
Now let me first state that much of what I say here is based on what third parties have
told me.
I have no way of proving this in hard figures.
But I did establish a causal relation between products that claim to have these properties
and the sound quality that supposedly stems from it.
It was already in the seventies that oxygen free copper was developed.
The idea is that copper oxide will build up between the copper crystals in a cable.
As you might know, copper is the second best conductor we know - silver being number one.
But copper oxide is a semiconductor and will act as such, for instance as a diode.
This leads to non-linear behaviour at very low level.
By the way, the same goes for silver although it has lower chemical affinities for oxygen.
In those cases a silver alloy is used, further pollution and a higher inter-crystal oxidation
will occur.
For instance silver used for jewellery is alloyed up to 20% with copper.
Use that silver for audio cables and you end up with a harsh sound.
If you use pure silver, meaning a purety of nine decimal nines or better the harshness
will almost be gone and will be lower than that of other materials.
Anyway, what you want is the cable to be protected from oxygen also where the cable enters a
binding post, or terminator.
Most specialists I spoke preferred clamping or soldering using silver solder to mount
connectors.
Clamping bare wires in the speaker terminals might be the worst option since it is not
clamped all around and pieces are still exposed to air.
So three options are left: pins, banana plugs and spades.
Of these three the pin has the smallest contact area.
But they might be the only option on some amps and speakers.
Better and more convenient are the banana plugs.
Obviously the spades have the largest contact surface and the highest contact force.
As always quality plays a role too.
A well built banana plug might easily win from a cheap spade.
That has to do with the construction and the materials.
Construction wise your attention should go to the sturdiness, of course, but also check
if the connector will fit on your equipment.
The choice of materials is different from the materials used for cables.
Pure silver is no option for connectors since it is highly malleable and it is exposed to
air, thus will oxidate.
Therefore gold plating is often used to protect the underlying material.
On truly expensive connectors rhodium is used.
This is a very tough material that resists oxidation.
But at about 22 thousand Euros per kilogram it is also extremely expensive.
As with many - if not all - products simple rules can keep you away from inferior products:
building better products will usually cost more.
But is an expensive product always better?
No, There are still business men that sell you a castle in the air that, once on the
ground appears to be an inflatable plastic castle.
Don't fall for it.
Reputable companies have a reputation to lose will maintain a rational relationship between
quality and price.
But here again check whether that reputation stands for what you want.
Does their priority lie with sound quality, ease of use or looks.
The best way still is to find a dealer that agrees on taking the cables back if they don't
deliver.
Or he might have a set of demo cables that are already burned in that you buy and after
being convinced exchange for a set of new ones.
And if you're not convinced he will give back the money.
Also watch my video "Why my new audiophile cable won't sound better"
So as far as I am concerned spades have preference over banana plugs, that have preference over
pins that have preference over bare wire.
Whatever connectors you use, periodically disconnect and reconnect them again to clean
the contacts.
The same goes of all other cables, by the way.
How frequent?
Well that depends on the products you use, the environment and how critical you are.
I would do it once a year if I got the chance.
Usually I don't manage a year since there will always be a product visiting my house
that takes the place of my amp or speakers.
So, what should you do?
Well there is no single, easy answer.
Use your common sense and the info I gave you to go your own way.
Or have a dealer do it all for you so you can judge the total package.
What you shouldn't do is find cheap junk on the web that on paper performs better than
the best.
As the Dutch saying goes: it's not all gold that shines.
So keep informing yourself by reading the work of my writing colleagues, follow my work
by subscribing to this channel or following me on social media.
If you liked this video, please consider supporting the channel through Patreon or Paypal.
Any financial support is much appreciated.
The links are in the comments below this video in Youtube.
Help me to help even more people enjoy music at home by telling your friends on the web
about this channel.
I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com.
And whatever you do, enjoy the music.
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