Banana plugs on the BHK amps are a pain.
I found that you have to loosen the nut up and at the same time you are loosening it, push the banana plug in.
As of last night i’ve tried the following:
I’m still using my Cardas Quadlink 5c speaker cables.
For my source I have the following two that i’ve been A / B comparing:
- mark levinson 5101 with RCA Cardas Quadlink 5c interconnects to the BHK preamp
- Hegel Viking XLR Audioquest Water interconnects to the BHK preamp
I even brought my wife into the mix to see her opinion. It seems that the mark levinson has more sparkle, where the Hegel is more natural / organic sounding.
In the long run, after maybe an hour i think the mark levinson will get grating on the 802 D4s. But on the Hegel that wouldn’t happen.
Remember, I’m trying to work with these speakers
Later last night, I tried what Walt suggested about inserting the banana plugs into the bare wire slot in the side of the binding post. Genius, it really worked much better than i could have expected.
So now I switched from the Cardas Quadlink 5c to the Norcost Heimdall. My dealer is all excited that I try these cables and expects me to love them.
All listening was done on the Hegel Viking with XLR Audioquest Water interconnects to the BHK preamp.
I found that the Cardas cable sounded much fuller and natural than the Norcost on my setup. The Norcost made everything sound thin, bright, quicker…but again, I don’t want to feel like i’m at a Disco.
When inhad my Focals I found Cardas the best. I think you will too with those B&W.
Also look into the speaker cables from Triode Wire Labs in NY. Pete’s cables have all of the qualities you are looking for and he has a 30 day money back trial period. Many dozens of professional and user reviews are online.
I contacted Cardas directly today, and spent quite a bit of time explaining my audio system to them.
They suggested I try the:
Cardas Clear Reflection Bi-wire configuration.
The person I spoke with was familiar with both the 802’s and the BHK 300 amps.
I’m not familiar with these cables.
The TWL cables are warm, full sounding cables with no hint of harshness in my usage. Also as they are a direct sale they are quite a bit cheaper and Pete uses Cardas connectors. Read the reviews and reach out to Pete. Same thing applies to his IC’s.
I will read the reviews