The Cannon LNE was a lovely mains connector. My understanding is that it got replaced by the IEC because of safety concerns that it was relatively easy to touch the live pin, but don't see the IEC being that much safer. Current handling was only 6 amps, so that may have had a bearing. By the way, the picture above shows the plug to take power from a socket, not to a socket. The normal connector on the live cable would be the mating half.Personally, I don't like the locking bananas. Conventional 4mm banana plugs offer a decent connection but allow for the inevitable accident or trip to happen without tearing out a jack, pulling over a speaker or yanking an amplifier onto the floor.
Locking RCAs are even worse. They almost always lock on the shield (outer) and I've seen more than my fair share of torn off RCA outers on "Audiophile's" equipment.
What ever happened to the 240V 10A rated two/three-pin XLR style plug/sockets used in the 80s on professional gear for power? What were they called? Red sheathed pins IIRC. I've got some someplace. Made by Cannon I think. Beautiful things.
edit: here I found a pic on the internet
View attachment 33800
View attachment 33801
I suppose it was also more expensive than the now standard IEC 'kettle lead'
Edit:- Your edit just beat my post, so deleted the picture.
S.