Banana Plugs - Bangalore

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Where can I get banana plugs in Bangalore? Both good ones, and less priced ones like less than 100 bucks stuff. For now will use these. Later will get a few good plugs from US (like ones below).

Just wondering, will these be available in bangalore?
this or This
 
I got Nakamichi Spade blugs from Ebay.com for 34 dollars for 24 pieces, i decided not to buy GLS as they are brass and Nakamichi are pure copper.

Another user in Forum has got 24 nakamichi Banana for 24 dollars direct from nakamichi site, you can search thread to see the pics of the bananas.
 
For less than a 100 bucks, I suggest you go for Mysore or Poovan Banana plugs. This is the largest selling all over India and you must have seen it on numerous occasions on the handcarts. They give a well balanced frequency extension although the highs are a little rounded. For deep and forceful bass try the "Etakkya" variety, good for electronica and trance music, but you need large speaker terminals to accommodate them. :licklips:

Although audiophiles swear by Plantain plugs more than Banana plugs, in India there is no distinction between the two. :ohyeah:

Pachabale and Chandrabale are other brands/varieties you can look at. :rolleyes:

Lastly you might be better off using 3.5 to 4% silver solder on the speaker cable ends - this is what I did and saved 1000+ INR on audiophile Banana plugs. After a good soldering job , the copper strands are no longer exposed to oxidation and there wont be any loose strands either. :)

PS: and BTW Bananas are a good medicine to plug loose bowels too ... if you eat them i.e ... Don't shove them ... :D

HTH
Cheers
 
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@gobble - ROFL!

@OP - MX has a store on SP Road. Gold plated plugs for 70 bucks.
MX??

I saw mosnter profigold plugs in reliance digital (expensive) :mad:.
What were they priced @? I prefer to get one where the wires goes in towards the length of the plug rather than across the diameter as loose strands need not be a worry.

The locking plugs (link in first post) are pretty kool, but for someone who desent know how to unlock can break the binding post on speaker or amp.
 
MX is an awesome Indian manufacturer of cables and other accessories. For budget stuff, you can go with them. Google them - they have a website.

Stay away from the Monster plugs. They are VERY overpriced for the quality they deliver.
 
MX is an awesome Indian manufacturer of cables and other accessories. For budget stuff, you can go with them. Google them - they have a website.

Stay away from the Monster plugs. They are VERY overpriced for the quality they deliver.
Thanks a bunch! This shd suffice for now.
Do you know where in SP road do these guys have the shop? I checked out a few days back just around closing time and didn't find any in ones that were open.

Edited:
Bangalore stores...
 
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these
Amazon.com: GLS Audio Locking Series "Generation III" Gold Connector Banana Plugs Banana Clips - 28 Pack (14 Reds & 14 Blacks): Electronics
plugs and actually most plugs (branded ones) are rarely made by the said brand mfg

they are all made by a handful of guys

e.g
below is the pic of the so called GLS plugs that i got from the source ( no GLS brand printed)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/6/img00167a.jpg/

sorry for the bad mobile cam pic

though i use VDH curretnly
the GLS ( well unbranded gls is terrific VFM

sourced from a frieind who travels but im pretty sure you could find them if you look in the correct places in mumbai

P.S btw the MS 758 is also a decent plug
 
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Thanks a bunch! This shd suffice for now.
Do you know where in SP road do these guys have the shop? I checked out a few days back just around closing time and didn't find any in ones that were open.

Edited:
Bangalore stores...

When you enter SP road, immediately the road forks to the left in a "Y", take that and within 20 meters the shop is on the first left turn corner.

--G
 
Hi friends
Good quality gold plated left/right marked banana plugs are available here in Dubai for around 30 Indian Rupees each piece.
If any of your friends are traveling to Dubai let them bring some for you :)
Anil.
 
Hi friends
Good quality gold plated left/right marked banana plugs are available here in Dubai for around 30 Indian Rupees each piece.
If any of your friends are traveling to Dubai let them bring some for you :)
Anil.

Hi Dr.Anil,

Can you tell me where i can buy banana plugs in dubai.I could only find Van den hul which was a bit expensive.

Regards,
Faz
 
You get industrial grade banana plugs also. They are not gold plated and often have a single spring steel wire along it's length. Usually makes very good contact and easy to clean. Gold isn't worth it if you plug in and out often. The plating is very thin and will rub off easily. Look at some RCA gold plated ones that have been used well.
Plain , clean silver (coloured) plugs work very well. Remember to 'maintain' all plugs. Remove them and clean them well every few months ! The industrial types don't cost much and work just as well. Available in several shops on SP road.
The worst types are the ones with a serrated ballooning central section. Often the spring doesn't last long and the central shaft rotates easily making an indeterminate resistive connection. The other one with four section bulging center works much better. The spring section should not rotate freely !

Some industrial types made in India don't have good plastic sections! The so called 'audio grade' with metal in the handle section are better . Most industrial types might require the wire to be soldered to the plug !
If they are cheap, try them out !
 
Where can I get banana plugs in Bangalore? Both good ones, and less priced ones like less than 100 bucks stuff. For now will use these. Later will get a few good plugs from US (like ones below).

Just wondering, will these be available in bangalore?
this or This

IMO..go with bare wire ends without any spades and banana plugs, you will be amazed to see the change in SQ, if you compare the same with banana plug. This is my observation with my system YMMV .

Cheers
Dheeraj
 
Any website from where you can order good quality Soldering wire? Ebay has 60:40 grade with no silver. I read somewhere that Audio grade should have some quantity of silver in it. Any suggestions?
 
If you are soldering everything yourself for the first time then 60:40 should be fine and 63:37 may be better as it melts at an even lower temperature ! If you are soldering 'over' an existing solder joint then there is a good chance it is lead free solder if the equipment is fairly recently made. That will not melt at the temp required by 60:40. Your iron should be capable of reaching a higher temp.
But I have used 60:40 with a hotter iron and the ( lead free) solder does merge together.

Silver solder is most likely not required. It was supposed to be used with silver plated leads to avoid the silver from being leached into the solder . This doesn't make sense as silver solder again adds silver to the joint. Incidentally the US armed forces uses plain lead based solder as the joints are more reliable !!;)

Lead was banned fairly recently as it causes lead poisoning. I've used lead based solder all my life . Never handled it 'carefully' and bitten it several times to cut the length of solder. Never got poisoned or sick so far ! I know several other techies who are even worse than me with regard to 'safety' and they are all doing fine. I have NEVER met or heard of an electronics technician who was poisoned by lead !
I think RoHS is all rubbish. Just another rule for someone to make more money and meet other political ends. If they had mentioned methods to handle discarded electronics it would have made much more sense.

I'd never use lead free solder or solder with silver content for DIY purposes. You get a much more reliable joint fairly easily. I have a roll of lead based solder with silver but have never got around to using it. Maybe I'll try it one of these days but I bet it will not make any difference.
 
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I think RoHS is all rubbish. Just another rule for someone to make more money and meet other political ends. If they had mentioned methods to handle discarded electronics it would have made much more sense.

This isn't about the individual case. Think about all the million tons of e-waste rotting away in landfills across the world and all the lead and mercury leaching into the groundwater or rivers and oceans. The aggregated toxins spreading into the food chain via sea food and also damaging the health of tiny creatures which cannot withstand the microscopic doses that humans can...
 
Actually, metallic lead in solder doesn't leach out - it's very stable when alloyed with tin. The bulk of the lead in the environment is either from lead acid batteries that weren't recycled, or lead paints and pipes from the era when such usage was common and legal, or from CRTs. None of that is due to solder, and the amount of such lead exceeds the amount in discarded soldered electronics by a factor of some 100x - 1000x.

The push for RoHS has come primarily from countries (like China) that stood to gain by:

a) exporting lead-free solder and alloys;

b) exporting cheap electronics that cannot easily and economically be repaired once they fail, because of the relatively high-temperature SMD rework that's needed. Such junk (Xbox consoles, cheap PCs, laptops, LCD TVs, DVD players, etc.) has to be discarded once it fails, thus ensuring a ready replacement market;

c) Lead-free equipment is in general less reliable because of the tendency to form tin-whiskers in conditions of high humidity and fail. This is tied to point b) above - lower reliability and higher failures increases the size of the replacement market. The main requirement is that the equipment should last just long enough to clear the warranty period of typically 1 year, and most manufacturers have optimized their builds to ensure that. It's highly unlikely that you'll find equipment built today that will last 25 years, but you will find any amount of consumer electronics equipment built in the '80s and '90s that are still working fine.

Vaguely related to this - the best 60:40 solder that I've used so far comes from B.T. Solders, Bangalore:

BT Solders Pvt. Ltd

It flows and wets surfaces easily, forming superb shiny concave beads with very little flux residue. They also make a variety of lead-free solders, including a 99.3-0.7% tin-copper alloy, which however requires much higher soldering temperatures and doesn't wet as easily.
 
Buy from India's official online dealer!
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