My banana plugs just arrived the other day. I'm excited! I'm building my first real hi-fi system using a Dynaco SCA-80Q stereo amp, portable CD player, and a pair of shielded Dayton BR-1 speakers. The Daytons will be my first kit; I've mostly used Logitech computer speakers in the past for my computer and home theater systems. I want to get into the do-it-yourself (DIY) aspect of audio equipment and figured a kit was the easiest way to do it. My goal with this project is to make a basic stereo system with a CD player. I'm still deciding on on the CD player. I want an MP3-capable player, but I really only want a single-disc system. I did some research and narrowed it down to either a portable CD player or a DVD player with MP3 capability. The DVD player would match the deck-style look of the system much more, but that's another $70 added to the cost of the project. Alternatively, I can get a Y-splitter to run the portable from for $5 and use my portable CD player and save a bunch of money. I want to build my own rack and speaker stands, so I'm going to wait on that decision until I get the amp in to see how it looks in person (got it off ebay).
I found some great banana plugs on ebay from a company called GLS Audio. Apparently, the GLS plugs are WBT clones, according to Audioholics. A WBT plug can cost about twice as much as the GLS knock-off ($6 vs $3), which may not seem like a huge price difference, but if you're connecting a 5.1 set with 4 bananas per speaker, you'll need 20 plugs, which comes out to either $60 or $120. Bigger difference now, eh? I've heard that the GLS bananas have a problem with weak screws, so don't screw them in too tightly if you pick some up. My kit came with an extra pair of screws, so I may give it a try just to see. Here's a picture of the box and parts:
Very beautiful! I really like how they look. I've only used RCA plugs or bare speaker wire in the past, so this will be my first diy audio cable set. The speakers I'm building accept bananas, but the old Dynaco integrated amp doesn't, so I'll just be using 4 plugs this time around. If you've never used bananas before, they're pretty nice because they let you unplug the speaker wire from your system easily and hook them back up quickly. If you upgrade a lot, rearrange your furniture often, or take your speakers out to parties, they're great to have.
The GLS bananas have a few nice features that make them worth looking at. First of all, the look gorgeous. I'm a big fan of having nice-looking equipment and these fit the bill. Second, they're easily to use. It's just a banana plug (obviously) - stick it in the speaker and you're done! No more messing around with loose wires in the speaker cable and trying to fit it in. Third, no soldering required - cut the shielding off the speaker wire, put it in, screw the screws down, tighten the cap, and you're ready to go! There are two actual screws that go on the shaft of the gold part of the plug to hold the speaker wire in. The gray part of the plug is actually a seperate piece that screws on like a flashlight head. Here's a pic:
Fourth, they're color-coded by stickers (black and red). This is really nice, especially if the speaker wire you're using isn't marked and you need to run it 50 feet. Fifth, they're not just banana plugs, they're locking banana plugs. As you tighten the gray piece onto the gold part, the tip of the plug itself expands. To install, you leave the gray piece a bit loose, put it into the binding post on the back of the speaker, then tighten the gray piece, which makes the plug expand. This causes it to lock into the binding post, which is great if you want to move your speakers around without having the plugs pop out. This isn't an essential feature, but hey, as long as you're paying $3 a plug anyway, you might as well get nice ones.
My only complaint would have to be the stickers. As I was messing with one of the plugs, the sticker started to rub off. I ended up taking it completely off because it didn't want to stay back on. If the colors were, say, anondized on the plug and the brand name was embossed in gold, that would have been a lot nicer, but eh, they're just generic plugs and you won't see them too much anyway. So, if you want fashionable budget banana plugs with a locking feature, I'd say these are the way to go!
Oh yeah, I should make a note that I'm very wordy. I just wrote a giant post about speaker plugs. This blog is definately more along the lines of "thoughts from my head" than concise technical writing, lol.
I'm probably a 50-50 person when it comes to form and function. The "thing" needs to work, but I like having it look nice, too. I've found most things have a kind of happy medium that you can reach and then play around from there. For example, you can buy really nice speakers for under $200. Are they going to sound as good as $1,000 speakers? No, but they're probably 90% as good. I'm not a huge quality freak - I can get by with just about anything that sounds decent. Even my $20 Boston Acoustics computer speakers sound great to me. For me, audio bliss is a system that both sounds good and looks nice. The banana plugs I chose to use for this project were mostly chosen based on looks. All banana plugs are going to do the job equally well, but I liked how these look the best. Not that you'll ever really see the plugs, but it adds a bit of a professional touch to your system.
You can purchase locking GLS banana plugs in sets of 2, 8, 10, 20, 24, 28, 40, and 48 from Orange County Speaker. Alternatively, they have an eBay store under the username speakerrepair.com. Here's a direct link to an 8-pack on their website, which is enough for a pair of speakers and amp. I'll probably get a 50' roll of 14 gauge speaker wire by Sound King from Parts Express to go with the plugs. I think the wire will look pretty good with the plugs.
