Dynex™ - Speaker Wire Banana Plugs - Multi

Using banana plugs made life easier when installing my 7.1 system. Undecided at the store, I picked up these Dynex plugs along with the RocketFish version. BIG difference. The Dynex use a simple set screw to hold the wire in place. When the plug is pushed into a speaker, the fit is nice and tight, but when I attempt to remove the plug, the plastic cover slides off. This makes removing the plug a bit difficult. For a few extra dollars, the RocketFish (similar to Monster Quick Lock) has two parts that thead together to hold your wire in place. Instead of a set screw, the wire is fanned out and compressed down, providing greater surface contact for the speaker wire. Also very easy to pull plugs from speaker terminals. The Dynex will be replaced by a complete set of the RocketFish (RF-G1146 ) plugs.

These banaplugs are connecting some cerwin vega at-15's and an onkyo receiver. The receiver has its connections pretty close to each other. This makes it especially hard when using stripped wire. So that is where these come in. They are gold plated and are very slim. The head of the banana plug swivels so you dont have twisted wires. When inserting the wire into the banana plug there are two bolts that need to tighten on the wire seems like one is closer to the tip and the other one is close to the back of it. This is nice considering it's slim and one screw would most likely not hold the wire if pulled with a bit of force or a foot catching the wire. I did however manage to stab myself a couple of times since a flat screwdriver is needed to secure the wire. The one thing I found very annoying was the rubber sleeve. You have to stretch it and pull over the screws not an easy task.

For purposes of this review, I recently purchased the following components: Receiver - Denon AVR-2809CI Speakers - Definitive Tech - ProCinema 600 5.1 Wire - 16awg (aka 16 gauge) I have read a lot of reviews on BB's and other websites regarding the need for speaker wire connectors. As I understand it, corrosion can occur if you attach a speaker wire directly to your components (aka “hardwire”). I suppose corrosion could occur between wire and a connector but it’s much cheaper to replace a wire connector than a speaker or receiver. Another benefit of using connectors is the ability to quickly disconnect and connect your components. A collateral benefit of using connectors (versus hardwiring) is that it’s a much neater look as opposed to hardwiring. There are 3 main types of wire connectors that I know of – pin, spades and bananas. I like the banana type simply for its ease of use but I understand that audiophiles prefer the spade type. I don’t know the advantages of one type versus the other. Most mid and high-end speaker systems will accept all or most of these connection types but you should first see which type of connector your component(s) accepts b/c that might dictate which type of connector you need. Within each connector type there are several brands to choose from. Because of my setup, I needed 8, yes 8, packs of connectors! I purchased these Dynex banana plugs for about $10 a pack. These bananas have a red and black rubber sleeve that covers the connector. Each plug has two little set screws under the sleeve that secure the wire. It is easy to drop and/or lose these screws when connecting wire to these Dynex plugs. Don’t try connecting them while sitting on your sofa or you’ll be digging in the sofa cracks trying to find that dropped screw – it happens even if you’re careful. The packaging on these banana plugs indicate that they can hold up to 14 awg wire. I’m using 16 awg wire so I had no problems fitting the wire in the connector (if you don’t know anything about wire, the smaller the gauge the bigger the wire). The plastic sleeves can be a little slippery and difficult to handle, however, once the screws were tightened and covered with the sleeve, I got the impression that it was indeed a very sturdy product. Because of the plastic sleeve, I can see where it might be difficult to get a good grip when trying to disconnect, but I don’t think the sleeve would come off. Please note that you should never disconnect any connector by pulling on the wire – instead, pull it by the connector. I like Dynex’s set screws better than the screw-on quick-connect types used by Monster and Rocketfish b/c I think it is a tad bit more secure (just don’t lose those screws). Once plugged in, I think both types work equally well. Some folks have said they can hear a slightly better sound quality or less hiss coming from their speakers but I think that may be a benefit of banana connectors (regardless of brand) versus hardwiring your speakers. The main reason for using wire connectors is to protect your components from corrosion. I ultimately went with the Monster QuickLock banana plugs b/c I bought them for $10 a pack (less than half their regular price of $25). That decision was solely an aesthetic one. The reality is that with the possible exception of your surround (rear) speakers, most people will never see (or notice) what kind of wire connector you’re using and the Dynex banana plugs do seem to get the job done. I have also reviewed the Monster QuickLock banana plugs. The beginnings of both reviews are similar b/c I share my research in the first two paragraphs. After the second paragraph, both reviews are product specific.

Surprisingly, these are require loosening a screw and then tightening around the speaker wire. If you're using stranded speaker cable, it's best to tin the wire with a soldering iron first. Was expecting bayounet/push to connect internals. But they provide a solid connection. No indication of connector style on packaging.

Using a 22 GA wire was difficult to assemble, and is probably not designed for that small. I think anything larger would work well. There are two set screws to get a firmer grip, but the screw heads are small and the screw driver slips easy. But banna plugs are much more convienent than running bare wires.

I'm not a fan of bare wire ends, so decided to get a set of Banana-end cables... only to find out ... THEY DON'T EXIST! You gotta make your own! So, after a lot of price comparing, I realized Best Buy was the lowest price place to get the wire and ends to make said cable! These ends work well for my needs, but I would rather have bought a pair of pre-made cables, to begin with, instead of having to make my own. Why don't speakers come with RCA jacks on them, instead of the binding posts? You can buy pre-made RCA cables all day long! If you buy a new set of speakers and want banana end cables, just realize you'll need to make your own... unless you wanna pay big bucks (a few hundred) for pre-made ones.

Am using a Sony STR-DH800 a/v receiver for my home theater setup and the speaker posts are so cheap that using banana plugs is necessary. These Dynex banana plugs have two very small screws that secure the wire into the plug (you will need a small screwdriver, such as the small ones that come with eyeglass repair kits, to tighten the screws). Although not as simple or quick to mount onto wire as the Rocketfish RF-G1146 plugs, these are secure and do the job well (and they retail cheaper than the RF-G1146 too). The plastic housing can be a bit of a pain to slide back over the screws when done mounting the plug onto your speaker wire, but otherwise no problems.

If there's anybody out there that has messed with speaker wire you know how hard it is to connect those little speaker wires to the back of the receiver. With these I would never do it the old way again. Sure, there could be others out there that do a better job performance wise, but I found that these are a great price and do the job just fine. I was skeptical at first to try these, but now that I have... I'm glad I did!