Cables off the floor, why?

I always check for that now before deciding how to terminate cables. While banana plugs are best, that’s only true for long bore sockets that accept the full plug. I’ve seen sturdy Deltrons bend on shallow sockets from the weight of the cable not heaver than A5.

Long bore: use banana plugs
Shallow bore: use spades

Spades cover less contact area,
Even though they stick out a bit,
I have more contact area,
Surely better?

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I’ve soldered Naim plugs onto Linn K20 & NACA5 a number of times, not had that problem, you need to ‘shape’ the flex bundle to fit the solder gap.

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Like I said, banana plugs are preferable but a shallow bore can (honestly it’s not rare) result in bent or shorn plugs.

Spades provide excellent contact still and actually a banana plug’s contact area is mainly along the base of the pin and the top spring.

The most reliable connection for the socket is going to be what’s best.

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Really? At best, a banana plug contacts the socket along a very thin section of the spring pin, and a little bit of the main pin body on the opposite side. The two flat sides of a spade touching the two flat surfaces of the socket and screw provide far more surface contact on any spade I’ve seen.

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That’s what I was theorising,
But I don’t really know,
Never worked it out,
Don’t really won’t too,
The point off my original post was,
I had the cables either touching each other, against the wall, on the floor,
(A Mess basically)
then kept apart, I could not tell the difference, had no hum either way,
then swapped one speaker cable the other way round,
Again I could tell no difference,
So now when I move things to dust I don’t care when I move them back,
If the cables touch or not,

Agree, a spade probably is the safest option, but if a banana is to be used, I wouldn’t use those with a spring pin. I would think a BFA/Z banana makes the most contact.

Have the same speaker plugs at both ends.

Mine are fully in on the Kudos Titan 606 Loudspeaker.

However, for the Linn Selekt DSM, they are slightly out.

DG…

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Thanks DG
Those are different Deltrons to mine.
Are they screw on ones. :thinking:
The covers on those go on from the front of the plugs instead of the back.

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Yes it is not allowed to use banana plugs on amps according to CE regulations and therefore they have the warning to use only naim plugs which you cannot stick into a wall socket.

I really don’t like those Z plugs. They bend quite easily, and can snap off completely. They do happen to fit into sockets designed to take bananas, and the two different designs seem to be considered interchangeable by some. A friend had some which had completely scraped off the plating in his speaker sockets as he occasionally removed and re-inserted them, thinking that he was cleaning and corrosion from the contacts but actually he was mostly removing clean metal.

Yes, they are screwed on from the front.

The cable is soldered on.

Supplied by Cymbiosis.

DG…

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Perhaps that was because you use LK20 and not NACA5?

Hi DG & Skeptikal, , all the Deltron’s that I’ve used have the covers screwed on from the front (over the pin).
Here be mine ….

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A5 was a marketing ploy,
To buy there cable only,
I know this not to be true,
Only said it to provoke a response

Interesting.

Some of your covers are like @Skeptikal (ridged) and some like mine (smooth).

DG…

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Surely screwing on from the front is the only practical way. If they screwed on from the back you would have to slide them up the cable before soldering them on, which would mean splitting far more of the cable. No way is that going to work.

Well spotted, the grooved covers are on small solder bucket pins, the smooth are on large solder buckets


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I didn’t know that, thanks for explaining.

Mine are all of the latter.

Everyday is a school day.

DG….

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