Duelund DCA16GA

I have 12 awg as speaker cables, but bare cable connections to the Analysis Audio Epsilon speakers that are 4 ohms and not very sensitives. 
In my system they are keepers. The music is more authoritative and builds on a better foundation. Same density of sound that seems so characteristic of these cables.
Burn in can be a bit longer than 16 awg.

Bare wire is best by far! By far. All terminations degrade sound and if you can go with the bare wire you will get a nice jump in sound quality. 

I have terminated many of the WE wires (same tinned copper type wire) and prefer soldered connections for the tinned wire because the tinned coating melts resulting in a more direct contact with the underlying copper.
Although some prefer no connectors, I am skeptical that the absence of connectors can be easily heard given that the speaker cables typically connect to two binding posts and the signal travels through a bunch of other solder joints in typical amplifiers and speaker cross-overs.  I prefer connectors for convenience.
I like the Cardas GRS copper spades but couldn't find them in a search of vendors this morning.  Another good option is to use the Cardas copper jumpers and cut off the link section resulting in two spades that you can solder directly to.  Use some thick, adhesive-lined heat shrink for a stiff and well-protected connection/termination.

I have tried bare vs. connectors of varying types with WE and Duelund 16GA  (haven't tried 12 GA yet).

I prefer bare.  There is a purity to the sound that I like.  Various connectors flavored the sound, making things different, but not necessarily better.   

Also avoid binding posts. I mod my amp and speakers to only use binding posts as clamps, never to conduct signal. They also degrade sound in very obvious ways once you learn how to bypass them. 

Bare wire to bare wire is so much better sounding. Output wires from  the amp are clamped to my speaker wire directly. Same thing on the speaker end. Just think about that mass of brass covered in a thin coating etc... Avoid those binding posts! Even the best connectors and posts are bottlenecks. The improvement is shocking folks. Best mod I do and have done. 

Since the Duelund wire is tinned it will not oxidaize etc... I use it in my speaker crossovers and amp also.