Novel banana design promises improved audio

The Bayonet Plug is a novel 4mm banana plug that has been designed to provide improved sound quality over existing designs.

The Bayonet Plug is a novel 4mm banana plug that has been designed to provide improved sound quality over existing designs.

The banana plug is the preferred connection system for the majority of the world's loudspeaker cables.

According to Rob Woodland, Managing Director of Eichmann Technologies, existing banana plugs use the conductive element of the plug to provide a frictional fit within the binding post receptacle.

"The disadvantage of using the conductive element as a locking device is that conductive performance of the connector is ignored in favour of the mechanical means of connection", says Woodland.

"For example, the mass of metal (usually poor conductive brass) used in the conductive element in existing banana plugs can cause phase problems due to skin effect, while split pin or barrel spring locking mechanisms can induce eddy current distortion where the signal is conveyed through multiple contact points".

The Bayonet Plug overcomes these performance limitations by providing an electrical connector whose conductive element is machined from high-conductive tellurium copper, whose shape is designed for minimal skin effect problems, and whose locking means is via a non-conductive frictional pressure insert rather than via the conductive element itself.

"The result is a new banana plug connector that will improve the performance of any loudspeaker cable", says Woodland.

The Bayonet Plug is available in consumer packs of four plugs.

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