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Audio Connectors, etc.
The quality of the connector is usually underestimated. But we know from experience how much sonic difference there is between a tight connection and a pair of surfaces that are just "touching." |
| The Eichmann "bayonet" banana |
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| Why the bayonet name? It's the way the shell fits together, with a simple twist. The bayonet plug uses minimum metal, to minimize magnetic effects, and its spring action provides a tight connection in most binding posts. It can be fastened to a cable by crimping (with an arropriate crimping tool of course), or by soldering. Then twist on the blue shell, and tighten the two set screws to provide strain relief. Click here to see inside the plug.. ORDER: EBB set of four Bayonet Bananas, $99.95  |
| ETI (Eichmann) spade terminals |
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| New from the company that invented high-performance minimalist connectors -- spade terminals made from either pure copper plated with gold, or pure silver. There is even a narrow spade designed for barrier terminals, such as those found on McIntosh amplifiers and Vandersteen loudspeakers. The size indicates the "mouth" opening of the spade. All are designed to be soldered.
A. ORDER: EXB set of four Eichmann spades for barrier strips. SORRY, DISCONTINUED |
| Furutech bananas and spades |
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These beautifully-made connectors for speaker cables are made of copper, which is silver-plated, and then rhodium-plated over that for scratch-resistance. The banana tightens under pressure, much like the WBT-0645, and you connect the wire the same way as you would the WBT (see below). The space fastens to a cable the same way, and it's the first affordable spade connector we have seen in a long time. Both are highly recommended. The connection is best made by using WBT gold sleeves over the best wire end, crimped with the WBT-0403 crimping tool (scroll down to see the WBT products). Buy the tool at the same time as the connectors, and we'll buy it back when you're through.
ORDER: FTB-R set of four Furutech rhodium bananas, $70.00 |
| Eichmann Cable Pods |
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| Eichmann is now famous for its outstanding connectors using the strict minimum of metal, and good metal (tellurium copper, 24K gold plated) at that. Now come the Cable Pods, replacements for the binding posts on speakers or amplifiers. It mounts in panels with thickness ranging from 1mm to 10mm. The blue panel can be removed if your mounting holes are not the standard distance apart. A non-rotating washer makes it easy to tighten them against a spade. They'll take a banana (just pop off the safety cap), spade or bare wire. You can solder the wire, or -- this is unique -- you can actually connect to the rear with a banana, and no solder needed! ORDER ECP, set of 4 binding posts, $119.95 |
| WBT connectors |
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The banana connectors above are the best we know of. Tighten them, and they'll grip under so much pressure you could lift your speaker by the cable. But now the Nextgen connectors from WBT are way better than we could have imagined. They are made with the minimum of metal, and that metal is pure copper, plated with several layers of gold. In a direct comparison, we found (in UHF No. 85) that the difference in the connector actually swamped differences in cables. There are two variants: a banana (our fave!) and a spade whose business end is a resilient sandwich, so that it connects under pressure. You can buy UHF's own cables with WBT connectors attached (see Cables), or you can buy the connectors and install them yourself. We recommend "crimping" connectors, which require no solder. You buy appropriate gold sleeves, which you must crimp onto the wire end. Sizes shown are the area of the opening in the sleeve.
To crimp a sleeve onto the bare wire, you need WBT's special crimping tool, WBT-0403, $125. When you're through, if you also purchased your connectors from us, send it back, and we'll buy it back at the price you paid.
We also have the solid silver version of both nextgens, recommended if you are using silver cable.
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| WBT nextgen phono plugs |
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| Just as the nextgen bananas sound better with a minimum amount of pure copper, so too the nextgen phono plugs are of superior quality. They require soldering, not crimping. they are available in either pure copper or pure silver (for silver cables). It comes with a collar (not shown) which you turn to connect the plug under pressure. ORDER: WBT-0110, set of four nextgen copper plugs, $160 ORDER: WBT-0110Ag, set of four nextgen silver plugs, $280 |
| Eichmann Bullet Plugs |
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| Built with the strict minimum of metal, and thus minimum magnetic interference, the Bullet Plug has become famous, and is being put on a lot of surprisingly expensive cables. Two easily accessible solder lugs. Got silver cables? Order the Silver Bullet. ORDER: EBP, set of four Bullet Plugs, $77.95 ORDER: EBPA, set of four Silver Bullet Plugs, $154.95 |
| A two-way adapter |
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| Need to connect two cables to one jack? You do if you have a subwoofer or a video system. Or if you want to biamplify. Our FYA adapter, for $20 a pair, is gold-plated and is insulated with Teflon. ORDER: FYA, pair of Y adapters, $20 |
| ProGold connector treatment |
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| We know people who use alcohol to clean their connectors. We don't advise it, because alcohol is corrosive, and so the improvement is short-lived. We use ProGold, which not only removes oxidation, but slows its buildup, and actually improves conductivity. ProGold is used in aerospace and marine applications as well as Audio and video.The PGW kit is a box of small wipes, which can be used to clean accessible connector surfaces. We also use the PGS spray can, which squirts ProGold onto surfaces you cant get at with wipes. ORDER: PGS, ProGold spray bottle, $35 ORDER: PGW, ProGold sipes, $35 ORDER: Both wipes and spray, ordered together, $56 |
| Wako-Tech silver solder |
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| If you plan to solder a critical audio connection, get this extra-conductive 4% silver-content solder, from the same people who make the Enacom AC filter and Harmonix components. It's totally lead-free, with silver of exceptional purity, greater strength than other "audiophile" solders, and chlorine-free flux to reduce corrosion. We've been using this solder ourselves for years. ORDER: SR-4N, a 100g roll, $59.95 |
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ALL PRICES SHOWN IN CANADIAN DOLLARS. FOR ORDERING INFORMATION, IN CANADA OR ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, GO BACK TO THE MAIN AUDIOPHILE STORE PAGE. QUERY BY E-MAIL. |
