To bare or not to bare

[nightflier]

I was doing some auditioning this past weekend and one of the amps was not making a good connection with my favorite speaker wire. So I did the unthinkable and stripped the bananas, at the urging of a technician friend of mine on the condition that if they did not sound better he would buy the cables from me. Actually, the banana ends were already a little beat up, so I didn't mind so much.

Well guess what? It turns out that they did sound better. What I did was compare one cable against the other before stripping both, so I was not able to test for imaging, stereo, etc., but it did sound better. And the bananas weren't cheapies either, they were soldered on BFA bananas - I like those because I can easily readjust the tightness by just slipping the tip of my pliers in the groove.

Anyhow, now I'm wondering what causes this. I've been told before that spades are usually better when they are soldered on. I also remember discussing this with Mapleshade some time back when I wanted to use their double helix with crimped on bananas and the tech recommended I not do that. Anyhow, what do others here think about this?

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, I'm all about "naked" -- fewer transitions (think about wave theory and medium transitions) means cleaner signal.

[blackraven]

The makers of Magnepan speakers push bare ended speaker wire, one less connection they have to make. I was at their factory to pick up some spade connectors that they sell but they talked me out of them and told me to use bare wire. Go figure, they lost a small sale.
I tend to agree with them, why would you want to put anything in the signal path? The less connections the better- less signal loss and less distortion.

[icarus]

In all my years with home audio i have always gone with the bare wires. just eases the mind being naked. Things just work better naked. But i must say even with clipping I have yet to notice much of a difference, if any at all. Its just noe more pointless thing to have to buy.

[JohnMichael]

Bananas' at the amp end and bare at the speaker. I would go bare at the amp end if the binding posts were stronger and I was not using flat ribbon speaker cables.

[Resident Loser]

...the K.I.S.S. principle...

Keep It Super Simple...

Or if you're feeling less than friendly: keep it simple stupid...

jimHJJ(...either usually works equally well...)

[JoeE SP9]

I've always thought that spade lugs sounded much better than banana plugs. My cables are to large to use a bare wire connection.

[hermanv]

Banannas use a spring to make a connection (look at the "leaves" on the male post), spring metal, often Berrylium Copper or Phospor Bronze might not be the best choice for sound quality. To me it seems a little silly to buy cables with a very high metal purity only to then connect them with an intentional mixture of alloys any of which has lower conductivity. Worse some banannas have a floating cage on the center post thereby making two connections per bananna, three if you count the one to the cable.

Bare wire will oxidize/corrode, true for either silver or copper.

A connector allows a plating to be applied. My opinion is that a Rhodium or Palladium plated lug soldered on the wire will last longest and sound best of all the options. If you believe in that sort of thing; listening test tend to show both nickel and gold as not the best possible choice for sound. The gold sounds OK, but rubs off in no time because it's soft and usually applied in microscopic layer thickness. Although a plating could also be thought of as an alloy, the thickness or distance the electrons travel through it is miniscule.

I guess the best answer would be to solder the speaker cable directly to the tube or transistor at one end and the crossover at the other. No connectors at all, not very convenient though.

[JoeE SP9]

I use Kimber Postmaster spades soldered with wonder solder. Sweet!

[PeruvianSkies]

I can completely relate to you on this matter and I have gone round and round with my own variety of speakers and cables and I have found that the spades work incredibly well on my PS Audio Xstreams simply because its an enormous speaker that requires a really tight connection to keep them stable. They latch onto my PSB Platinums like a baby to a bottle. I have yet to experience any problems on that end, but as far as the other speakers are concerned as well as the amp end of the connection that is a different story.

Usually spades are the most difficult on the back of amps or receivers due to the fact that they have to be angled and there are usually alot of things already happening on the back of amps/receivers such as other cables, power cables, etc etc. So I have gone with the Monster double banana plugs that enable you to connect both +/- at the same time and this enables the cables to stay in much tighter and I have not had any problems with these, but I did have problems prior with just the ordinary bananas and certainly better than when I had just the bare wire. Of course another key point is to make sure that all the strands are being used inside the connection, but all of my speaker wire is huge guage....I use the PS Audio Xstreams and Cobalt Cables, which are probably two of the thickest cables out there.

[JoeE SP9]

When you use separate power amps there is no problem with connecting spade lugs. My mono amps have only 3 connections (power, line in, speaker out). The stereo amps have 5 (power, 2 line in, 2 speaker out).

For those who have to use banana's, the ones that lock will provide the tightest most secure connection. The same goes for RCA's. The locking ones provide better more secure connections.

[audio_dude]

I, of all things, use an electrical extension cord with the ends cut off, bare wire connecting to the amp and speaker...

(I like the power cord solution as there is a lot of material between the wires, meaning no crosstalk...)

[AudioBack]

I can't imagine it sounding too much better not to use them. I used banana plugs in testing just for ease of switching. If there was a difference, it wasn't night and day. My banana plugs wouldn't stay on anymore and couldn't be used and I never bought another set. I think they're a waste of money unless you disconnect your stuff alot. If the plugs are less of a conductor than your wire which is highly possible then you might notice a difference. Its always better anyway to cut out the middle man. The banana plug in this case.

[royphil345]

Clean, bare copper wire will sound at least as good as using any type of terminal, if not better. The problem is that copper oxidizes fairly quickly compared to the materials most terminals are made of, and even terminals will require cleaning eventually. You'll probably have to clean the wire ends or chop a bit off every now and then... Not something you'd want to do often with an expensive set of wires. Soldered spades or locking bananas would probably insure a better, maintenance-free connection over a longer period of time, and could be easily cleaned when the time comes.

[nightflier]

Clean, bare copper wire will sound at least as good as using any type of terminal, if not better. The problem is that copper oxidizes fairly quickly compared to the materials most terminals are made of, and even terminals will require cleaning eventually. You'll probably have to clean the wire ends or chop a bit off every now and then... Not something you'd want to do often with an expensive set of wires. Soldered spades or locking bananas would probably insure a better, maintenance-free connection over a longer period of time, and could be easily cleaned when the time comes.

I have noticed that my old Home Depot wire that I had laying in the closet is now all oxidized. Interestingly, this was in-wall wire - I can just imagine having to rerun all this wire through the walls every few years - I bet that's something custom installers won't tell you...

On a side note, how much does oxidation affect sound? I know that heavy oxidation would cause a barrier at the ends eventually, but as long as the ends are clean, how serious is oxidation inside the wires (I have clear wires, so I can see this easily)?

For what it's worth, I'm going to use bare wire from now on, unless they come with spades soldered on. For all their ease & functionality, bananas are also the most fragile connections I know.

[royphil345]

I have no idea what effect oxidation inside the casing might have. With all the attention audiophiles pay to capacitance etc.. in wire casings... you'd think there might be some effect. I refuse to worry about it... LOL

I've just been using heavily solder tinned 12 gauge wires. Makes the most bullet-proof pin connectors I've ever used. The solder seeps under the casing a bit and acts like a strain relief. Probably helps to seal out air. The connections seem more maintenance-free than when I used bare wire. I've heard many say the solder could degrade the signal. Although, I figure with the hundreds of solder connections in my components... how much worse could things get???