Spades or bananas


Hi All,
Is there a real difference in sound between spades and bananas (lets say they are both WBT). I understand that spade will give better contact but is the difference audible?

Thanks
lgregoir

Showing 2 responses by karls

There isn't going to be any difference if you use quality stuff like WBT. Just be careful, because while almost any spade will make a good connection if it's crimped and tightened properly, I've seen banana plugs that were pretty cheesy and wouldn't trust them as far as I can throw them.
It doesn't need to be a good mechanical connection, it needs to be a good ELECTRICAL connection; there's a difference. You're flowing electrons, not water (although there were some idiotic water-filled cables on the market a few years back, maybe they need to be spade-terminated!). A large percentage of removable electrical connections are made with spring pressure, not screws. And the big advantage of spring-pressure contacts (including WBT bananas and the Neutrik Speakon connectors) is that they maintain consistent high contact pressure over time, and don't loosen due to thermal cycling, which is exactly what's needed for a good, reliable electrical connection. It's better than a thumb-tightened spade, and not any better or worse than a wrench-tightened spade, just different.