Spades or Banana Plugs for 802Ds

[james_dmi]

I'm going to be upgrading my now very old and budget speaker wire soon to go with my new 802D’s and Bryston amp. Although I know cant discuss the cables themselves here I would like to know which connection method is preferred by people. I would also love to hear the people at CAT cables opinion on this topic.

BTW can you buy CAT cables in the UK and is there any dealer where I can try / borrow a set for testing.

[Karma]

HI James,
Do forum search on "spade" and you will find some good discussions on the topic.

Sparky

[james_dmi]

Thanks Karma should have tried that first. It seems that spades get a few more thumbs up then bananas. My next question is what’s the best size spade for the 802D’s? There are 25mm and 33mm varieties in the brand I have my eye on.

[moonlightdrive21]

Hope you don't mind me asking a related question in your post.

Half of one of my spades broke off. But there is still enough spade left to make contact with my 802D. However, since we audiophiles want nothing but they very best performnce, I was wondering if soddering back the broken part of the spade would result in better audio performance because it would allow for more contact? Or is sodder a bad conductor and would make it less optimal? Or will it not matter on sound either way?

Thanks again!!
Dave

[Karma]

HI moon,
Solder is a good enough conductor. That's not the problem. Solder is very weak and will not last. You probably have sufficient surface area to allow the damaged spade to work OK. It really depends on how it is broken and what's left behind. Use your judgment.

The best solution is replacing the spade. If you do this you should replace both spades to equalize the wire lengths. This is not a mystical audiophile magical practice. Rather, keeping the wire lengths equal also equalizes the mechanical strain on the spades and speaker terminals. It makes your system more reliable.

Sparky

[moonlightdrive21]

Thanks so much guys !!!