The Problem With Spade Terminals
Home entertainment equipment is continually becoming more advanced and new developments are being introduced on an almost monthly basis – speakers are getting larger and larger and at this rate it won’t be long before you’ll need a degree in rocket science just to be able to work your amplifier! Of course, as systems become more complex they are able to offer a host of new features, but this increasing complexity also throws up some problems.
As with most things, it’s not the big things that cause the problem – sure that new amplifier may look pretty complicated, but given time you will manage to get your head around it – no, the problem is that it’s the little things that can really cause you the most stress.
Take the spade terminal for example, one of the most basic types of connector out there. How on earth could this humble piece of gold plated metal possibly cause so much head ache? The problem, for me at least, is that spade terminals seem to have been designed in the dark ages and given the rapid development rate of high-end audio equipment, they’ve never really managed to catch up.
I know that for every different connector option available there are people out there who are complaining about it. Take RCA plugs for example, they’ve been a staple connection found on stereo interconnect cables for years now and yet there are lots of people who hate them with a passion. Yes, they may not be the most efficient connection in terms of conductivity, but at least you know when you insert that RCA plug into the jack that it will stay there. Even the most basic, budget friendly RCAs stay put, but sadly you cannot say the same thing about spade terminals.
Don’t get me wrong, spade terminals are great in terms of the large metal to metal surface area that they offer; they are great for making a strong connection between your amplifier and speakers, but the problem is this strong connection simply doesn’t stay put! The metal to metal contact area makes it easy for the spades to simply slip out, and it’s plain from looking at the shape of the spade lugs that whoever designed them didn’t really think too much about the spade unhooking itself from the binding post.
This issue isn’t helped by the fact that speaker cable seems to be getting thicker and thicker. Thicker cable is a good way of compensating for signal loss when running the cable over a long distance, but it also makes it much harder to try and position the cable so that the spade terminal is properly fitted around the binding post; if you have ever tried to wrestle thick speaker cable to go just where you want it then you are sure to know that that stuff has a mind of its own!
And that’s without mentioning the fact that thicker wire tends to be heavier, which in turn puts even more weight pulling down on the spade terminal, and in turn that just makes it even easier for the spade to slip out of position in the first place. Now, it may sound like I am over reacting, but a loose spade terminal flailing around at the back of your system could easily cause a short, and believe you me, expensive amplifiers really don’t take too kindly to shorts. Before you know it your whole system could be fried, all because one small, badly designed spade terminal didn’t stay where it should.
Unfortunately there’s really not much that you can do about this unless you want to get rid of all of the spade terminals in your system; this isn’t such a good idea because even I am happy to admit that spade terminals do have their advantages. Just, for the sake of your expensive equipment, please make sure that you secure those binding posts really tightly to minimize the risk of the spade terminals working themselves free.
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For more information about Spade Terminals and an honest opinion about the humble Spade Plug head over to the Speaker Cable blog.Tags: Spade Plug, Spade Terminals