Using Banana Plugs For Connecting An Audio System
Banana plugs are connectors that can be connected to the ends of speaker wire. They provide some added benefits over bare wire when it comes to hooking up the speaker wire to the terminals of your audio system. These advantages will help you fully understand banana plugs and also what functions they serve for terminating speaker cable.
One of the biggest advantages to using banana plugs above simple bare copper wire is the convenience that they deliver when hooking up the audio system. Bare wire can be a hassle since you must make sure the wire strands are together because stray strands of copper wire can sometimes be a issue down the road such as shorting out the entire system. It becomes a hassle if you need to cautiously put in and connect the bare wire two times for each and every speaker. With banana plugs attached to the ends of your speaker wire, all you have to do is plug in the wire exactly like you would with every other cable. You can do this in a couple of seconds.
As soon as bare wire has corroded you may notice the sound from the channel start to crack or become irregular. Banana plugs get rid of this issue since they are corrosion resistant. Just make certain the banana plugs are gold-plated and you'll have nothing to be concerned about.
The most obvious benefit that banana plugs provide is the fact that they give you a professional looking install to your audio system. Oftentimes where just bare speaker wire is used, the end result is sloppy - especially if they are used with banana wall plates. If you want to prevent this, banana plugs are the most beneficial selection for you.
When it comes to audio quality, banana plugs do not have a difference as opposed to bare wire. However, in case you wear out the bare wire strands on the speaker wire by neglecting to use banana plugs, you will have noticeable troubles with sound quality. Should this happen, you'll have to clip off the corroded wire and re-install the clean wire into the terminal.
The main drawback of neglecting to use using banana plugs and just using bare wire will be the potential for damaging your system due to cross termination of stray wire strands.
I suggest obtaining screw-type banana plugs simply because they are extremely easy to install. There is absolutely no soldering required with screw type plugs. All that you must do is insert the bare wire into the plug and screw the plug together clamping the bare wire internally.
Despite the fact that banana plugs will not boost sound quality, they do present many excellent rewards that make them worth having.
A good site for getting banana plugs for a low price is: http://www.cabletrain.com/cables/speaker-wire/banana-plugs
