Most mid to upper quality speakers come with what are called "five-way binding posts" for their connections. They typically look like this:

This type of binding post can usually accept banana plugs, spades, or pins as connectors. So, which one do you choose? Good question, I like that. Let's look at each one in more detail:

Banana Plug: This is the simplest and most common type of connector to use with five-way binding posts. There is no actual banana on the plug itself. It is simply a straight plug that inserts into the round hole in the end of each terminal post. They do not create as tight of a connection as a spade, but due to their VERY easy plug-in/pull-out usability, they simply cannot be beat as the grand-champion of easy to work with speaker connectors. We utilize very cool and high performance banana plugs on our cables upon your request and needs.

Spade: Spades are a fork-shaped speaker connector that are attached by unscrewing the binding post, and then screwing it back down over the top of the spade. It is imperative not to confuse this word with the word "spayed", which has a completely different and painful meaning for dogs and cats alike. Spades create a very tight and mechanically sound connection (audiophiles typically prefer spades for this exact reason), but they are not as easy to use as banana plugs. To remove them, the binding posts must be unscrewed. Also, spades require the binding post to be a certain size (since they fit around them). The standard size for almost all amplifiers and a/v receivers* is 1/4". However, MANY speaker manufacturers have been moving to larger posts (5/16"-3/8"), in which case the standard 1/4" Spade connectors will not fit. We (Cobalt Cable) now offer an awesome universal spade which will work and adapt to different size terminals from 1/4" all the way up to 3/8"!

* - As a caution to people with A/V receivers, many new multi-channel A/V receivers have all of their binding posts situated in a compact, small space on the back of the unit. Since spades MUST have at least 1" of clearance on the side of the binding post, they may not work if their terminals are too close together. If you are at all unsure whether they will work or not, banana plugs may be a better choice (they usually work with anything) on the A/V receiver side of the cables.

Pins: Pins are not commonly used with five-way binding posts, but they easily can be. Pins are usually only used in spring-terminal type binding posts, which look like this:

Pins are a good choice if they are your only option other than bare wire (they will preserve the ends of your speaker cables, which if used bare in spring terminals will get chewed up). We also carry high quality pins (not Personal Identification Numbers either) for your various applications.

So, faced with the option of more than one connector, which should you use? If you will not be frequently plugging an unplugging your speakers, then our universal spade would be a good choice. If you will be frequently plugging and unplugging your speakers, or if ease of use is important to you, then our cool banana plugs would be the best choice. Also, if you are AT ALL unsure if your equipment can accept spades, then banana plugs would be a safe bet without losing hardly any performance.

We are often asked the question, "How long can speaker cables be before they cause signal loss?". The sad answer to this question is that since no speaker cable has the resistance of 0, ANY speaker cable will hold back some power from the amplifier. However, you now are probably thinking, "OK smarty, how long can my Cobalt speaker cables be before I HEAR any signal loss?". Ah, now your-a-thinkin'!

How long can/should your speaker cables be? Well, just like we preach, resistance is the key. Typically, resistance is a function of gauge and length. If you are using higher-gauge cables, then you will want to make them as short as possible. Another rule of thumb is to keep your resistance under .1 Ohm for 8 Ohm impedance speakers (which most mainstream speakers are) and under .05 Ohm for 4 Ohm impedance speakers, at the VERY least. If you are using speaker cables with a resistance of .5 Ohm/100 feet, try to keep your lengths under 20 ft for 8 Ohm Speakers and under 10 ft. for 4 Ohm speakers at the VERY most. Even though you can get by with cables using these figures, they should be perceived as a minimum, NOT as an ideal. Are you still with us? Good.

Another common question we get regarding speaker cables is, "Do all my cables need to be the same length?" The short answer to this question is "No, not really." There is some theoretical reason to have all of your speaker cables the same length, however, the majority of the understanding of this phenomenon has little to do with reality. Again, the most important facet of any speaker cable is its resistance, and resistance is a factor of cable length. So, if you are using a teeny-tiny, itty-bitty speaker cable, then it is very possible that you could hear a difference between a 5' length and a 10' length. However, if you stick with one of the Cobalt rules of thumb (14 gauge or less), reasonable length discrepancies (<10'-15') are really a non-issue for home theater applications. For critical stereo listening, it might be a good idea to keep your right and left speaker cable lengths close (within 10 ft. of each other), in order to not adversely affect the stereo imaging of the speakers. However, as you decrease the gauge of your speaker cables (use more wire), this becomes less and less vital.

Bi-wiring is a technique becoming quite popular in speaker applications. However, in our opinion, there are only a few situations where bi-wiring makes sense and MANY situations where bi-wiring is just hype. Here is what we think the complete story is about bi-wiring, and why it really does not make any sense for most people's equipment. The simple explanation for why the advantages of bi-wiring are very slight or nonexistent is that most people only have speakers built for bi-wiring, while their amplification is not. By using the same amplifier channel for both sets of bi-wire cables (both sets are connected to the same binding posts on the amplifier or receiver), the same electrical path is being used for both sets of terminals on each speaker, thus negating the core advantages of bi-wiring.

For example, most bi-wireable (we invented a new word) speakers come with some sort of plate or bar that connects the two (+) and the two (-) terminals (one for high frequency and one for low frequency) to each other. By using these plates or bars, you are "bridging" the two sets of terminals together creating only one connection point, so that you only need to make one speaker connection to each speaker.

By using the same amplifier channel (and terminals) for each set of bi-wire terminals on your speakers, you would be bridging the two sets of terminals together with your amplifier (since they share the same connection point on the amplifier). From an electrical perspective, this is NO different than running one speaker cable to the speaker, and bridging the two sets of terminals together with the bar or plate.

But wait, there's more! If you act now... (just kidding).

The only advantage in most setups (only speakers built for bi-wiring) for bi-wiring would be using twice as much physical wire (two separate runs to each speaker, thus dropping three gauge) as a standard wiring configuration.

However, if you are already using a fairly low gauge speaker cable (like our 10 AWG Ultimate Speaker Cable), there is little to be gained by "doubling-up". Plus, the added expense of running twice as much speaker cable for a barely audible (at best) difference, probably does not make too much sense.

The funny thing is, bi-wiring is actually a sound theory (pun intended, HA!), but the advantages can really only be had when it is used in conjunction with bi-amping (running more than one amplifier channel per speaker). In order to bi-amp the "right way", an external crossover between the preamplifier and each amplifier channel will be needed (so that only the high-frequency or the low-frequency parts of the signal will be amplified), and the internal crossovers inside the speakers will need to be disconnected (so that each amplifier will go directly to the corresponding speaker driver, i.e. the woofer for low frequency and the tweeter for high-frequency). WHEW! We personally don't know of too many people who will go to these extremes to take advantage of the benefits of bi-wiring, so bi-wiring just ends up getting WAY more attention than it should. We think that you should know what some of these other companies are up to out there. Straight-up and at ya partner.

Product Quick Links --> --- Audio Cables --- Audio Interconnect Multi-Channel Audio Bundle Balanced (XLR) Audio Cable Toslink Digital Audio Cable Coaxial Digital Audio Cable Subwoofer Cable DB25 Multi-Channel Cable Power Cable Guitar Cable --- Digital Audio Cables --- Toslink Digital Audio Cable Coaxial Digital Audio Cable --- Video Cables --- Component Video Cable DVI Cable S-Video Cable Composite Video Cable --- HDTV Video Cables --- DVI Cable Component Video Cable RGBHV Cable --- Speaker Cables --- Speaker Cable In-Wall Speaker Cable Subwoofer Cable --- Accessories --- Power Cable Y-Splitter Bi-Wire Jumpers Loose Banana Plugs Loose Spade Lugs --- Musician/Pro-Audio Cables --- Guitar Cable Mic Cable SPDIF Cable Toslink Cable RCA Y-Splitter

Category Links: