Sewell Silverback Banana Plugs Dual Screw Lock - 12 Pair

I purchased these banana plugs for the same reason everybody else does, to make their own speaker cables using convenient banana plug connects. These are easy to use, have a double screw tie down and the finish collar, screws over the tie down screws to give the connection a finished look. The short review version: I've purchased and used many different connections and overall, for the price, these are the best I've found. Yes, you can spend more as one can for everything they buy but these hit the middle ground nicely for looks, manufactured quality, price and packaged quantity. Now the longer review version. The connection is easy to make and once made, is a secure connection so one doesn't have to worry if the connection is bad or not. With the two screws snugged up, the connection is what I consider to be a "very" tight, permanent, connection. FYI, all of our speaker cables are 12AWG (American Wire Gauge) wire. Yes one can use smaller gauge wire but I see no reason to use smaller gauge wire to save a few pennies a foot. Twelve AWG wire fits the interior barrel of this banana plug nicely. I've made several speaker cables with these banana plugs and found them to be easy to work with and they make a positive connection when connected to the back of the receiver. Overall, these are a well priced product and the buyer gets lots of pairs in each of the packages so they'll have plenty of plugs to connect their 5.1 system with. If doing a full 7.1 system, one will need four more banana plugs as a 7.1 system need a total of twenty-eight plugs to connect all seven speakers to the receiver and this package has 24 banana plugs. If you like simple, these banana plugs will make you happy and they're much less expensive then going to your local "Shack" for speaker wire supplies. Hope the above helps.

A close look reveals an excellent build quality and materials. Terminals are gold plated and the covers look to to be made out of aluminum. You will need a wire stripper and a small screwdriver. I changed over to a slightly larger screwdriver with a larger tip after using a jewelers screwdriver because it was easier on my hands. INSTALL TIPS: First unscrew both screws until they don't protrude into the area where you stick the wire. Next insert wire in before stripping the insulation off to check the required length, as the stripped length has to be long enough to reach the end so that the inner screw will screw down on the wire. I stick the wire in all the way and watch where to cut, making sure the outer screw is not going to screw down on insulation. After stripping, push the wire in with a slight twist in the direction of the spiral of the wire. I then tighten the inner screw mostly tight first but not all the way, making sure it is screwing into the end of the wire. I then tighten the outer screw completely, and then go back and tighten the inner screw completely. Be careful to keep the screwdriver tip seated straight and deep as not to strip the small set screws. After assembly, when pushing in the connecter, if it is real tight, twist slightly counter-clockwise while pushing in and it will go in easier. Pushing counter-clockwise will assure you aren't unscrewing the cover. Afterwards make sure the covers are still screwed on tight as they back off easily. I used all 24 plugs, some with 14 AWG wire and some with 10 AWG. I was happy to see that these plugs have a taper on the inside hole which made inserting the large wire easier. A very thoughtful inclusion and just another part of a quality build. I ended up plugging and unplugging these things numerous times and they did not loosen up. I would not hesitate to buy more of these, especially for the price. I would only buy the dual screw style, they aren't that much more money and make a much better connection to the wire. My install time for 24 was around 30 minutes.

Pros: - Double set screw holds small and large wires tightly (tested in 18-12 AWG flawlessly) - Snug fit in receiver binding posts for a perfect connection and great sound. (Onkyo receiver) - Simple and convenient design, by far the easiest design i've worked with - No crimping, or soldering, or loose connections Cons: - None that i can find as of yet. Other thoughts: Overall, not quite as heavy as the more expensive banana plugs, such as Sewell's Maestro line, and Monsters... but for the price, great quality, and ease of use...cant beat the value, when looking how great of a product you get versus the money you pay. I was looking for a solution to the frayed crimped mess behind my receiver, yet didnt want to pay as much as my receiver for receiver and speaker side connections on my 7.1 setup. These Sewell silverback banana plugs did the trick. Just needed a small flathead screwdriver, and I was all set. Will definitely be buying another set!

This rating reflects two issues I have with the connectors: Safety and design. {UPDATE: I have increased these to a 4-star rating. After installing them I confirmed they do an excellent job for fit and function. The wire will not pull out when inserted and secured properly, meaning it won't come loose or fall out unless you've done something wrong, and the backshell (Sewell calls them casings, not the correct term) will stay put unless you twist it while pushing or pulling the connector. No 5th star due to the safety issue.} Safety-- This is a two-piece connector; a plug body with set screws for securing wire, and a knurled screw-on backshell. My major concern is that the backshell is conductive. Using a Fluke m87 DMM, I found that the two knurled bands conduct straight to the plug. Conversely, of course, any signal on the plug conducts to the backshell bands (music, 500 Volts dc, whatever you're properly or improperly using it for). This is not A) safe, B) safe, and therefore, C) certainly not a good design solution when persons are expected to grab the backshell to insert or remove the connector, and also not for wire pairs carrying electric signals of any sort. If a piece of conductive material should fall and lay across several backshells as they are lined up along the back of the receiver, it could mean trouble. It may never happen, but.... Interestingly, the smooth unknurled surfaces do not conduct. The length of the connector, depending on how deep the plug will go into the socket, makes for a connection that protrudes quite a bit. If you combine that with a heavy gauge wire you end up with a long moment arm (force on the socket and whatever it's attached to in the receiver). On my Yamaha it wasn't a problem, but on my Polk TL1's they stick out like a sore thumb, and I'd have to make sure they didn't interfere with installation on a floorstand or wall mount. Bare wire is a must for direct wall mounting. Now, the connectors seem well made with a good finish. I saw no blemishes. The set screws require a small blade screwdriver and did an excellent job of securing the 18ga. wire. {EDIT: I previously said that the set screws were needle-pointed to penetrate insulation and make a connection without stripping. Only a few set screws in the 24-pack were, the rest are flat bottom. I don't know why there would be two types.} The backshell screws onto the plug with a tight fit (no wiggle) and stays that way. The plugs fit my Yamaha RX-V673 binding posts perfectly and Polk binding posts, though a fair amount of pressure is required to compress the 'banana peels'. Once in, the connection was very secure with a solid feel, even though the speaker sockets aren't as deep as they could be. All in all, they work as advertised. I will use them on the receiver for now, but will order the shorter Sewell Deadbolt for the speakers.

The product itself worked really well. However, I had two of the banana plugs that would not thread out in order to attach the wires. Unfortunately, they were both reds, but it did leave me with a pair of blacks. Tried as I might with plyers, screw drivers and the such it was all to no avail. I would recommend this product, but only if they give you a couple extra. I was a little upset about a shipping issue so I just went to the store and picked up 2 more that I needed to finish the job. Overall, as long as you're not under any time constraints I would recommend this product especially with the cost of some of the others.

I decided to purchase the plugs because I had made a big investment in speakers. I have 12 speakers between the social areas inside my home and the outside terrace, so I invested in high quality cable which compliments the plugs. Today, my audio signal is very powerful and clear. Connecting the wire to each plug was simple because of the high quality of the metal, the plugs can be unscrewed quickly. One the cable is connected to the plug, there are no more issues of loose cabling. The different colors make adjusting speakers between zones very quick. This was worth the purchase.

These connectors are junk. First poor quality control, the plug portion of one of the connectors was shorter than the others. That should have told me to stop and just send them back. But based on all the positive reviews I decided to try them. The first one I plugged into the receiver didn't look right when plugged in. The brass threaded ring inside the aluminum sleeve slid down into the sleeve about a quarter of an inch. It didn't even take that much force to insert. I guess it is true that you get what you pay for. Back they go.

These banana plugs are excellent. I used them on some real fat wire that I had tinned and some smaller stuff that I didn't. I felt like these were the extremes as I hard a hard time getting one to fit and the other I had to screw the set screws in all the way. The larger gauge wire is probably 10-12 AWG and I was told the smaller stuff is 18 AWG, although I think it is more like 20 AWG as it is small (which would also explain all the dB loss I get with that wire). The fit and finish on these is real good. The banana connectors fit real snug, which is great as my cats wont be pulled them out anytime soon as they always walk behind the entertainment stand. If I has one thing to fault them for, it would be that the flat head set screws could use a little more to them as it is difficult to get the ream tight without the screw driver slipping out (and potentially stripping out the head). Some deeper grooves would be nice. Given the method for installing the wire into these, you cannot stack them like some other styles. I actually prefer this method as it looks nice and secure. The looks are nicer in the way the wire attaches to these as opposed to coming in at a right angle and poking out like so many others.