One thing I would like to point out regarding the contact area on the WBT spades shown here, is that their main conducting part is the gold plated side on the back and not the silver colored part at the front shown in the video. In between those two pieces of metal, their is insulation. And the gold main conducting part at the back has 4 small bumps that will make the only contact with the mating terminal, so regarding the contact surface area we might have a second thought, at least for the WBT spades? That being said, I’m also using WBT spades on my cables 😊.
Indeed, you've got it right. The fact that the creator of this video is making such a big mistake makes me take everything he says with a grain of salt.
I am amazed how cheaply made these connectors are today compared with the spade and banana jacks that were available from Monster Cable in the 1980s. I have a stash of these old connectors that far exceed the quality of the modern connectors. By quality I mean the amount of metal in the connector. My old connectors weight at least twice what the newer connectors I have seen. More metal lowers the resistance of the connections. The WBT connector you were showing is to small to attach my Monster double 8 gauge speaker cables to. If I were to need a new connector I would go to a large electrical supply store and get the biggest connector that will fit the speaker/amp and then gold plate it. Good video and advice.
Banana plugs are the way to go, spades are a PIA if you like to switch gear every so often. And though there is the contact area benefit for spades, there won’t be discernible audible benefit.
The know-it-alls are hilarious. You could make a video describing the back of your own hand and some yahoo would claim that they knew more about it than you do. It was a straightforward, helpful video that described the differences well. Thank you for posting it.
I never knew that. I always thought it was just a matter of personal preference plus I was led to believe most people use banana plugs. If this is the case, then from now on I will switch to spades everytime. Thanks very much for your video, this has been an education!
What you say about the spades is not true. The spades do not make contact with the entire surface of the fork. The spades have four stamped contact points on the contact surface which make contact. My excuse, but do you need glases? And... about the banana plugs you say that it is not ideal to have more contact points...if that is true, than why would WBT make 4 contact points on the contact surface for the spades? You can find the pictures of these 4 contact points on the WRT spades on the internet.
I think soft copper spades with direct gold plating make the best contact. Over time those spades form some sort of airtight bond with amp/speaker terminals.
He pointed out that the banana clip can't possibly make a "tight" connection. Yet in basically all other connections between the equipment, they're plug-in friction connections. RCA _and_ XLR both rely on plugging a terminal in far enough to make contact. Maybe the tiny air gaps make a difference? I really doubt it, and when it comes down to it, the banana plug makes way more contact than a spade would--there's way more surface area on a banana plug than a spade. Quite frankly, I would not use a spade unless it was required; like the posts are up against a wall and normal banana plugs won't fit. I'd still probably just find lower clearance banana plugs or just wire it straight to the post at that point. p.s. you don't have to tell me I'm dumb and don't know what I'm talking about. I already know that I don't _really_ know what I'm talking about. I'm just hypothesizing. If you have something constructive to add, respond, otherwise, just thumb my comment down (I'm definitely not trying to say he's wrong in anything he said--just adding to).
THANKS Mr .. kRISPY- AUDIO ... I am very satisfied and been your video is particularly interesting and clear in its explanation; it freed me from the uncertainties of wiring that assailed me. Thanks to you I will be able to make the most appropriate choice.
Really appreciated you showing us the advantages and disadvantages of each connector, but is one actually better than the other when it comes to the reproduction of the sound ?
Nice try, but perhaps you should emphasize that fundamentally it's all about minimising impedance at the connection - and that is achieved by having a large surface area and a strong clamping force. So for reliability the spade connectors win every time, whereas banana plugs allow an ok connection but really quick relocation of equipment, if that's important.
i dont mean to be offtopic but does anyone know of a method to get back into an instagram account? I stupidly forgot my login password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me
@Alvaro Hendrix i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im trying it out now. I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
Nice teview! In my occasion i don't know what to use because every summer i move the tv rack, so i must disconnect my yamaha a-s501 or the speakers.Any suggestions?Now i have bare wire.Which is best for every year disconnect?
Hey Andreas thanks for the comments. I would still say that every summer is not too often, and personally would still go with spades. If they've been a bar wire connection for a while, I would treat with something like De-oxit before terminating with the spades, or trim the ends and re-strip just to ensure you're getting the best termination. Enjoy!
@@krispyaudio Thank's for the respond!! Until now i prefered bananas,without ever use them,only by sight.I will buy new cables (2x2.5mm or 2x4mm) with pre-installed bananas or spades (if i can).Well iam afraid that every summer connect disconnect, the binding posts of the amplifier will suffer.The back side of the amplifier is not very rigid, I think.Some say that for spades you must tight them really hard with wrench. Is it true?I want to choose a way that will suffer as little as possible for the binding post (they are plastic).For the speakers do you think bare wire is good? due to permanent connection.
too bad you can not install spades on for example denon or marantz avrs since u can not remove the screw completely and the plastic around the terminal can not be removed
No. That second plastic pin has absolutely nothing to do with any stress. It just prevents pluging of that banana into a EU type 220-230VAC wall outlet with 4mm round holes.
Actually it does both (WBT confirms this). You’ll notice that its position is designed to fit exactly adjacent to the WBT binding post without any freeplay, which eliminates the ability for it to sag.
@@krispyaudio OK. But it doesn't fit exactly. There is still a gap about 0.5mm between a binding post nut and that pin. Please notice that the nut is not just a cylinder shape but it's expanded at an outer end. Besides, I believe, if that pin really was for support it would most likely had some U or V profile on top to match with that round nut.
@@IliyaOsnovikov like I said, WBT, the company that makes these actual connectors, verified this themselves. Not sure why we should "believe you" over them but ok.....
@@krispyaudio There are two good reasons to trust me: 1. What I am saying is a common sense. 2. I am seasoned mechanical engineer who knows a thing or two about design. However, you may feel free to believe in anything else.
@@IliyaOsnovikov hopefully you’ll see this? I’ve seen you comment here, PS Audio, and AudioHolics as well, everywhere I’ve been when it comes to this spade/banana debate. You seem to know your stuff, so I thought I’d ask. I noticed you refer to using a spade with soft copper with direct gold plating. I believe I’am using one described like that, in fact it’s the WBT 0681 CU 5/16”, like the one Krispy Audio is showing here. Based on your assessment, is this the same type you’re referring to?? Reason for asking is I don’t want to worry about it becoming loose over time. I tightened my binding posts as tight as I could with my fingers, seems pretty secure now, but over time???
One thing I would like to point out regarding the contact area on the WBT spades shown here, is that their main conducting part is the gold plated side on the back and not the silver colored part at the front shown in the video. In between those two pieces of metal, their is insulation. And the gold main conducting part at the back has 4 small bumps that will make the only contact with the mating terminal, so regarding the contact surface area we might have a second thought, at least for the WBT spades? That being said, I’m also using WBT spades on my cables 😊.
Indeed, you've got it right. The fact that the creator of this video is making such a big mistake makes me take everything he says with a grain of salt.
Great video. I use spade connectors due to the reason you pointed out regarding the spade connector.
Thanks so much for saying Stephen, I really appreciate it.
First video i've seen in the differences between the two. Very informative thx!
Hey Doug glad you found this helpful!
I am amazed how cheaply made these connectors are today compared with the spade and banana jacks that were available from Monster Cable in the 1980s. I have a stash of these old connectors that far exceed the quality of the modern connectors. By quality I mean the amount of metal in the connector. My old connectors weight at least twice what the newer connectors I have seen. More metal lowers the resistance of the connections. The WBT connector you were showing is to small to attach my Monster double 8 gauge speaker cables to. If I were to need a new connector I would go to a large electrical supply store and get the biggest connector that will fit the speaker/amp and then gold plate it. Good video and advice.
I believe another reason for that plastic peg is so that the connector is IEC certified, meaning you can't plug it into a wall socket.
Hey Tim good point. I hadn’t considered that being in Australia, but some of the overseas power plugs would certainly allow for insertion...
Banana plugs are the way to go, spades are a PIA if you like to switch gear every so often. And though there is the contact area benefit for spades, there won’t be discernible audible benefit.
The know-it-alls are hilarious. You could make a video describing the back of your own hand and some yahoo would claim that they knew more about it than you do. It was a straightforward, helpful video that described the differences well. Thank you for posting it.
Appreciate you saying this Alton, thanks.
I never knew that. I always thought it was just a matter of personal preference plus I was led to believe most people use banana plugs. If this is the case, then from now on I will switch to spades everytime. Thanks very much for your video, this has been an education!
What you say about the spades is not true. The spades do not make contact with the entire surface of the fork. The spades have four stamped contact points on the contact surface which make contact. My excuse, but do you need glases? And... about the banana plugs you say that it is not ideal to have more contact points...if that is true, than why would WBT make 4 contact points on the contact surface for the spades? You can find the pictures of these 4 contact points on the WRT spades on the internet.
I think soft copper spades with direct gold plating make the best contact. Over time those spades form some sort of airtight bond with amp/speaker terminals.
If you use a screw solution, why dont you use the bare cable to attach to the binding post?
He pointed out that the banana clip can't possibly make a "tight" connection. Yet in basically all other connections between the equipment, they're plug-in friction connections. RCA _and_ XLR both rely on plugging a terminal in far enough to make contact. Maybe the tiny air gaps make a difference? I really doubt it, and when it comes down to it, the banana plug makes way more contact than a spade would--there's way more surface area on a banana plug than a spade.
Quite frankly, I would not use a spade unless it was required; like the posts are up against a wall and normal banana plugs won't fit. I'd still probably just find lower clearance banana plugs or just wire it straight to the post at that point.
p.s. you don't have to tell me I'm dumb and don't know what I'm talking about. I already know that I don't _really_ know what I'm talking about. I'm just hypothesizing. If you have something constructive to add, respond, otherwise, just thumb my comment down (I'm definitely not trying to say he's wrong in anything he said--just adding to).
THANKS Mr .. kRISPY- AUDIO ... I am very satisfied and been
your video is particularly interesting and clear in its explanation; it freed me from the uncertainties of wiring that assailed me. Thanks to you I will be able to make the most appropriate choice.
Really appreciated you showing us the advantages and disadvantages of each connector, but is one actually better than the other when it comes to the reproduction of the sound ?
Nice try, but perhaps you should emphasize that fundamentally it's all about minimising impedance at the connection - and that is achieved by having a large surface area and a strong clamping force. So for reliability the spade connectors win every time, whereas banana plugs allow an ok connection but really quick relocation of equipment, if that's important.
Tim E thanks, yes that’s the implication of the greater surface area 👍
i dont mean to be offtopic but does anyone know of a method to get back into an instagram account?
I stupidly forgot my login password. I would appreciate any tricks you can offer me
@Abdullah Aarav instablaster =)
@Alvaro Hendrix i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im trying it out now.
I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
@Alvaro Hendrix it worked and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy!
Thanks so much you really help me out!
great and really useful video, thanks a lot
Nice teview! In my occasion i don't know what to use because every summer i move the tv rack, so i must disconnect my yamaha a-s501 or the speakers.Any suggestions?Now i have bare wire.Which is best for every year disconnect?
Hey Andreas thanks for the comments. I would still say that every summer is not too often, and personally would still go with spades. If they've been a bar wire connection for a while, I would treat with something like De-oxit before terminating with the spades, or trim the ends and re-strip just to ensure you're getting the best termination. Enjoy!
@@krispyaudio Thank's for the respond!! Until now i prefered bananas,without ever use them,only by sight.I will buy new cables (2x2.5mm or 2x4mm) with pre-installed bananas or spades (if i can).Well iam afraid that every summer connect disconnect, the binding posts of the amplifier will suffer.The back side of the amplifier is not very rigid, I think.Some say that for spades you must tight them really hard with wrench. Is it true?I want to choose a way that will suffer as little as possible for the binding post (they are plastic).For the speakers do you think bare wire is good? due to permanent connection.
Spades are cool but they have a tendency to come loose at the speaker end.
Just hard wire direct to the binding post. Less joints, less resistance more music. Simple.
too bad you can not install spades on for example denon or marantz avrs since u can not remove the screw completely and the plastic around the terminal can not be removed
No. That second plastic pin has absolutely nothing to do with any stress. It just prevents pluging of that banana into a EU type 220-230VAC wall outlet with 4mm round holes.
Actually it does both (WBT confirms this). You’ll notice that its position is designed to fit exactly adjacent to the WBT binding post without any freeplay, which eliminates the ability for it to sag.
@@krispyaudio OK. But it doesn't fit exactly. There is still a gap about 0.5mm between a binding post nut and that pin. Please notice that the nut is not just a cylinder shape but it's expanded at an outer end. Besides, I believe, if that pin really was for support it would most likely had some U or V profile on top to match with that round nut.
@@IliyaOsnovikov like I said, WBT, the company that makes these actual connectors, verified this themselves. Not sure why we should "believe you" over them but ok.....
@@krispyaudio There are two good reasons to trust me:
1. What I am saying is a common sense.
2. I am seasoned mechanical engineer who knows a thing or two about design.
However, you may feel free to believe in anything else.
@@IliyaOsnovikov hopefully you’ll see this? I’ve seen you comment here, PS Audio, and AudioHolics as well, everywhere I’ve been when it comes to this spade/banana debate. You seem to know your stuff, so I thought I’d ask. I noticed you refer to using a spade with soft copper with direct gold plating. I believe I’am using one described like that, in fact it’s the WBT 0681 CU 5/16”, like the one Krispy Audio is showing here. Based on your assessment, is this the same type you’re referring to?? Reason for asking is I don’t want to worry about it becoming loose over time. I tightened my binding posts as tight as I could with my fingers, seems pretty secure now, but over time???