I recently purchased a pair of M22ti's to go on my new Denon 1803. I am looking at connection options for my speaker cables. Among other things, I am considering some IXOS 215 Locking Banana Plugs(spades big enough for the Axiom speakers are hard to find). I mentioned them to my local hi-fi seller, who wants me to buy his Tributaries banana plugs at 3 times the price, and he said that IXOS was "cheap chinese crap". These plugs are solid brass and gold plated, they have a secure method for being affixed to the wire.

Since this is not a low level signal, I don't see how his can really be any bettter than these. It's not as if I am running some high end gear, this is just your basic audio gear.

So, I came here since it seems that there is a huge amount of expertise here.

Has anyone had any experience with IXOS products?
Do you think that the Tributaries ends are worth paying 3 times the price?
Is my hi-fi seller a snake-oil salesman? :P

Thanks in advance.

oh, btw. My M22ti's sound every bit as good as I had hoped. Thanks Ian, keep up the good work.

Tim

Tim, why are you even thinking about connections? Unless you're going to be frequently connecting and disconnecting simply stick the bare wire through the hole, tighten it and forget about it. Save your money. Buy another CD.

Gotta agree with johnk here, since i have my H/T set up, i have never, never had to unplug the speakers from the wires, and if the connection is well thightened (bare wire trough the hole) you should have no better or worse with a banana plus or spades or anything else, as far as sound quality goes, so keep that hard earned money for new dvd's to show off to your friends instead of standing behind a speaker and showin off those golden, titanium, from the moon, banana plugs! (gotta a full box in storage myself)

Just my 2 cents......

good luck

I got to agree as well, the only place that I would worry about using plugs is on exposed connections for esthetic reasons; otherwise put your money to better uses then buying snake oil.

Ditto. Banana plugs are extremely handy if you constantly plug and unplug your connections. Since we normally dont, properly tightened bare wire is the way to go. Just make sure that no wire strand is sticking out - make sure your connections are clean.

Bare wires in the lugs is how I have them presently. I don't typically move them around. Spades or banana plugs seemd a bit more tidy and finished is all.

Thanks for the advice guys. You sure weren't wrong about how good Axiom speakers sound.

Now all I need to know is how to convince my wife to let me buy MORE! I must have more! More is better!

Thanks Again.
Tim