Personally I don’t find much sonic difference between the two and it’s more what works best with your speaker or amp. I find spades work well with my amps, and I have to have them on my speakers, I haven’t found bananas that are easy to attach to the speakers I use.
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I’ve used bananas for convenience for years. For the Galens, I mean Beldens, I got the very nice Cardas rhodium spades.
Robust is an understatement. Significantly more secure than bananas but less convenient to swap around.
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I don’t hear any difference. I use spades just because my speaker mfr told me to. And in the past, I’ve found bananas to be somewhat slippery.
I want to know when Galen is going to design some power cables!
–SSW
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Blue Jeans Cable has a speaker termination option they call locking banana plugs. I ordered them on a set of their BJC Ten White (5T00UP) and I find they work quite well. The plugs have a screw down collar that presses a pin into the banana which effectively expands it to increase purchase and contact area. I haven’t asked, but I assume they could terminate Iconoclast speaker cables in the same way.
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What other cables have you compared your 5T00UP’s with? What does your system consist of if you don’t mind me asking? Just trying to get a frame of reference what your 5T00UP’s sound good with…
We expect raw materials to be available within the next week or so. I have a wait list started. If you want to order please drop me a note or give me a call. Gary you are at the top of the list.
Though I have used both bananas and spades, Galen is pretty adamant about spades. Here is a recent note he sent a customer on the topic.
"The best connection is a large surface area and gas tight seal. The rhodium plating is a low contact resistance material and is soft to “bind” the the mating surface and SEAL, thus is gas tight when used on a spade. Yes, GOLD is the best at oxidation resistance, but since a SPADE is gas tight with Rhodium, oxidation isn’t an issue so a low contact resistance is the way to go at a reasonable price…and the way I went. Gold is simply too expensive. Silver oxidizes too easily. Copper is too hard to form to the spade land surface as well as Rhodium.
Look at the attached, the CAPTIVE WBT needs 7 mm (one on each page).
The naked posts can us EITHER, but still should use the WBT 7 mm.
Some TUBE amplifiers do use a beefy wide spade post that needs the wider 9 mm spade.
With binding post, you want the spade that best fits the lug as too big a spade has less surface area than a smaller one! The inside edge of the spade isn’t contacting the lug LAND surface, a large spade can have more resistance.
Some equipment can ONLY use a banana, and this can be “somewhat” mitigated by using a long contact surface with a Rhodium plating. But a ROUND banana lug against a hard surface has a much narrower contact surface, and thus higher resistance. Low profile units may need direct attach banana, but I recommend the BEST that most benefits the customer. We have a good banana, but for high current and arch prone junctions, a LARGE surface area and gas TIGHT seal is the best.
I can do a hybrid with 9 mm on one end and 7 mm on the opposite end, too (photo).
A DIRECT attach is the best banana (photo).
Some want indirect attach banana, and this has the most contact points since it is TWO connectors (photo).
If you have a fire in an electrical system, it is the highest contact resistance spot that starts it!
Best,
Galen Gareis"
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Hi Doug… I’ve not compared the 5T00UP to any but the ancient monster cable they replaced…my speaker cable runs are 25ft so it would be expensive to experiment. Given the length, I went for the lowest resistance/largest gauge.
I have P5>DMP&streaming>DSJr>GCD>M700s>Dunlavy Audio Labs SC IV.A’s. The Dunlavy’s impedance varies 3-8 ohms and they are not extremely efficient…87dB… But the M700s drive them Very Well indeed through the 5T00UP.
Interesting, thanks. I too use the Belden 5T00UP and think the sound is good (as far as I can tell), but one of these days I’d like to try some upgraded speaker cables to hear what kind of improvement I might get.
Unfortunately, exactly like you, one of my cable runs needs to be approx. 25 feet - this indeed can get very
expensive. I justified my longer runs the same way you did - it is certainly not a short run and a larger diameter doesn’t hurt. Though I read 12g would still be more than sufficient for a run of 25 feet.
I’ll be keeping the TPC. I tried all three conductor versions. I heard the most difference with OFE and didn’t like it for the first few hours but then it mellowed and warmed up. The SPTPC are simply not different enough to my ears than the TPC to warrant the $. They are very, very similar in my setup.
If money were no object, I would keep the OFE but I don’t think I could pick them out from the others in a blind test.
I did switch back to my former speaker cables for about 15 mins. and was astounded at the lack of coherence that I newer knew existed until it was gone (or improved).
Thanks Kurt for the very generous eval/return ability and super quick build and ship,
Brett
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Your experience sums up the concept well, I think. The material versions are flavors, the overall design is the monster, making the TPC “astounding,” in relation to many other cables. It’s like focusing a camera.
Thanks. I think your analogy is close but I would say focus is an absolute, it either is or is not. I think the variations of cables are more like adjusting color temp to suit one’s taste or perhaps differing choices of depth of field. I do enjoy my photography.
…and another thing: 
On a personal note, since I’m thinking about it and in case you are curious, Galen does not brag or go on about how his cables “blow the others away” or anything like that. He always speaks in terms of electrical characteristics when comparing cable brands. If he makes subjective comparative comments it amounts to relating what someone else has said. Oh, he’ll tell you WHY his cable is better with vigor but he won’t gloat. He tried to get these to the market through Belden, didn’t make an extra dime off them and did it just to make something that was demonstrably better. The business arrangements have changed and I am sure, by now, that everybody here realizes that the pricing is lower. Galen’s goal has always been to get these into the hands of audiophiles as reasonably as possible. They are not cheap to produce and therefore not cheaply priced but now that Galen and Kurt are in charge they are priced as best they can be. The enjoyment that those of you who have Iconoclasts is what Galen has wanted most. He really is just one of us.
He’ll call me now and tell me to shut up and that he doesn’t deserve the praise…
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Just a note to give kudos to Bob- I called him today with a question about my order and he took care of the issue even though he was out and about. There is no price you can put on caring and professional service!
Carl
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@brett66: I did mix my metaphors, too 
How about cleaning and/or contact enhancers? I use 99% iso to clean my dirty paw prints off. I also have Caig military contact ‘enhancer’ but have yet to use it on the rhodium.
Galen and I have discussed “corrosion” more than once. He actually presented a list of materials and metals with a chart of resistance for each. He likes the Rhodium because it is soft and allows the terminals/binding posts to create that gas tight seal. We have also discussed the effects of electrolytic or galvanic corrosion that could/might occur with dissimilar metals over time. The gambit runs wild here where NiTin, Nickel, Gold, Silver plating have been used. I’ve not heard Galen comment on cleaners or enhancers but I personally have no problem and would probably support cleaning contacts periodically, especially if anything along the lines of corrosion might appear.
You should be fine. Although gold is more resistant to oxidation (by molecular oxygen, say, in air) than rhodium, rhodium is actually much more chemically resistant, in general, than gold. It’s also much harder than gold, which could be a good thing.
Rhodium is very much more expensive than gold, though, so be careful. 
No worries, the Caig stuff does not attack anything I’ve used it on, only cleans and leaves behind a slight film to help stave off oxidation. The film is easily removed with iso.
I’ve read one reviewer that said it can sound grainy over time and therefore no longer uses it. I’m glad I cannot hear the difference.