Branded banana plugs.

SGWills · 29 Mar 2011 at 12:11

im in the process of upgrading the hifi in the little ones room, currently the speakers are just hooked up to the AV amp by the speaker cable, so i decided to tidy things up and get some plugs. is there any major difference between using branded plugs or the cheap as chips ones?

she is only 4 at the moment so i dont want to spend shed loads of money but is there any difference from getting 8 for £6 unbranded or £20-30 for 8 branded ?

robj20 · 29 Mar 2011 at 12:27

Not really, i used the cheap ones from ******s, barely any difference in resistance.

a1ex2001 · 29 Mar 2011 at 12:29

I'd save yourself the money, plugs really are money wasted unless you always swapping compnents out which I'm guessing your not for a 4 year old!

SGWills · 29 Mar 2011 at 12:38

reason i like plugs is incase i need to disconnect speakers, like a few weeks back as the was an incident where the little one managed to spill milkshake over the top of the speaker, so i had to take out and dry them and check there was no damage, being a 4 year old means i got the feeling there will be plenty of occassions like that.

for the sake of a couple of pound (plus i can reuse them at a later stage if needs be) it makes sense in my head

probedb · 29 Mar 2011 at 12:46

I think the only real different ones are the QED Airloc ones which vacuum seal but you need the machine to do it

a1ex2001 · 29 Mar 2011 at 13:29

SGWills said:
reason i like plugs is incase i need to disconnect speakers, like a few weeks back as the was an incident where the little one managed to spill milkshake over the top of the speaker, so i had to take out and dry them and check there was no damage, being a 4 year old means i got the feeling there will be plenty of occassions like that.

for the sake of a couple of pound (plus i can reuse them at a later stage if needs be) it makes sense in my head

that makes more sense than most peoples reasoning! I'd go cheap the extra cost doesn't get you much and I'm not thinking at 4 the little one will notice.

probedb said:
I think the only real different ones are the QED Airloc ones which vacuum seal but you need the machine to do it

Get a similar airloc effect for free with a glue gun!

lucid · 29 Mar 2011 at 14:13

From a pure sound quality point of view then hollow BFA (a.k.a. Z ) plugs sound the best. Screw fitting is better than solder. These are good

From a practical point of view... It's the stereo in your 4yr old's room...

MikeHunt79 · 29 Mar 2011 at 14:14

I don't really like banana plugs myself, but Monacor make some nice ones.

kg648 · 1 Apr 2011 at 23:31

I use the Chord company ones you can pick up for £2/piece http://www.hificables.co.uk/11295/Chord-Fitted-4mm-Banana-Plugs.html

kg648 · 1 Apr 2011 at 23:34

probedb said:
I think the only real different ones are the QED Airloc ones which vacuum seal but you need the machine to do it

In what way a difference may I ask? I have these on my front speakers at both ends of the cable also bi-wire'd so i spent a good £60 odd quid for 8 plugs + termination twice over.

Can't say to be honest I can tell a difference apart from the quality and the looks of course.

But as far as sound goes, can't tell a thing.

jellybeard999 · 1 Apr 2011 at 23:44

Cheap as chips ones tend to be fine, though don't hold cables well.

Nakamichi plugs are both good quality and excellent value - I'd not spend any more personally.

MikeHunt79 · 1 Apr 2011 at 23:53

kg648 said:
In what way a difference may I ask? I have these on my front speakers at both ends of the cable also bi-wire'd so i spent a good £60 odd quid for 8 plugs + termination twice over.

Can't say to be honest I can tell a difference apart from the quality and the looks of course.

But as far as sound goes, can't tell a thing.

Yep bi-wiring won't really help your sound quality much 99% of the time, bi-amping can however can make much bigger differences in sound quality when done properly...

Phill4321 · 2 Apr 2011 at 11:43

I also use the nakamichi plugs shown above and they are pretty good for what you pay. I bought some other cheap plugs before them and they wouldn't seal into the speaker terminal.

Chong Warrior · 2 Apr 2011 at 16:44

I bought the Nakamichi. Think I got 30 of them for about £10 delivered, great value

Branded Banana plugs work out very expensive for 7.1 home cinema systems, far better off spending that money on a better amp or speakers.

probedb · 2 Apr 2011 at 17:06

kg648 said:
In what way a difference may I ask? I have these on my front speakers at both ends of the cable also bi-wire'd so i spent a good £60 odd quid for 8 plugs + termination twice over.

Can't say to be honest I can tell a difference apart from the quality and the looks of course.

But as far as sound goes, can't tell a thing.

Sorry, where did I say it would make a difference to the sound?

I think the only real different ones are the QED Airloc ones which vacuum seal but you need the machine to do it

.:SAmSuNG:. · 2 Apr 2011 at 17:52

Iv also got some Nakamichi plugs coming next week. Think they cost around a tenner delivered for 24.

Participant · 2 Apr 2011 at 18:04

Chong Warrior said:
I bought the Nakamichi. Think I got 30 of them for about £10 delivered, great value

Branded Banana plugs work out very expensive for 7.1 home cinema systems, far better off spending that money on a better amp or speakers.

Does not compute. You did buy branded plugs?

I use the screw posts whenever possible OP, works out much cheaper. You say you might need to remove them but seriously, how long does it take to unscrew a post? Five seconds? And in any case you'll spend far more time buying and fitting them than you'll save in loosening screw posts over the next five years.

Ridiculous waste of time and money and no benefit to SQ, especially in a system like this.

All the above saying they spent a tenner, if you have screw posts, you've wasted ten pounds.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 2 Apr 2011 at 18:21

I think it was money well spent. Yes its alittle bit of a fiddle to first install them but after that its way easier. I understand you may not agree but thats just one persons opinion not fact.

Chong Warrior · 2 Apr 2011 at 19:11

Robbie G said:
Does not compute. You did buy branded plugs?

What doesn't compute?

Branded plugs like the QED Airlock cost approx £9.99 for a pair compared to the cheapo Nakamichi at approx £0.65 per pair.

Robbie G said:
I use the screw posts whenever possible OP, works out much cheaper. You say you might need to remove them but seriously, how long does it take to unscrew a post? Five seconds? And in any case you'll spend far more time buying and fitting them than you'll save in loosening screw posts over the next five years.

Ridiculous waste of time and money and no benefit to SQ, especially in a system like this.

All the above saying they spent a tenner, if you have screw posts, you've wasted ten pounds.

5 seconds to release a screw post? Maybe but how long to wire it back in? Then on a 7.1 system how much time is that as you wire up 14 different wires into the binding posts in a tiny space, all the while making sure no little stray wires touch each other. Took me almost half an hour to do it properly first time I setup my Yamaha amp and it was an untidy mess. Then the same needs doing on all 7 of the speakers...

Takes me literally 1 second to remove the cables now and same again to put them back in for the rest of the time I keep those cables. How exactly is it a ridiculous waste of time with no benefit?

A great investment of £10 in the time and stress saved if you ask me

Spending £10 per pair however is a different kettle of fish for home cinema setups. A 7.1 set would mean an investment of £140... like I said earlier, I think that kind of money would be better spent on other equipment.