Do banana plugs make a difference?

Speakon is the ticket. Banana plugs are illegal in Europe due to safety laws (Joris correct me if...)

For me Banana plugs are an exposure to getting yourself killed if you are bridging. Bad ju-ju, due to LOTS of voltage and amps.

The Speakon has a very large surface contact area that is many times larger than a standard 1/4" phone plug. They are field repairable with only a set of dykes and a screw driver.

If you bi-amp, the Speakons will handle 1,2, or 4 pair depending on the type of connectors you use. Very good for having a bi-amp signal running in a single, 4-conductor cable. WWW.SpeakerHole.Com has some nice pricing on the 15' 4-conductor ones at about a dollar a foot.

 

The Eden D410 xlt's have both 1/4 inch and banana plug jacks. I just use the 1/4 inch jack, never tried the banana. I'd be curious to know if there is a difference in sound or power.

 

The Eden D410 xlt's have both 1/4 inch and banana plug jacks. I just use the 1/4 inch jack, never tried the banana. I'd be curious to know if there is a difference in sound or power.

 

sorry about that. Yikes , after reading bgavin's post, Im not even gonna mess with the banana.ouch.

 

Bruce,

bananas are not illegal here. I bought a kilo of 'm last thursday

Seriously, banana plugs are not illegal. They should be, though. A 1000 watts 8 ohms amplifier (not very uncommon) can put out about 140 volts peak, at about 11 amperes RMS (run a check on that). Serious death threat.

My own amp has bananas (I put XLRs on it) and can put out about 80 volts peak.

In the venue I work at I installed a 2x900 watts Master Audio amp a few weeks ago. It has bananas. I taped the (unisolated, gold plated) connectors.

Good banana plugs with multi springed contacts have better conductivity than Speakons.

 

Hmmm - though I've been doing a lot of safety analysis for my job, I should point out that the shock hazard from an amplifier speaker output would be worst when it's cranked up all the way with a signal present. This isn't a good time to be connecting or disconnecting speakers anyway. If there is no signal (or the gain is down all the way), it seems highly unlikely that enough voltage would be present to create a problem.

I agree that bananas aren't the safest design, but for applications under 1000 watts, I wouldn't worry excessively. If a lot of people were getting injured by them, I'm sure most manufacturers would have stopped providing banana jacks. There is too much liability at stake. Given the power amps I have, I wouldn't stop using the ones on my Eden cabinet (if I had banana connectors). One just has to use some sense and not be stupid when using high-powered gear.

- Mike

 

I only use the bananas on my eden rig. Never had a problem.

 

I've been trying to dig out where I saw it printed, but having no luck.

Our PA has exposed gold plated banana plugs and that just bugs the crap out of me. QSC amps have "touch-proof" binding posts which is fine, but those posts accept banana plugs which can be very exposed. Add in a young player who is bridging his output, and there is the very real possibility of a fatality.

Dunno about bananas vs speakons, but both would have to be carrying enormous amounts of power before an advantage could be determined. Both are far superior to the 1/4" phone plug in their contacting area.

 

Hey Bruce, is this what you were looking for?

http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/tips/micktip5.htm

Meanwhile, Bigbohn, like the man said, you won't be seeing high voltages at the output of your amp unless you're playing extremely loud, and that's not the time to be fiddling with the banana plugs. That aside, either good bananas or Speakons will serve you well. I posted a bunch of reasons why pro sound guys use bananas a while back; maybe a search will find it.

As far as daisychaining, the first cable (the banana) has to handle the current for both cabs, while the second cable (1/4") only has to handle current for the second cab, so your idea would be fine. However, I'd recommend 12GA bananas for both.

Nightbass

 

Yeah, bananna plugs are what I would use. All the pro sound tech dudes swear by them. Use speakons for the preamp and cabs and banannas for the power amp. Thats what Id do. If the preamp and cabs dont have speakons, then use 1/4". Simple!

 

If you're going to put the amp in a rack, you could get a plate with speakons or EP-4s (I hate speakons ) mounted on it and use bare wire in the binding posts. You can loosen the plastic parts and the post has a hole in it. You poke the bare end through the hole and then screw the cap back on. This gives a very secure connection to the amp. This type of thing is exactly the reason all pro power amps have bananas/binding posts. The amps get put into racks and patchbays corresponding to the inputs on the cabs are added to the racks. It just makes it easier to deal with. Imagine running single cables to a bunch of 4 way boxes. 4 cables per box as opposed to one 8 conductor cable and an 8 pin output jack on the amp rack.

 

Yessir, that is exactly what I was looking for! Much appreciated...

Or bridging. That is where I see folks getting into trouble with smaller amps. The voltage swing is twice normal when running in bridged mode.

 

Are 1/4"s just as lethal?

 

dude.. the makcie has speakons... and they make speakon to bananna cables... just use that.. and then hook your top cab to your bottom cab... unless you need stereo chorus.. it'll work fine...

 

Ok I'm scared!