Will banana plugs work with a Cambridge Azur 740a?

Jan 24, 2008 at 8:09 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 3

MV2005

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I've just picked up a Cambridge Audio Azur 740a and a pair of Kef iQ7s. They come with stock bare wire speaker cables, that you fasten into place on the speakers/amp. Would banana plugs be compatible with this set-up?

I've never used them before, but the potential convenience appeals to me.
 
Jan 24, 2008 at 9:55 PM Post #2 of 3
Almost any amp and speaker binding posts these days are compatible with banana plugs.

The pics of the amp on the CA site confirm that yes, bananas are no problem at all; my son uses bananas on his Azur 540a integrated amp, and the posts appear to be the same.

The potential problem is that in the EU, safety certification bodies don't like banana plugs, because they can be inserted into 220V mains outlets (presumably, by accident.) Luckily, five-way binding posts that can take bananas are usually are supplied in a "crippled" state that can be fixed!

Found this picture of the posts on the KEF's:

iQ7_terms_LABEL.jpg


The holes into which the banana plugs must be inserted come with those little red and black plugs in them. I had a pair of EPOS speakers a few years ago that were supplied that way. If you use a small flat bladed jeweler's screwdriver (not one too small, you'll bend it!) it's fairly simple to pry those plugs out on just one pair of posts per speaker.

IMHO, using bananas with bi-wireable posts that have to accommodate jumpers is a great idea. Personally, I've had a lot of problems in trying to clamp down two spade lugs (one on the jumper, the other on the cable) on these sorts of posts. The last thing you want to do is try to tighten them too much, which can break that clear plastic "nut" or even worse, crack the metal post (been there, done that.)

The flexible jumpers on the KEF's should make it easy to push them to the side to connect the bananas to the posts.
 

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