How much difference could a simple Banana plug make?


Well - I've tried several different types of Banana connector over the past 8-10 years and although there were subtle improvements from one plug to another, there was never any "remarkable" improvements.

That was - until yesterday !

My - how things changed :-)

If you search the forums, you'll find several posts and reviews by me touting the benefits attained by using products from KLE Innovations. I like them a lot and consider them among the best products in the market.

The  KLEI™Classic Harmony Banana Connector/Adaptor is not just "another Banana Plug"

https://kleinnovations.com/kle-innovations-klei-products/klei-harmony-banana/klei-classic-harmony-ba...

To start with, it is designed to be multi functional - you can use it as...
- A single Banana Connector
- A stack-able Bananas Connector - e.g. it allows you to easily attach jumpers  when connecting a single cable to a bi-wired speaker 
- A Banana Adapter - e.g. as a temporary connection of bi-wired cables to a single wire speaker i.e. without leaving one set not connected.

There may also be other uses that I am yet to discover.

What makes these plug so special
1. they boast an impressive IACS conductivity rating >101%  - that's impressive for a copper product
2. they are engineered to allow another banana plug to be inserted into the insulated housing
3. they have perfectly round spring pins - most spring pins are not completely round
4. they fit into all of the banana terminals I have tried with an unforced "snugness" that grips the speaker and amp terminals securely.
5. they are dead simple to connect using solder
6. removal is also very easy if you want to try them on a different cables

KLE Innovators state they can be crimped, but that's not something I would personally try - perhaps that have a special crimping tool?

So how did this unassuming looking little banana improve sound quality ?...
1. the most noticeable improvement was the width and depth of the image - much bigger than my room
2. overall clarity was front and center and added some nice "sparkle" in the high end
3. instrument placement and isolation within the image was improved
4. The dynamics were noticeably faster.
5. additional texture in bass lines were very nicely reproduced

I think the best genre of music that shows off the full capability of these bananas is classical - even my worst recording sounded very spacious and allowed be to discern the distinct boundaries of first/second viollins, violas, cellos and double bass sections within the orchestra and the added depth placed brass, woodwind and percussion in equally isolated spaces front to back within the image

"Is This Love", by Bob Marley was cavernous and sounded like it was being performed in a stadium!

These connectors also excel in allowing micro details such as subtle venue reverberations and reflections to be more noticeable than with any other banana connector I have used in the past.

If the speaker cables in your system utilizes a more standard Banana plug -  I'd highly recommend replacing them with the KLEI Bananas.

Cost is $135 Aussie Dollars (about $100 US)

What did I use before these?

The most recent was a spring connector from ebay like this
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/4x-Acoustic-Copper-Silver-Plated-APS5-Speaker-Cable-Banana-Plug-Connector/30...

Other "named" products included Spring Banana plugs from Neotech and a pure copper connector from Furez - none of which performed to the level of this plug

There are not many products that improve sound this much for $100 - go on - give em a try!

Back to the tunes :-)

Steve
williewonka
@yping  After some additional settling in time and use, I believe I can hear more details using the KLEI™Classic Harmony Banana Connectors vs other expensive bananas that I have used or bare tinned wire with no connectors. This is contrary to the way I thought all would turn out but I trust my ears.
@williewonka I have not tried you "QUESTION" from above however as soon as I have some time I'll definitely try it...thanks for the suggestion. I'm always open to suggestions...
@yping - No real change from my comments in my other posts above.

They are sounding very detailed and quick - probably the least amount of burn-in I've applied to any of the KLE Innovations connectors (i.e. Bananas and RCA's) - approx 130 hours - but they also improved things from the get-go - they just did everything better after the burn-in.

As I posted above - these bananas on your gZero6 would make a considerable improvement.

Regards...


lak, contrary or not, that is a terrific and can you describe in a more detail the sound improvement.

williewonka, you still seem really happy with the sound improvement... very detailed, quick, and fast burn-in.

I read that a fellow inserted the classic harmony banana on to a pair of Nordost blue heaven speaker cables that already have bananas and the sound improved, quite noticeably. That is pretty amazing and sounds like the effect that Bybee quantum thing-a-me-bobs have, but it would appear even more so and much cheaper. https://kleinnovations.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/20171216_KLEI-Classic-Harmony-Banana-by-SS_1.1.pdf

Maybe this is a quantum device in the form of a banana. Anyway, it all sounds good and worthwhile. Sounds like it’s time for the gzero6 cables to be quantumized and it sounds like a good thing.


@yping for a lack of a better explanation I would say that the microdetails sounded more focused, as perhaps the rest of the music. I'm hesitant to say anymore because after several days of listening to the speaker cables with the KLEI™Classic Harmony Banana Connectors I removed an interconnect and replaced it with the new Cerious Technologies Matrix interconnect. 
@yping - I read that review also - seems like they provide a better connection - perhaps eliminating the possibility of micro arching?

I cannot think of any other reason.

It could be a case of - hey I just got something new and YES - it sounds better.

KL Eichmann does tend to work wonders with his products :-)

Regards - steve