Spades Verses Bananas?

I've been on this site for many years and most of my advice is random, bad and knee-jerk, but the one thing I stand behind is that Banana's Rule, Spades Drool. 

The main reason is just reliability.  There may be monster class connectors like the Cardas or Mundorf connectors, but I've never had a banana plug come lose just from sitting around like I have spades. 

The issue repeatedly happens from the materials on the conectors being too hard to properly grip a hard metal spade. Nickel and rhodium plated being among the worst offenders. 

A decent Viborg banana will be tight and never let go unless  you trip a cable. 

erik_squires-Very funny, great quote.  "Bananas rule, spades drool."  When I started this thread last week, I knew there were many other conversations, but I like to get the current thinking.  Great stuff folks!

Bananas for me. It’s an ease of use thing. 

Plating has little to do with the "hardness" of the connector. That is a function of the base metal. If it is pure copper, that will be as soft as you will get.  The plating is so thin it really is inconsequential as far as overall harness in concerned.  Now, an ultra polished surface has less friction and may be a more "slippery" connection.

In any event, the Cardas binding post I noted above renders these issues moot.

I agree with most people here that good bananas are the way to go. You can often slightly spread out the banana & make it fit quite tightly & it will never come out unless you want it to.  
 

I think the primary reason spades come loose, especially with thicker speaker wires, is that inherently, the wire often must make an immediate or pretty quick 90 degree turn to accommodate where it’s going especially on the amp end.  This can put pressure on the connection & eventually loosen. Thus depending upon the application & the specific equipment involved, they can be the wrong choice.