Speaker Connections
Most mid range to upper quality speakers come with what are called "five way
binding posts" for their connections.
This type of binding post can usually accept banana plugs, spades, or pins
as connectors. So, which one do you choose?
Banana Plug
This is the simplest and most common type of connector to use with five way
binding posts. There is no actual banana on the plug itself. It is simply a straight
plug that inserts into the round hole in the end of each terminal post. They do
not create as tight of a connection as a spade. They simply cannot be beat as
the grand-champion of easy to work with speaker connectors.
Spade
Spades are a fork-shaped speaker connector that are attached by unscrewing
the binding post, and then screwing it back down over the top of the spade. Spades
create a very tight and mechanically sound connection (audiophiles typically prefer
spades for this exact reason), but they are not as easy to use as banana plugs.
To remove them, the binding posts must be unscrewed. Also, spades require the
binding post to be a certain size, since they fit around them. The standard size
for almost all amplifiers and a/v receivers* is 1/4". However,
MANY speaker manufacturers have been moving to larger posts, 5/16"-3/8",
in which case the standard 1/4" Spade connectors will not fit.
* - As a caution to people with A/V receivers, many new multi-channel
A/V receivers have all of their binding posts situated in a compact, small space
on the back of the unit. Since spades MUST have at least 1" of clearance
on the side of the binding post, they may not work if their terminals are too
close together. If you are at all unsure whether they will work or not, banana
plugs may be a better choice, they usually work with anything, on the A/V receiver
side of the cables.
Pins
Pins are not commonly used with five way binding posts, but they easily can
be. Pins are usually only used in spring terminal type binding posts.
Pins are a good choice if they are your only option other than bare wire, they
will preserve the ends of your speaker cables, which if used bare in spring terminals
will get chewed up. We also carry high quality pins for your various applications.
So, faced with the option of more than one connector, which should you use?
If you will not be frequently plugging an unplugging your speakers, then our universal
spade would be a good choice. If you will be frequently plugging and unplugging
your speakers, or if ease of use is important to you, then banana plugs would
be the best choice. Also, if you are AT ALL unsure if your equipment can accept
spades, then banana plugs would be a safe bet without losing hardly any performance.
We are often asked the question, "How long can speaker cables be before
they cause signal loss?". The sad answer to this question is that since no
speaker cable has the resistance of 0, ANY speaker cable will hold back some power
from the amplifier.
How long can, should your speaker cables be? Well, just like we preach, resistance
is the key. Typically, resistance is a function of gauge and length. If you are
using higher-gauge cables, then you will want to make them as short as possible.
Another rule of thumb is to keep your resistance under .1 Ohm for 8 Ohm impedance
speakers, which most mainstream speakers are, and under .05 Ohm for 4 Ohm impedance
speakers, at the VERY least. If you are using speaker cables with a resistance
of .5 Ohm/100 feet, try to keep your lengths under 20 ft for 8 Ohm Speakers and
under 10 ft. for 4 Ohm speakers at the VERY most. Even though you can get by with
cables using these figures, they should be perceived as a minimum, NOT as an ideal.
Another common question we get regarding speaker cables is, "Do all my
cables need to be the same length?" The short answer to this question is
"No, not really." There is some theoretical reason to have all of your
speaker cables the same length, however, the majority of the understanding of
this phenomenon has little to do with reality. Again, the most important facet
of any speaker cable is its resistance, and resistance is a factor of cable length.
So, if you are using a teeny-tiny, itty-bitty speaker cable, then it is very possible
that you could hear a difference between a 5 feet length and a 10 feet length.
However, if you stick with our rules of thumb, 14 gauge or less, reasonable length
discrepancies, <10 feet - 15 feet, are really a non issue for home theatre
applications. For critical stereo listening, it might be a good idea to keep your
right and left speaker cable lengths close, within 10 ft. of each other, in order
to not adversely affect the stereo imaging of the speakers. However, as you decrease
the gauge of your speaker cables, use more wire, this becomes less and less vital.
BI-wiring is a technique becoming quite popular in speaker applications. However,
in our opinion, there are only a few situations where bi-wiring makes sense and
MANY situations where Bi-wiring is just hype. Here is what we think the complete
story is about Bi-wiring, and why it really does not make any sense for most peoples
equipment. The simple explanation for why the advantages of Bi-wiring are very
slight or non-existent is that most people only have speakers built for Bi-wiring,
while their amplification is not. By using the same amplifier channel for both
sets of BI-wire cables, both sets are connected to the same binding posts on the
amplifier or receiver, the same electrical path is being used for both sets of
terminals on each speaker, thus negating the core advantages of Bi-wiring
For example, most bi-wireable, we invented a new word, speakers come with some
sort of plate or bar that connects the two, +, and the two, -, terminals, one
for high frequency and one for low frequency, to each other. By using these plates
or bars, you are "bridging" the two sets of terminals together creating
only one connection point, so that you only need to make one speaker connection
to each speaker.
By using the same amplifier channel, and terminals, for each set of BI-wire
terminals on your speakers, you would be bridging the two sets of terminals together
with your amplifier, since they share the same connection point on the amplifier.
From an electrical perspective, this is NO different than running one speaker
cable to the speaker, and bridging the two sets of terminals together with the
bar or plate.
The only advantage in most setups, only speakers built for Bi-wiring, for Bi-wiring
would be using twice as much physical wire, two separate runs to each speaker,
thus dropping three gauge, as a standard wiring configuration.
However, if you are already using a fairly low gauge speaker cable, there is little
to be gained by "doubling-up". Plus, the added expense of running twice
as much speaker cable for a barely audible, at best, difference, probably does
not make too much sense.
The funny thing is, Bi-wiring is actually a sound theory, but the advantages
can really only be had when it is used in conjunction with bi-amping, running
more than one amplifier channel per speaker. In order to bi-amp the "right
way", an external crossover between the preamplifier and each amplifier channel
will be needed, so that only the high frequency or the low frequency parts of
the signal will be amplified, and the internal crossovers inside the speakers
will need to be disconnected. So that each amplifier will go directly to the corresponding
speaker driver, i.e. the woofer for low frequency and the tweeter for high-frequency.
We personally do not know of too many people who will go to these extremes to
take advantage of the benefits of Bi-wiring, so Bi-wiring just ends up getting
WAY more attention than it should. We think that you should know what some of
these other companies are up to out there.
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