Silver spades

The only thing you'll be opening up is your wallet and your hindquarters.

Total spade resembles roughly AWG10 and distance of 1/2".  Copper 10AWG resistivity is about 0.001ohm per foot. 1/2" spade would have resistance of 0.000042 ohm.  Silver spade would be 0.00004 ohm, while aluminum spade would be 0.00007 ohm.   Such short connection would not make audible difference, at least from the point of conductivity.  Yes, silver wires have reputation of sounding brighter, but here we're talking of 1/2" added silver on the top of 6ft of copper speaker wire.

Silver is a better conductor than gold or copper.  Gold is often plated onto other metals because plating is cheap and gold does not oxidize.  Silver oxidizes, but, silver oxides are quite conductive too (though not as much as pure silver), so it may not make sense to constantly clean and polish silver connectors or binding posts.  Also, when two metal surfaces are pushed together quite hard, like when you tighten down a spade, or squeeze in a banana plug, the points of contact of the metal tend to be gas tight so those contact points won'[t oxidize.  

Alot of my xlr have silver rather than gold connectors.they do need to be cleaned on occasion.dont know that it changes the sound much but it is a cleaner connection and silver is a good conductor used in alot of electronics.you try it tell us what you think.have one with one without have a friend switch the cabels and not tell you and see if you can tell.have fun experimenting .

I've use the silver WBT spades in the past, but, I did not try to assess the sonic attributes of that choice.  They are easy to use, which is what mattered most to me.  You need a crimping tool and the right choice of sleeve that goes around the bare end of the wire; the sleeve is then crimped and that crimped sleeve is then connected to the lug.  I have no idea how the different metals involved in the wire/sleeve/lug (and plating on the lug) interact as far as sound is concerned.  But, whatever the effect, if any, it is impossible to say whether that effect will be positive or a detriment as compared to some other choice; it all depends on system matching and personal taste.  If this sort of thing really does matter, at least with WBT you can try both the copper and silver versions of the same wire termination.  

Your silver wire experience does not necessarily hold true for all silver wires.  You would have to try quite a few to know if it is a fixed characteristic.  I heard Audio Note's line of copper and silver wires which utilize the same litz configuration and have very similar construction except for the choice of metals.  In my system, and for my taste, the silver wires had a clearer sound and better top end extension without being unduly bright or harsh (yes, the silver wire was not as warm sounding because more high end extension does shift the balance in that direction).  I bought the silver wire even though Audio Note silver wire is quite pricey.  

Lots of people seem to have issues with rhodium plating or soild which I mention by way of simply pointing out the obvious - metals can be a big deal.

I didn't realize there was a limit.

But to answer your question I find the discussions tend to take on a life of their own and meander.  Much like a worm on a dry outdoors surface.  So to refocus the conversation sometimes a new thread is helpful.  Also, the scope of the question may mature necessitating a new thread as well.  

Thanks for keeping track....its quite useful

Busted!

How many different threads on spades did you plan on starting? 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/gold-coated-brass-speaker-spades

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/cardas-spades

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/unplated-copper-spades-banana