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1/4 inch vs. speakon vs. banana plugs...

#2
I doubt you'll notice any sonic differences, but I prefer the locking nature of the speakons, and due to the uniqueness of the speakon connector, there is very little chance of confusing what they plug into.
 
#3
It's worth replacing the 1/4"with Speakons if you have a high-powered amp, because Speakons can handle higher current. I think the bananas handle high current too, so no need to replace those. And if your amp is not so powerful, the 1/4" is fine.
 
#5
People used 1/4 phono plugs for decades before speakon came around. They work fine. The wire itself is the more important piece of the puzzle.

That said, if you have to avoid phono, I would not alter the cabinet. I would just have a cable maker make you a set of speaker cables that are speakon on one end and banana on the other. You can probably find them prefab if you look around a bit.

I have an older Eden rig with banana and it works quite well. A banana connector is a perfectly functional design. It just doesn't lock in the same fashion as speakon.
 
#6
Oh, I thought 1/4 inch plugs were better than banana plugs...

I don't have any component now, but it may be the other way round, as most likely I'd buy the head new (w/ speakons), and cabs used (with whatever comes, most likely bananas) ...
 
#11
bongomania said:
If the connector is inadequate, it doesn't matter what kind of wire you're using. The connector is the weakest link.
Click to expand...


41246818.jpg

anne_robinson_weakest_link.jpg
 
#12
speakons are just high-power flow. locking is nothing new on cables. neutrik also makes high-power connectors for commercial electrical use.

banana plugs are the "original" high-fi stereo signal connection. they handle more power than quarter inches, although i cant remember why.
 
#13
Surface area. When you consider that 1/4" plugs are round, and the flexible contact tabs inside the jacks are flat, it means the actual connecting surface area of each + and - point is only a few molecules wide. Banana plugs and Speakons have a lot more connecting surface area.
 
#14
Speakon connectors also have a "protected" + and - terminal. This can be important if you're running high power and bridged out of an amplifier that reverses the polarity in the bridged mode to prevent a nasty shock from touching the sleeve in a 1/4" jack. This combined with the locking benefits and better surface contact area of the speakon make it the best choice. I don't know if it's worth retro-fitting a cab or not. But I did.
 
#17
In a few older amps I have that have only 1/4" outputs, I use TWO short cables in both speaker output jacks feeding both 1/4" jacks of the same single speaker cabinet. While still not as good as even a single Speakon, it doubles the 1/4" connectors' surface area.
 

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