Speaker connections: Spade vs. Banana Plus

Confused by this response by Amandarae. Anyone have a response specifically regarding quality of sound issues and whether it is advisable to look into purchasing another set speaker cables that have banana plug terminations? Thanks.

Glrtgi,

I have a similiar situation to yours. My speaker wires have banana connections and which my amp accepts. Of course I have kept an old receiver as a "just in case' back-up amp, in the event that I might ever have put the amp in the shop. The only problem is the receiver only accepts spade connections. So guess I need to hit the Rat Shack to see if they might have an adapter that would convert from a banana connection to a spade.

Now as far as your question "Would it be advisable i.e. worth the $ to get a second set of speaker cables with banana terminations in order to maximize the sound quality?", my answer would be "NO". The distance involved in between the spade and banana is so miminal to have almost no real effect on the performance. Now if having to use adapters is bothering you it might be better instead of getting a 2nd pair of speaker wires, is to have the "taps" on the amp that accepts only banana plugs change out to ones that would accept both banana and spades. This should be a fairly easy and not to expensive change, certainly less expensive than buying a second set of quality speaker wires.

convenience rules...bananas

There are some high-quality adapters like these from Audioquest but I don't know whether you'd hear any difference between them and the Radio Shack versions. I own a set of similar ones from Cardas that are solid copper and work well as long as the spades are fairly small.

IMO In a blind test you wont hear a diff..I dont

I second the response of Missioncoonery. I have used adapters to correct a similar situation and have not been able to detect any change in the quality of sound. It was the same as before using the adapters. You can always remove the adapters if you think there is a change in sound. Below is music direct web site showing adapters, I am using.

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/72732

If you use a high quality solid copper adapter, you should not hear a sonic differance.
On the other hand, if you use 24k plated brass ( which in most cases if it's 24k plated it is brass ) they do have a sonic signature.
Get the best you can.