It's not often around here that one asks a direct question, and, after 3 valid responses, remains none the wiser. You know that it is never my intention to actually help anybody here (litigation issues), but I CAN fan the flames of confusion, and pretty well, if I do say so, so here goes!
I have used banana plugs since they were first on the market; late 70's early 80's, I can't remember. (FO,AH!) I have never had kids around the house often. Occasionally, I've had to send BIG floral arrangements (and cash) to the funerals of kids who DID touch my gear. However, I've always had mid-sized dogs. It was more than once that the banana plugs got yanked out, but that's what kept the speaker from being pulled over, provided you have any exposed connections at all. So, that's my thought on that.
RE: soldering
After 3 decades, I just learned that the drivers in my Snells are 12g speaker cable, soldered to the driver tabs. (I KNEW when I bought it that I'd need that soldering gun for something, 9 years later! See, Mark, it's all good, eventually!)
The speaker connections in our Axioms have a mere pinched clip that slides over each metal connector tab on the drivers. And the "wwyres" are hardly 12g. They have failed and I thought it was the driver. A "failed" replacement caused me to look more closely and simply pinched the clip tighter with pliers. The original driver was fine after all.
I guess the point is that the connections INSIDE aren't as solid as a banana plug and speaker cable outside, so why sweat it? These different methods appear to please each of the users, so it's a choice. That is what the 3 different answers made clear. So, the posts get one nowhere? We're good, then.
RE: Kids 'n' Gear
Bill's whole family came here for his birthday two weeks ago. We always try to keep the party outside, in the middle of the street. OK, not really, we have a nice, shady yard. However, it started to rain and we had to have 'em all come in.
I had prepared way in advance. His granddaughter said about her 16-month old to ME, "You know he likes to touch everything." "Oh, he won't," I replied. "Why's that?" "Because that's what mothers do, right, watch their kids?" She was speechless.
Better yet, it worked. He only made contact with one volume knob in 2.5 hours. I'm told, at that age, they heal pretty quickly.
