since we are on the topic, anyone have experience with
monoprice's banana plugs? They are obviously the cheapest but how's the quality? I'll need 21 pairs for my 7.1 system (receiver side and each side of
wall plates). Or is there some other site I should be looking into? I looked at
amazon and they have numerous banana plugs
I have been very happy with my
Monoprice Dual Banana Plugs. (Note: a very few receivers/amps have the banana plug spacing different and are not compatible with dual banana plugs. These have worked fine on my Onkyo and Technics receivers, and on Polk and Atlantic Technology speakers.) I think the benefits of the dual BP's over the single are clear.
If you're setting up your home theater and plan on leaving it exactly as-is for the forseeable future, banana plugs are probably not necessary. If you churn your gear every so often, or you move frequently (for school, etc.) then you will find the dual banana plugs to be a huge timesaver. Personally, I have several home audio setups, and a couple of extra receivers and speaker pairs, and occasionally I do switch them out, or buy upgrades and shift the old stuff on down the line. Since I don't own a house and therefore have not set up a permanent home theater, I have been doing piecemeal upgrades and pouncing on good deals on Craigslist. I have had the MonoPrice Dual Banana Plugs for about 2 years now. After 1 move, 1 receiver upgrade, and 2 speaker swaps, I have been very glad for them.
Ironically -- and this gets back to the OP -- spring terminals are actually easier if you do a lot of gear switching and you do not have banana plugs to terminate your speaker wires. Installing bare wire with 7 sets of binding posts is a LOT of knob-turning, wire-wrapping, knuckle-banging hassle. The knobs on the binding posts usually have to be unscrewed quite a bit before you can get them open as much as you need to get the wire inserted correctly, and tightening them back down can be a chore as well. At least with the spring terminals, it's fairly quick.