Banana Plugs Seem Risky

I have though about this, too, and will probably not use them for this reason. If I do end up going this route, I will wrap them with heat shrink tubing to help keep them from shorting. It just seems like a lot of extra effort, when using bare wire is just as effective.

Send back the open screw banana plugs and get the closed ones.

I was pretty disappointed that my new Pioneer Elite VSX-23 won't take dual banana plugs; the spacing on the receiver isn't right for them. They seem a lot less likely to short than the singles - when one plug comes out, both are out. I still use them on some of my speakers, though.

I don't have multiple sets of speakers, so I don't know if this is a problem for those of you that do, but wouldn't the easiest solution be to turn off your system before unplugging your bananas? Mine don't seem to want to come out on their own.

I dont see how these are any more susceptible to shorting than a closed screw type. "IF" you install them correctly, there is no way they could short against each other. Just strip off as much cable jacket as the banana plug is wide. So there is no exposed wire coming out of either side of the plug. Here is mine using the open screw type.

As long as they are attached properly and as long as they are plugged in there should be no chance of shorting. If you are worried about shorting them when they are not plugged in, you should turn your equipment off before futzing. If you are still worried about that happening, you can insulate them with shrink wrap or even plain electrical tape.

Or use plugs that are somewhat protected. THESE plugs are insulated and designed with a taper that helps to inhibit the chances of shorting. Nice plugs.

i just bought them too. i fed the wire in from the back of the plug rather than the side and i don't have any issues or worries about my Denon 1803

If you are worried about shorting buy banana plugs that have a non-conducting outer barrel.

I don't see anything wrong with that. As long as the wire doesn't stick out far enough to contact the plug next to it. I actually thought about doing it the same way. Also I tightened the screw with pliers, not just by hand. I didn't want that wire to wiggle it's way out if the screw wasn't tight enough.

Problem solved:

I'm using the monoprice plugs and I have no issues with it. Just cut enough wire so that it's not sticking out so far and you should be ok.

the monoprice open plugs allow for either feeding the wire through the back or the side.

I will post a pic when I get home tonight

Its not a risk of banana plugs, but more with the way specific banana plugs were designed and manufactured. Exposed hot(electrically active) surfaces are a generally bad design choice. But that didn't prevent manufacturers from going down that road.

A properly designed banana plug, when its been inserted into its socket, will have no openly exposed active signal surfaces

Speaking of monoprice plugs, I originally bought the closed screw type from Amazon and liked them so much I went back for more a month later. They were now supplied from a different shop and were .01 per pr! I quickly ordered up several pair but noticed a review that talked about high shipping costs. Would you believe $5 per pair?

I verified this then cancelled my order. For 20 pairs the reviewer was going to pay $100, and I $30 for 6 pair. Crazy. I checked the price on monoprice(around 2.10) and ordered with under $3 for shipping the whole order. I went back to review my original purchase with a warning on the Amazon page, but they censored me! Claimed I wasn't reviewing the product.

I've used non-insulated banana plugs for a long time. They're 10x better than bare wire when plugging into the back of my receiver. At the speaker they're only about 2x easier. Love 'em and never had an issue with shorting. I always turn off the receiver before messing with my speakers. I actually had a "short circuit shut down" when dealing with bare wire once before.

We must have been ordering the same plugs on Amazon! I also noticed the $5 per pair... and quickly canceled the order! Which ones did you order from Monoprice?

My guess would be the closed screw type since that's what he purchased from Amazon....

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

How often do the closed ones go on sale at monoprice? I almost jumped on the last open scree type sale a week or two ago, but decided I wanted closed screw instead.

Its random but even at $2.10/pr its very cheap!

The ones pictured can be used either way.

I had an unfortunate incident with banana plugs similar to these. I can't remember why but I was disconnecting the RCA cable just like the one you have there for your sub. It was really tight and when I pulled it out it fell out from my fingers and landed you know where and then something really bad happened.

Here are the pics of my setup, ignore the masking tape, it is so i can easily identify which is left or right.

because i was getting frustrated trying to clean up all the wires the other day when i was setting up the new stand (look how dusty it is, and it is only 4 days old!) I just folded the wire over the top and clamped them down. i wanted to fold them over the top a little better(not just to one but at least 2), but just folding them over to one side and clamping them down seems to do the job. maybe someday i will get motivated to fix it, but it works just fine for now

there wouldn't be much to take a pic of.

ya, similar to the blue jeans style. i tried the other way as well but i prefered how this way ended up. now i just need some more heatshrink to make them look more professional i may even get motivated and solder them