It's the little things....

Mike

Audioshark
Staff member
Joined
Apr 2, 2013
Messages
30,361
Location
Sarasota, FL
Sometimes in high end audio, it's the little things that matter. As I've been thinking more and more about the cables for my system: Nordost, Ansuz, TaraLabs, Transparent, Shunyata....I came to realize they all have their pros and cons. But one of the things I really like about the TaraLabs speaker cables are their interchangeable ends. I mean, this is such a simple, yet brilliant (and practical) idea. Narrow spade, wide spade, banana, whatever, you are always able to find the best end to fit for your component and speaker. Screw on the end you need and you are good to go. Simple, yet brilliant.

I'm not sure if other companies offer this, but I just thought this was such a good idea.
 
That's a great idea. The bananas on my cables fit very loosely in the terminals on my speakers. Are they getting the biggest contact area possible? I don't think so. I guess it's time to grab the pliers and flare them out some...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I agree. Why can't everybody use those? They are really nifty.

Especially at the price of most of the cables. Either that or they should re-terminate them for free.
 
Agreed that it is a great feature. The only gripe I had was that they would unscrew themselves slightly (Tara cables are, after all, the size/weight of a fire hose) and my OCD would kick in forcing me to re-tighten them routinely. I know there's another brand out there that has replaceable ends as well...I just can't recall the name.
 
Agreed that it is a great feature. The only gripe I had was that they would unscrew themselves slightly (Tara cables are, after all, the size/weight of a fire hose) and my OCD would kick in forcing me to re-tighten them routinely.

That is what I noticed with MIT S1.3 speaker cables. I put the spades on the end, and the cable would twist left and loosen the connector. However, it turned out the MIT electronics in the boxes did not work with Cambridge-Audio 840W amps in bridged mono mode. They caused the amp to make the speakers pop and distort, so I returned them. Put the amps in stereo mode, and they worked fine, except for unscrewing the connectors.
 
Interesting, although I don't know that one connection is superior over another. I guess it depends on the situation as to what would work best and it is nice to have ready choices. I echo the concern of them unscrewing themselves, but if the cable is not too heavy and has enough slack in it and if your not always moving the speakers and such, then it is probably very little to worry about. That said though, I can only guess at the prices of those things after visiting the Taralabs site. I guess the lowest priced speaker cable would around $110K for an 8 footer. Not worth even thinking about any further to me.
 
I will say stay solid at the end no adaptors, one or the other is the best connection, spades usually works best and bananas for the jumpers.
 
Back
Top