2. cables
  3. 163171-155898

Spades vs Bananas vs Bare Wire Treated with Caig Deox

There's been a myriad of good discussion on terminations for high end speaker cable.  Spades vs Ban vs bare wire etc.  After much deliberation, the variability in termination contact material and the cost, my conclusion is to forgo any spade/ban termination and run bare 12 awg 200+ strand OFC copper wire.  I plan to simply treat the connection with Caig Deoxit D and Gold series.  

According to their literature the connection is protected on average 5 years.
https://caig.com/questions-answers/#toggle-id-2

Its not the neatest setup, but this is a set it and forget it home audio set-up with sub $5K in equipment in a climate controlled basement that stays 68 degrees year round.  I'm new here and in no way poo-pooing the decision for terminations.  For me, it seems like work I don't need to take on unless someone told be the channel output could be increased by a few db and the distortion decreased by 20+%. 

Anyone see an issue with this reasoning?

Other post history: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/spade-vs-bare-wire

cp1999
audio2design
1,351 posts
 
Don't do this.

Be aware that it’s best to tin the ends of bare wire with solder to reduce the possibility of breaking individual wire strands.

Do this
About the problem of breaking wires or stray wires shorting, a little dab of solder on the bare wire ends will normally take care of that.





glupson
7,842 posts
 
"...literally not one single person on the whole planet, is going to want my $7500 cable once I've chopped the terminations off. Couldn't give them away."

I'd take them for free (and screw my banana plugs on them ASAP).
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,379 posts
 
Meh...I do not use plugs. Bare wire removes another break and joint in the path. Instead of spending a fortune, look at Neotech OCC cable on PartsConnexion. There's a new thread on 'DIY Neotech' and search for mine with 'UP-OCC'.
hshifi
572 posts
 
Hello,
I would check out  Blue Jeans cables. https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/speaker/indexmob.htm
At least for your front three speakers and your subwoofer connection. I know people say it never hurts to ask, but it sometimes can especially here. If you have to use bare wire for cost reasons then learn how to tin wire. Use a decent solder with silver in it. Parts express might have some stuff you can use. Also you can dress it up with some nylon mesh covers or heat shrink to make it look nice and protect it a little. There are a lot of videos on making cable on YouTube. Good luck and I hope this helped. 
williewonka
3,063 posts
 
My preferences...

I prefer NOT to use bare wire, just because the contact area can be fraught with issues like micro arching, oxidation low area of contact i.e. depending on the wire used

I do prefer Bananas, but these too can have problems
  • the area of the connection on most bananas is very small due to additional clips that provide grip
  • Locking bananas actually have a very low area of conductivity with multiple points of contact
  • Spring clip style of bananas are NOT perfectly round, so their contact are is again quite small
  • the metal the bananas are made from is often brass or some copper alloy, which has a lower conductivity than copper 

Spades my be a requirement due to heavy cables, but their area of contact is only marginally better than most bananas, but there are several companies that offer solid copper spades or silver plated spades vs. the brass versions which are not the best choice

My preference of Banana:
KLE Innovations banana plugs - because they are
  • very well designed
  • silver plated - which I prefer
  • the only banana that is perfectly round and fit the binding post PERFECTLY
  • the 
  • the best sounding connector I have tried
  • their contact area is almost 1 square cm

The only drawback is they can work loose and only accept up to 10 gauge cables, so they may NOT be for everyone

Furez is another company that makes a very good fitting banana in plain copper or Silver plated copper

My preference of Spade:
  • Furez - because they are very well designed/manufactured
  • caters to different gauge wires
  • offers different connection methods, screw, crimp, solder
  • options of Silver plated or plain copper

BUT - this is just another opinion - FWIW :-)

Enjoy - Steve

More to discover