You are spot on. I bought Fospower plugs myself and so far I have had 3 go faulty on me. one of the banana ends broke off into my terminal and that was one big pain in the ass to get out. This whole time I have been blaming myself for making some kind of mistake while I was assembling them. This video is a huge relief for me. Thank you for sharing my man!
No issues with mine so far 1 year in but it doesn't mean it can't happen. Just annoyed that I bought the exact plugs you mentioned not to buy but this was a year ago so it is what it is.
No issues here either. But then again I don't continuously unplug and plug in my banana plugs. BTW, why would someone that has 25 K speakers scrimp on bananas and look at Amazon for the cheapest ones in the first place.
My Fospower plugs are still working fine. Did have two (out of 25) with a setscrew issue. Contacted them, and they promprly mailed replacements. Not claiming that their the best, but so far so good.
I don’t unplug my speaker wire at all but I do use banana plugs regardless. My reasoning is quite simple. For most AV Receivers, they are so crammed these days that it’s next to impossible to easily reach the binding section and slip in the bare wire. And even after getting it barely in, it just looks messy to me and will be hard to verify if I got the polarity correct since there is usually no color coding on the wire. So yeah…. I’ll sacrifice possibly a little performance for convenience & neatness but it’s worth it.
I'm using Sewell SW-29863 deadbolt banana plugs and they work very well with no issues. SVS Ultra set up with Emotiva amps. I watched your SVS reviews before my purchase and I am thrilled with them. Thanks for your great reviews.
I have had both the Sewel and amazon plugs. Although they look very similar the spring portion of the Sewel has been much better in my experience. With repeated use the Amazon arced portion would collapse and lose connection. I have had to rearc these with a small screwdriver but they are very fragile. The Selwel have fewer arced strips but tend to stay flexable and remain in contact better.
Thanks, Barrett! Anyone familiar with your channel knows you are fair to a fault and would never tell your subscribers to avoid a product unless there was a severe issue. Like you, I review A/V gear and therefore do use banana plugs but it boggles the mind no one [to my knowledge] has made a super-simple yet super-reliable option that are reasonably affordable. I've had similar issues with a set of plugs using this same design. I now use a simpler type where you feed the speaker wire through a hole in the base of the plud and just clip off any excess. It's not quite as elegant but it works and any issues will be obvious and easily resolved.
use the bananas without the outside "cover", take the time to solder inside, then heatshrink the outside with respective colour code. your welcome. the sewell and the amazon basic plugs damage the wire and often break off the strands. they are problimatic in a different way
This. In general, always prefer soldered connections to screwed ones, for any type of plug. Sometimes I see screw-type RCA plugs, on Amazon for example, and I'm like "what the fuck, that can't possibly last".
Very interesting video. I had been using fospower plugs without issue. Maybe one had the threads break but that was more user error. I recently needed some more and got an even cheaper different brand. Something always sounded off and only after I took measurements in rew and applied fdw to remove some reflections, I saw that the cheaper brand was having less output in the highs. It explained the differences I heard. I had 3 on hand, fospower, sewell and another off brand. Both fospower and sewell measured similarly and sounded fuller in the highs compared to the off brand one.
I tried 16 gauge bare speaker wire but didn’t get a good connection with my old Yamaha AVR. I bought a pack of 5 pair of Fospower plugs on Amazon. One was defective. Used the other 8 with one left over. Got good connections for 2 pairs of speakers. Plugged in okay and the speakers sound good. I haven’t unplugged them yet. We’ll see how things go. I tried Seawell speaker cables on another system and the banana plugs kept loosening, so I wouldn’t recommend them. Thanks for sharing your experience. Rock on.
Agreed! I also don't like Banana Plugs with metal sheaths. If you accidentally touch them together you can shut-off your amp into protection mode or worse, short out a channel.
@chrisdrew9767 I've got three different brands that are conductive and will continue to avoid all metal sheath plugs, even anodized. There's no need for them.
Thanks man. These were actually on my Amazon wishlist so I deleted them and added the Sewells. I use Sewell's deadbolt connectors running from my Denon stereo receiver and they work great. I'm running high level outs to a powered sub, so using banana plugs for the speaker connection and hooking in the copper wire for the sub run made sense.
Spec, thank you for sharing this video. I am in the process of upgrading my HTS and I wanted to have Banana Plugs included in the revamp and I did come across these plugs and have them in my SAVED lists. I was a lil skeptical of them and I am glad I found your video before I pulled the trigger. I came across the SEWELL plugs and I may go with them. Thank you again for saving me a possible headache with those Fospower plugs. Appreciate you, bro!
I’ve had problems with these too, set screws cross threading when loosening among other problems. The speaker snap banana plugs are the best I’ve found so far
Agreed, I dont use banana plugs in my speakers. But i definately used them to connect to receiver, just for clean organization of wires, etc. Im glad i did. Because i have changed things up more often than rewiring speakers, like moving the receiver or changing out media console/server rack, or cleaning server rack
That might be the trick, is to just plug them in and leave them alone. But then a person might as well just use the bare wire if they aren't plugging and unplugging often.
I have a 5.1.2 home theater and I have 16 speakers for a whole home music system for my house and I used Fos plugs, they are not perfect but they are way better than the ones you suggested. I ran 12 gauge wire for all my speakers and the fos ones were the only ones that will work for the size of wire I used.
The Amazon Basics also is a 2-part connector body (excluding the outside) and does also have the tip come loose every now and then. They're actually pretty bad also. A real banana plug that DOES work that is milled in ONE piece is the Norstone BLS-500 which are phenomenal. They also have dual opposing screw's that clamp onto the wire in a MUCH more secure manner.
I have just completed making interconnects for 13 channels between my AV receiver and the wall plates using these Fospower banana plugs using 12 gauge wire. I discovered that the wire bundle is very heavy ( 4 or 5 pounds/ 2kg) seeing your video on how these plugs seem to fail I will definitely be doing something to provide strain revief on the plug ends as it look like they would vulnerable to an axial loading.
Well good to know ,late ,but better late than never . I bought a few dozen and only had one issue where I assumed I tightened the screw to tight and stripped it , so I just made sure I had extras on hand . Interestingly on Amazon comments a few guys recommended ordering extras as they had screws stripping to . This should have been a red flag , and I should have found an alternative. It’s not like I have a lot of money invested in them thankfully,so I’m going to change them all out to the ones you’re recommending . I’m just glad I seen your video . I also used wall plates with the banana plug female connections , but from a different brand called Fosmon . I have a feeling they are similar in quality,but hopefully better
I literally have them arriving today for my 1st system. (Only a 2.1 to start for my receiver). Will definitely be on the lookout for the issues you had and will look into other brands when expanding. Went with them largely due to the 2 screw locking method, never would have thought the sheath would be an issue.
Spade connectors are a happy medium where they are tightened on like a wire through the hole but easier to attach. I like tinning wires so they wont fray. This will make them far more convenient if you use the wire through the terminal hole method.
Yup, both brands rattle like crazy. Been using crimp on and solder BFA bananas for years now. Less resistance, better reliability. The only downside of bare wire is oxidation, which sucks here in FL.
Thanks for this video. I have also had issues with the Fos plugs and agree with your design assessment. I have also used the Sewell and I like them much better and have had no issues (yet) with them.
I've NEVER had problems with my Fospower banana plugs. I've had them for literally YEARS and none of them have ever failed. Plus, they're non-magnetic too. Come to think of it, it may be time for me to cut and strip my copper speaker cables to cut away the oxidation from the bare copper wires. Of course mine aren't used for a subwoofer, but bookshelf speakers instead.....
Same issues with the Fospower banana plugs here. I bought the Sewell plugs a few months ago but have not swapped them out. I'm constantly tightening the Fospower sheath, very annoying. Great video!!
I use Sewell Silverback speaker wire which comes with its own banana plugs. The only issue with those is the metal caps are possibly conductive, so I wrapped all the end caps with black electrical tape just to be safe so that they don't short out my amp.
Oof. I had those years ago. They weren't very tight inside the speaker binding posts. And the barrel covers love to rattle loose from bass. Do yourself a favor and replace those bananas. Stay away from Sewell and the springy style bananas. Find some z-wave style or spades.
I've had same issue few years ago with same Fospower plugs....lol... I use the Amazon Basics now too, besides being slightly wider, they definitely don't fall apart
I picked up the Sewell ones a few years ago after Youthman recommended them. Moved stuff around several times unhooking and hooking my speakers back up and have had zero problems with them
Hmm I have these on all three of my systems and other then one having a bad thread on one of the 2 set screws have been great. I have bought probably 60 and only one had an ignorable issue. I still recommend these
Dood 💯exactly. Bare wire and 2 years later I check it and the wires are still corrosion free. Best is a mechanical connection with tightening bolt or binding post screw to eliminate as much contact transitions.
I just discovered your channel today and subbed. I only use the two screw type banana plugs because the other types seem to pull apart easily. I had a Sewell fail recently sadly. I have some Fospower audio cables that fit really loose. I had to give them a little "squeeze" with a vice grips to get them to stay on. Aaargh! I'm moving to a new house at the age of 67, (STUPID) and I'm getting a listening room that's over twice as big as my current room of 27 years. I'm going to carefully eliminate any crappy cables because I'm getting too old to keep climbing around behind my surround and stereo shared cabinet. LOL
I’m glad people like you make videos like this!! 🎉 for those of us who haven’t purchased these kind of items yet but have already saved them to the shopping cart! 🎉lol
Lol, I'm glad it helped brother. It sounds like there are others that have had luck with these banana plugs. But it appears they don't plug and unplug them as often and I do. Possibly, I just wear them out much faster than the average bear haha.
Great video Barrett. Thank you for the recommendation, I've not tried the basics yet but the Sewell get a lot of kudos. I personally have been buying the Nakamichi
Like others have said, I fell fot the fospoer plugs. The ones you recommend were originally made by monster cable. I had a set and lost them in a move and thought I would try something else. Thanks for the video. Definitely have to move the getting new banana plugs up on the list.
If you’re disabled or in a wheelchair banana plugs are a must. There’s not much hazle to changing connections, speaker cables etc. is less likely you have to move the speakers to change cables or have to bend down or even go on all fours. Just speaking from experience
Thanks for this. I use the W&G Electric plugs (they use a simiar type of connection as the Amazon Basics version) on my gear, great quality, 0 issues. Sorry you had all these failures with yours. I know the frustration with these things😢
I use banana plugs into my amps but bare wire into my speakers. Might seem an odd way round, but I have an open rear rack for my amps and I'm driving 16+ speakers and do like to tweak ! I also use the Amazon Basics Banana Plugs, really grip onto the wire well.
I got some gold plated versions of the classic Deltron banana plugs. Plain, unpretentious red and black plastic and they use solder, not tiny grub screws. In my opinion this must make a far better connection that's more secure and with lower resistance.
I think its the design type and not limited to Fospower specifically. I have the 2 screw Nakamichi plugs and they have the same issue as the Fospower ones you show in this video.
Just remember that banana, spade plugs etc is another layer to the signal path. In some cases can reduce your sound quality. Sometimes it's just better to stick with bare wire.
oh thank you so much for this. I was going to get them myself because they're cheaper and they were on my Amazon wish list, but i won't be getting them now.
I stayed away from banana plugs for a long time. It was because i was too lazy to screw them together. I use Speaker Snap banana plugs. Very easy to use use and sound great. Just lift the lever, insert, close and done
Often times if you remove the speaker jumper plates you get a big improvement! Less crap and resistant in the signal. Buy bi wire speaker cables instead
I'm going to banana plugs on my 2 home theater setups because I have 4 cats in the house and I want it to be easy to move things around to vacuum up cat hair behind the equipment. I've been avoiding deep cleaning back there for years because I didn't feel like disconnecting and reconnecting everything
I've had a love hate relationship with my Nakamichi plugs for a few years. The have the same issues as the Fospower. I've learnt how to deal with them so they don't annoy me as much. I'll be looking for other brands on chinabay soon.
Oh wow, it’s the ones I have for my wire lol. Never had a problem with in the 4 years I’ve had them. I actually recently checked them and they look the same. Before these I always bought the monoprice ones from Amazon and those things would always turn black 🤨 so I decided to go with a new brand.
Interesting. I have used the Fospower for a few years without any issues. I'm only using them at the AVR for connections and all of my speakers are using the wire direct into the terminal. I'm curious if they've changed how they are made? Either way, if you were having issues, I'm happy that you found a resolution to your issues
I hope you don't have the issues I've had. I don't think they aren't designed to be handled too much. I also think intense bass doesn't help the situation. Either way, I wish they'd redesign them to NOT have those issues.
I have been using these and watched this video when it came out and thought "hmm, guess he got a bad batch or something". Then it happened to me tonight. The end popped right off and was left behind in my speaker when I tried to pull it out. Luckily it wasn't hard to get out and then I was able to just seat it right back in the banana plug but it doesn't inspire much confidence...
If u bye 'Some Chinesium ' plugs the metal is coated with something nice looking like gold or silvery shinny stuff. Ultimately it's all about contact resistance and perhaps more importantly how many wire strands you wire has
Unless they have redesigned the Amazon Basics plugs, they are trash also...... here's a review I left a couple of years ago on Amazon "These banana plugs were not well designed, the contact spring on the post did not have a big enough gap for the spring to compress and make a solid connection to the post, which could cause intermittent contact, and resistance, which could possibly damage amplifiers and speakers" Test yours, if issue has not been addressed, the inside of the spring connector will not make solid contact with the center pin, and you can actually jiggle the connector body and cause intermittent dropouts of the music signal between the speaker and amplifier.
I’m an end user that set it and forgot it Until I upgrade. I like it raw! I always figured Why would i introduce anything that would degrade the signal or worse fail. 12 gauge screwed down tight!
If high quality music playback is a goal, then allowing a banana plug and the typical cheesy binding post to be in the signal path is the worst thing you can do. Not only is the banana plug going to degrade the signal, but so is the binding post, especially the ones with Steel terminals and Steel nuts holding the biding post to a cup or cabinet. Another really bad idea is sliding in bare wire. That wire will begin to oxidize very quickly and the oxidation will degrade the signal especially in the top end of the range. There are much better alternatives that will allow added clarity and resolution across the board.
Looks like I’ll be purchasing SEVERAL packs of those Sewell bananas, here shortly. I recently relocated six months ago and have yet to set my system up…. thank you for this very informative post.🌹
The sewell plugs use the same 4 leaf tip style though. I find such style is prone to deformation if you plug into something tighter and then have a looser fit on another terminal etc
Been in the hobby for over 50 years. The last 40 years, I have been into the higher-end level. Never used anything other than bare speaker cables (early years) and then either pure copper or pure silver spade connectors. Would never use banana plugs, they are not the best connection especially when compared to bare wire or spade connector.
I just wanted plugs because it looks good, and it's more convenient. Especially when plugging into the AV receiver, with a whole forest of binding posts back there. My plugs are cheap, but not "Fospower".
The Amazon basics plugs shown here are cheap copies of ones made by Sewell and I strongly advise using those as the plug end is much better made and tighter
The swell ones work good the Amazon ones are really bad. Because of a bad design flaw, the Amazon ones, (don't assume it's fixed by now) do not tighten up after you insert them. Here's how you can test... Pinch the banana part between two fingers, spin the entire connector fast. See how it spins in your hand. Now insert the banana part in to your unit , spin the entire connector fast see how it spins fast? This means banana part of the connector is barely making contact to your connector and to your unit. Obviously you do this test with out any wire. Get the swell ones as they don't seem to have this problem.
I've had good experiences with the Sewell banana plugs for over a decade. The amazon basics are clones/knock-offs of the sewell. Sewell was available long before amazon basics was a thing.
I have watched your content, I am 5 years in audio ,never have had an issue with banana plugs. I am a bit wondering ,how it is you have had issues with those plugs , maybe I was lucky, I have 3 music systems . All are in use with banana plugs
You get what you pay for. Specifically with your equipment and high switch of equipment. Shame on you for saving a few dollars. Swell and Amazon basics is what I use. And highly recommended 😊
I'm using premade speaker cables from GearIT that has banana plugs built-in. No chance of the tips of banana plugs falling off when I unplug and plug my speaker cables in for traveling. Can't tell you how many tips of the banana plugs I've lost during previous years. Well, better late than never when it comes to buying premade speaker cables.
I would’nt buy any of those bananas with „rotateable spring“. I‘ve switched over to hallow BFA bananas years ago - they‘re having a much bigger contact surface, never had a problem with them.
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Plus, cheap banana plugs can degrade the audio quality. I using bananas only the receiver side, on speaker side I installed off the whole screw terminals and started to using wago's. They are equialent to soldering. Better quality sound, less harmonic distorsion.
Weird, besides my personal experience, there have also been many comments on this video of individuals having issues like me. I'm surprised, but also glad, you haven't experienced those same issues...cheers.
Barret, I've always been curious, but what high gloss subwoofer is that to your right side behind you. It looks like a Rythmik e15hp2? I could be wrong.
The reviews for the D8000 Pro and D9000 are coming in the next few weeks. I had to wait on the go ahead from the distributor to drop the reviews. So stay tuned, they are coming soon.
@@SpecOfTech Thanks for the quick reply I am ready to order one of them tomorrow which one to choose is there a big difference between them Help me choose which one to choose
@Adam-yp2iu Where are you ordering from? If you are looking for the most output, go with the D9000. They are close in performance, but the D9000 squeaks out a little more low end.
You are spot on. I bought Fospower plugs myself and so far I have had 3 go faulty on me. one of the banana ends broke off into my terminal and that was one big pain in the ass to get out. This whole time I have been blaming myself for making some kind of mistake while I was assembling them. This video is a huge relief for me. Thank you for sharing my man!
Glad it helped brother. Looks like it's time for some new plugs for you too haha.
I’ve used these for a while and so far no problems.
I hope you don't have issues, fingers crossed buddy. I've had so many go faulty on me.
Agreed, 3 years using them , no problem. But not using on Subwoofer. RCA CABLES FOR THAT .
I literally upgraded my 5.1.2 this week and used this brand for all the speakers... except subwoofer.
No issues with mine so far 1 year in but it doesn't mean it can't happen. Just annoyed that I bought the exact plugs you mentioned not to buy but this was a year ago so it is what it is.
No issues here either. But then again I don't continuously unplug and plug in my banana plugs. BTW, why would someone that has 25 K speakers scrimp on bananas and look at Amazon for the cheapest ones in the first place.
Thanks for the heads up.I've been using Sewell and Amazon Basic for years and never had a problem with them.
My Fospower plugs are still working fine. Did have two (out of 25) with a setscrew issue. Contacted them, and they promprly mailed replacements. Not claiming that their the best, but so far so good.
Happy to hear there are some out there that didn't have the same issues.
Yep have the same ones myself. I thought they were good.
I had 40 of them on their way when I found this video yesterday. Wow. Well, today they came in and I hooked up my 5.1 system and so far so good.
I don’t unplug my speaker wire at all but I do use banana plugs regardless. My reasoning is quite simple. For most AV Receivers, they are so crammed these days that it’s next to impossible to easily reach the binding section and slip in the bare wire. And even after getting it barely in, it just looks messy to me and will be hard to verify if I got the polarity correct since there is usually no color coding on the wire.
So yeah…. I’ll sacrifice possibly a little performance for convenience & neatness but it’s worth it.
It's easy enough to use the bare wire as long as you don't have Ham Hands or Sausage Fingers.
Strange. I have been using Nakamichi for a while now, and never had an issue
Me as well.
I'm using Sewell SW-29863 deadbolt banana plugs and they work very well with no issues. SVS Ultra set up with Emotiva amps. I watched your SVS reviews before my purchase and I am thrilled with them. Thanks for your great reviews.
I have had both the Sewel and amazon plugs. Although they look very similar the spring portion of the Sewel has been much better in my experience. With repeated use the Amazon arced portion would collapse and lose connection. I have had to rearc these with a small screwdriver but they are very fragile. The Selwel have fewer arced strips but tend to stay flexable and remain in contact better.
I’m using the Sewell product in high-power recording studio applications without issues.
Thanks, Barrett! Anyone familiar with your channel knows you are fair to a fault and would never tell your subscribers to avoid a product unless there was a severe issue.
Like you, I review A/V gear and therefore do use banana plugs but it boggles the mind no one [to my knowledge] has made a super-simple yet super-reliable option that are reasonably affordable. I've had similar issues with a set of plugs using this same design. I now use a simpler type where you feed the speaker wire through a hole in the base of the plud and just clip off any excess. It's not quite as elegant but it works and any issues will be obvious and easily resolved.
use the bananas without the outside "cover", take the time to solder inside, then heatshrink the outside with respective colour code. your welcome. the sewell and the amazon basic plugs damage the wire and often break off the strands. they are problimatic in a different way
That's a great idea also, thanks for sharing.
Do all of that and then watch the tip fall off in ur speaker. Your welcome
This. In general, always prefer soldered connections to screwed ones, for any type of plug. Sometimes I see screw-type RCA plugs, on Amazon for example, and I'm like "what the fuck, that can't possibly last".
For the record WBT connectors use screw hold downs. Or at least they used to.
@@bingdong8571 ya that always sucks, but that is usually a quality control or user errot TBH
Very interesting video. I had been using fospower plugs without issue. Maybe one had the threads break but that was more user error.
I recently needed some more and got an even cheaper different brand. Something always sounded off and only after I took measurements in rew and applied fdw to remove some reflections, I saw that the cheaper brand was having less output in the highs. It explained the differences I heard. I had 3 on hand, fospower, sewell and another off brand. Both fospower and sewell measured similarly and sounded fuller in the highs compared to the off brand one.
I like the locking banana plugs from BJC…
I tried 16 gauge bare speaker wire but didn’t get a good connection with my old Yamaha AVR. I bought a pack of 5 pair of Fospower plugs on Amazon. One was defective. Used the other 8 with one left over. Got good connections for 2 pairs of speakers. Plugged in okay and the speakers sound good. I haven’t unplugged them yet. We’ll see how things go. I tried Seawell speaker cables on another system and the banana plugs kept loosening, so I wouldn’t recommend them. Thanks for sharing your experience. Rock on.
Agreed! I also don't like Banana Plugs with metal sheaths. If you accidentally touch them together you can shut-off your amp into protection mode or worse, short out a channel.
The sheaths are annodised so they are non conductive, so this isn't a problem.
@chrisdrew9767 I've got three different brands that are conductive and will continue to avoid all metal sheath plugs, even anodized. There's no need for them.
Thanks man. These were actually on my Amazon wishlist so I deleted them and added the Sewells. I use Sewell's deadbolt connectors running from my Denon stereo receiver and they work great. I'm running high level outs to a powered sub, so using banana plugs for the speaker connection and hooking in the copper wire for the sub run made sense.
Spec, thank you for sharing this video. I am in the process of upgrading my HTS and I wanted to have Banana Plugs included in the revamp and I did come across these plugs and have them in my SAVED lists. I was a lil skeptical of them and I am glad I found your video before I pulled the trigger. I came across the SEWELL plugs and I may go with them. Thank you again for saving me a possible headache with those Fospower plugs. Appreciate you, bro!
I’ve had problems with these too, set screws cross threading when loosening among other problems. The speaker snap banana plugs are the best I’ve found so far
Agreed, I dont use banana plugs in my speakers. But i definately used them to connect to receiver, just for clean organization of wires, etc. Im glad i did. Because i have changed things up more often than rewiring speakers, like moving the receiver or changing out media console/server rack, or cleaning server rack
Thanks for this video. I have those exact Fospower banana plugs. No issues so far but I haven't been pulling them out very often.
That might be the trick, is to just plug them in and leave them alone. But then a person might as well just use the bare wire if they aren't plugging and unplugging often.
I have a 5.1.2 home theater and I have 16 speakers for a whole home music system for my house and I used Fos plugs, they are not perfect but they are way better than the ones you suggested. I ran 12 gauge wire for all my speakers and the fos ones were the only ones that will work for the size of wire I used.
The Amazon Basics also is a 2-part connector body (excluding the outside) and does also have the tip come loose every now and then. They're actually pretty bad also. A real banana plug that DOES work that is milled in ONE piece is the Norstone BLS-500 which are phenomenal. They also have dual opposing screw's that clamp onto the wire in a MUCH more secure manner.
Lol, €49 for 4 of them with no quantity discounts. Pass.
@@talosian okay?
I have just completed making interconnects for 13 channels between my AV receiver and the wall plates using these Fospower banana plugs using 12 gauge wire. I discovered that the wire bundle is very heavy ( 4 or 5 pounds/ 2kg) seeing your video on how these plugs seem to fail I will definitely be doing something to provide strain revief on the plug ends as it look like they would vulnerable to an axial loading.
Well good to know ,late ,but better late than never . I bought a few dozen and only had one issue where I assumed I tightened the screw to tight and stripped it , so I just made sure I had extras on hand . Interestingly on Amazon comments a few guys recommended ordering extras as they had screws stripping to . This should have been a red flag , and I should have found an alternative.
It’s not like I have a lot of money invested in them thankfully,so I’m going to change them all out to the ones you’re recommending .
I’m just glad I seen your video .
I also used wall plates with the banana plug female connections , but from a different brand called Fosmon . I have a feeling they are similar in quality,but hopefully better
I literally have them arriving today for my 1st system. (Only a 2.1 to start for my receiver). Will definitely be on the lookout for the issues you had and will look into other brands when expanding.
Went with them largely due to the 2 screw locking method, never would have thought the sheath would be an issue.
Spade connectors are a happy medium where they are tightened on like a wire through the hole but easier to attach. I like tinning wires so they wont fray. This will make them far more convenient if you use the wire through the terminal hole method.
Yup, both brands rattle like crazy. Been using crimp on and solder BFA bananas for years now. Less resistance, better reliability. The only downside of bare wire is oxidation, which sucks here in FL.
Thanks for this video. I have also had issues with the Fos plugs and agree with your design assessment. I have also used the Sewell and I like them much better and have had no issues (yet) with them.
I've NEVER had problems with my Fospower banana plugs. I've had them for literally YEARS and none of them have ever failed. Plus, they're non-magnetic too. Come to think of it, it may be time for me to cut and strip my copper speaker cables to cut away the oxidation from the bare copper wires. Of course mine aren't used for a subwoofer, but bookshelf speakers instead.....
Same issues with the Fospower banana plugs here. I bought the Sewell plugs a few months ago but have not swapped them out. I'm constantly tightening the Fospower sheath, very annoying.
Great video!!
I use Sewell Silverback speaker wire which comes with its own banana plugs. The only issue with those is the metal caps are possibly conductive, so I wrapped all the end caps with black electrical tape just to be safe so that they don't short out my amp.
Good call brother!
Oof. I had those years ago. They weren't very tight inside the speaker binding posts. And the barrel covers love to rattle loose from bass. Do yourself a favor and replace those bananas. Stay away from Sewell and the springy style bananas. Find some z-wave style or spades.
I've had same issue few years ago with same Fospower plugs....lol... I use the Amazon Basics now too, besides being slightly wider, they definitely don't fall apart
I picked up the Sewell ones a few years ago after Youthman recommended them. Moved stuff around several times unhooking and hooking my speakers back up and have had zero problems with them
Hmm I have these on all three of my systems and other then one having a bad thread on one of the 2 set screws have been great. I have bought probably 60 and only one had an ignorable issue. I still recommend these
Why don't you use pre terminated speaker cable? A well terminated speaker cable avoids oxidation which can affect sound quality, especially in copper.
Dood 💯exactly. Bare wire and 2 years later I check it and the wires are still corrosion free. Best is a mechanical connection with tightening bolt or binding post screw to eliminate as much contact transitions.
I just discovered your channel today and subbed. I only use the two screw type banana plugs because the other types seem to pull apart easily. I had a Sewell fail recently sadly. I have some Fospower audio cables that fit really loose. I had to give them a little "squeeze" with a vice grips to get them to stay on. Aaargh! I'm moving to a new house at the age of 67, (STUPID) and I'm getting a listening room that's over twice as big as my current room of 27 years. I'm going to carefully eliminate any crappy cables because I'm getting too old to keep climbing around behind my surround and stereo shared cabinet. LOL
I’m glad people like you make videos like this!! 🎉 for those of us who haven’t purchased these kind of items yet but have already saved them to the shopping cart! 🎉lol
Lol, I'm glad it helped brother. It sounds like there are others that have had luck with these banana plugs. But it appears they don't plug and unplug them as often and I do. Possibly, I just wear them out much faster than the average bear haha.
Great video Barrett. Thank you for the recommendation, I've not tried the basics yet but the Sewell get a lot of kudos. I personally have been buying the Nakamichi
I'll have to check those out also.
Me too, more expensive but definitely better quality
Like others have said, I fell fot the fospoer plugs. The ones you recommend were originally made by monster cable. I had a set and lost them in a move and thought I would try something else. Thanks for the video. Definitely have to move the getting new banana plugs up on the list.
I have the Sewell Banana Plugs going strong for 5+years. PRO TIP put a dash of blue loctite and they'll never backout/unfasten.
i have fospower and have never had any problems, but thanks for the heads-up regarding your issues.
If you’re disabled or in a wheelchair banana plugs are a must. There’s not much hazle to changing connections, speaker cables etc. is less likely you have to move the speakers to change cables or have to bend down or even go on all fours. Just speaking from experience
Thanks for this. I use the W&G Electric plugs (they use a simiar type of connection as the Amazon Basics version) on my gear, great quality, 0 issues.
Sorry you had all these failures with yours. I know the frustration with these things😢
I use banana plugs into my amps but bare wire into my speakers. Might seem an odd way round, but I have an open rear rack for my amps and I'm driving 16+ speakers and do like to tweak ! I also use the Amazon Basics Banana Plugs, really grip onto the wire well.
Interesting take on reasoning to not “need” bananas .. I use them to reduce the oxidation within the copper wire.
I got some gold plated versions of the classic Deltron banana plugs. Plain, unpretentious red and black plastic and they use solder, not tiny grub screws. In my opinion this must make a far better connection that's more secure and with lower resistance.
I think its the design type and not limited to Fospower specifically. I have the 2 screw Nakamichi plugs and they have the same issue as the Fospower ones you show in this video.
Just remember that banana, spade plugs etc is another layer to the signal path. In some cases can reduce your sound quality. Sometimes it's just better to stick with bare wire.
I heat shrink the ends. No problems
you're not wrong, same with the generic "nakamichi" plugs that are exactly the same.
what I do is solder the wire and one end the banana "spring".
oh thank you so much for this. I was going to get them myself because they're cheaper and they were on my Amazon wish list, but i won't be getting them now.
I stayed away from banana plugs for a long time. It was because i was too lazy to screw them together. I use Speaker Snap banana plugs. Very easy to use use and sound great. Just lift the lever, insert, close and done
Those look like a great option also.
Have these and have No issue's! Thanks
Often times if you remove the speaker jumper plates you get a big improvement! Less crap and resistant in the signal. Buy bi wire speaker cables instead
I'm going to banana plugs on my 2 home theater setups because I have 4 cats in the house and I want it to be easy to move things around to vacuum up cat hair behind the equipment. I've been avoiding deep cleaning back there for years because I didn't feel like disconnecting and reconnecting everything
I've had a love hate relationship with my Nakamichi plugs for a few years. The have the same issues as the Fospower. I've learnt how to deal with them so they don't annoy me as much. I'll be looking for other brands on chinabay soon.
Oh wow, it’s the ones I have for my wire lol. Never had a problem with in the 4 years I’ve had them. I actually recently checked them and they look the same. Before these I always bought the monoprice ones from Amazon and those things would always turn black 🤨 so I decided to go with a new brand.
Interesting. I have used the Fospower for a few years without any issues. I'm only using them at the AVR for connections and all of my speakers are using the wire direct into the terminal. I'm curious if they've changed how they are made? Either way, if you were having issues, I'm happy that you found a resolution to your issues
I hope you don't have the issues I've had. I don't think they aren't designed to be handled too much. I also think intense bass doesn't help the situation. Either way, I wish they'd redesign them to NOT have those issues.
@@SpecOfTech do you like the Amazon ones? I feel like they will damage the delicate copper by having to bend it all over
I have been using these and watched this video when it came out and thought "hmm, guess he got a bad batch or something". Then it happened to me tonight. The end popped right off and was left behind in my speaker when I tried to pull it out. Luckily it wasn't hard to get out and then I was able to just seat it right back in the banana plug but it doesn't inspire much confidence...
If u bye 'Some Chinesium ' plugs the metal is coated with something nice looking like gold or silvery shinny stuff. Ultimately it's all about contact resistance and perhaps more importantly how many wire strands you wire has
Get kimber 8TC speaker cable and call it a day. Fantastic cables and banana plugs. Highly recommend them
Unless they have redesigned the Amazon Basics plugs, they are trash also...... here's a review I left a couple of years ago on Amazon
"These banana plugs were not well designed, the contact spring on the post did not have a big enough gap for the spring to compress and make a solid connection to the post, which could cause intermittent contact, and resistance, which could possibly damage amplifiers and speakers"
Test yours, if issue has not been addressed, the inside of the spring connector will not make solid contact with the center pin, and you can actually jiggle the connector body and cause intermittent dropouts of the music signal between the speaker and amplifier.
I’m an end user that set it and forgot it Until I upgrade. I like it raw! I always figured Why would i introduce anything that would degrade the signal or worse fail. 12 gauge screwed down tight!
Just raw dogging those speaker terminals lol.
I use Klotz cable with Nakamichi banana plug. Very good no problem.
Great video mate! Banana plugs are a game changer for quick and easy connections, but they aren't all equal that's for sure!
Thanks brother! I just hope it saves some other poor unexpecting soul some aggravation haha.
If high quality music playback is a goal, then allowing a banana plug and the typical cheesy binding post to be in the signal path is the worst thing you can do. Not only is the banana plug going to degrade the signal, but so is the binding post, especially the ones with Steel terminals and Steel nuts holding the biding post to a cup or cabinet.
Another really bad idea is sliding in bare wire. That wire will begin to oxidize very quickly and the oxidation will degrade the signal especially in the top end of the range.
There are much better alternatives that will allow added clarity and resolution across the board.
Looks like I’ll be purchasing SEVERAL packs of those Sewell bananas, here shortly. I recently relocated six months ago and have yet to set my system up…. thank you for this very informative post.🌹
Best of luck setting the system up brother!
Thanks for demonstrating how to instal banana plugs. I was lost.
Idk man… I have 6 systems with the plugs. I swap speakers around all the time. No issues.
Glad you haven't had issues. I've had several replies on here already from users with the exact same issues as me. You are more lucky than us haha.
What is wrong with that speaker 🤔🤔 Did that flying 🕊️ bird die in the corner 🤔❓🤪🤓😂🤣
The sewell plugs use the same 4 leaf tip style though. I find such style is prone to deformation if you plug into something tighter and then have a looser fit on another terminal etc
The expanding WBT are my fav but monoprice makes ok bananas and the tips unscrew and can swap with pin connectors if need be
Been in the hobby for over 50 years. The last 40 years, I have been into the higher-end level.
Never used anything other than bare speaker cables (early years) and then either pure copper or pure silver spade connectors.
Would never use banana plugs, they are not the best connection especially when compared to bare wire or spade connector.
I have some of these and have had no issues with them whatsoever.
I just wanted plugs because it looks good, and it's more convenient. Especially when plugging into the AV receiver, with a whole forest of binding posts back there. My plugs are cheap, but not "Fospower".
What a coincidence, I too started with Fospower and then moved to the ones you linked at Amazon... about a year ago :)
Haha, great minds think alike.
The Amazon basics plugs shown here are cheap copies of ones made by Sewell and I strongly advise using those as the plug end is much better made and tighter
The swell ones work good the Amazon ones are really bad. Because of a bad design flaw, the Amazon ones, (don't assume it's fixed by now) do not tighten up after you insert them. Here's how you can test... Pinch the banana part between two fingers, spin the entire connector fast. See how it spins in your hand. Now insert the banana part in to your unit , spin the entire connector fast see how it spins fast? This means banana part of the connector is barely making contact to your connector and to your unit. Obviously you do this test with out any wire. Get the swell ones as they don't seem to have this problem.
I've had good experiences with the Sewell banana plugs for over a decade. The amazon basics are clones/knock-offs of the sewell. Sewell was available long before amazon basics was a thing.
I have watched your content, I am 5 years in audio ,never have had an issue with banana plugs. I am a bit wondering ,how it is you have had issues with those plugs , maybe I was lucky, I have 3 music systems . All are in use with banana plugs
I've been using the Amazon Basics for years now with zero issues.
bought a UCINNOVATE 2 Pack High-end Pure Copper HIFI OFC Speaker Wire Cable with Banana Plug from Amazon in 2022 ad they're still working
No issues with my sewel. Great plugs.
You get what you pay for. Specifically with your equipment and high switch of equipment. Shame on you for saving a few dollars. Swell and Amazon basics is what I use. And highly recommended 😊
What bananna plug should I get that plug in to this Facmogu F900S 160W amp? Perfectly?
I use the Sewel banana plugs, have not had any issue with those.
Speaker Snaps for me. Quick, easy and reliable.
The tip on the Sewell can still come off. I am going to a locking banana plug that doesn't have that joint to break. I get them from Blue Jeans Cable.
I'm using premade speaker cables from GearIT that has banana plugs built-in. No chance of the tips of banana plugs falling off when I unplug and plug my speaker cables in for traveling. Can't tell you how many tips of the banana plugs I've lost during previous years. Well, better late than never when it comes to buying premade speaker cables.
I found banana plugs impede the signal/sound quality. Bare wire connection is the best by far.
I would’nt buy any of those bananas with „rotateable spring“. I‘ve switched over to hallow BFA bananas years ago - they‘re having a much bigger contact surface, never had a problem with them.
Plus, cheap banana plugs can degrade the audio quality. I using bananas only the receiver side, on speaker side I installed off the whole screw terminals and started to using wago's. They are equialent to soldering. Better quality sound, less harmonic distorsion.
I've bought & sold a TON of Fospower banana plugs... not a single issue ... at all.
Weird, besides my personal experience, there have also been many comments on this video of individuals having issues like me. I'm surprised, but also glad, you haven't experienced those same issues...cheers.
gday mate--- i have fospower and have never had an issue-- but good to know
I'm glad you never had an issue!
What was the amp you use to give an indication that the connection is faulty, I wanna take a look at that?
Its the Summit Hifi A11. Here is the link if you want to check it out: tinyurl.com/2p838t2k
I think those are the ones that I bought in those ends came off too. Pretty frustrating.
I ended up putting Teflon tape on my and solve the problem because they don't vibrate loose
Barret, I've always been curious, but what high gloss subwoofer is that to your right side behind you. It looks like a Rythmik e15hp2? I could be wrong.
It's actually a prototype of a subwoofer that won't be coming to market. The drivers do look a lot like Rythmik, I 100% agree haha.
Good day, I have been waiting for a long time for a review of the tone winner d8000 pro d9000 subwoofers, which one to choose
The reviews for the D8000 Pro and D9000 are coming in the next few weeks. I had to wait on the go ahead from the distributor to drop the reviews. So stay tuned, they are coming soon.
@@SpecOfTech Thanks for the quick reply I am ready to order one of them tomorrow which one to choose is there a big difference between them Help me choose which one to choose
@Adam-yp2iu Where are you ordering from?
If you are looking for the most output, go with the D9000. They are close in performance, but the D9000 squeaks out a little more low end.