Spade vs bare wire

I have tries all three methods and Stopped using bare wire one I used the following.

Here are my favourite connectors...
#1. KLE Innovations Bananas
Pro’s...
- extremely well engineered
- no colouration
- improves signal transfer over every other connector method/type
- extremely fast dynamics

Con’s...
- the fit is very snug, but they are made from copper and as such are not really meant for supporting a significant length of heavy cable.

- My cables have a 10 gauge neutral and a 12 gauge signal and the terminals (amp and speaker) are only 20" off the ground and I have no problems.

Other with longer lengths of cable to support have reported loosening or bending

#2. Furuz Spades
Pro’s...
- nicely engineered - i.e. they are very flat - no curved edges so they maximize their contact area
- Pure Copper of silver plate on pure copper
- comes in a variety of wire gauge and fitting type i.e. crimp/solder or screw clamp
- Being copper, clamping down on them makes for a pretty tight fit that does not loosen

Con’s
- not quite as detailed as KLE Innovations bananas

#3. Furez Bananas

Pro’s...
- nicely engineered
- Pure Copper or silver plate on pure copper
- comes in a variety of wire gauge and fitting type i.e. crimp/solder or screw clamp

Con’s
- not quite as detailed as KLE Innovations bananas
- easily bend if the banana is knocked of inserted roughly
- bends if heavy cable is used

I have tried some Furutech and Neotech bananas but to these ears they did not compete with any of the above products.

Hope you find it useful - Steve

I've tried it all. The TLDR is that bare wire would be 100% better were it not for the fact that a larger gauge wire than will play well with a binding post sounds better than a gauge of wire that'll easily wrap to a binding post.

The trade off of the inferior spade for the superior large gauge wire was the better choice (IMS).

Like Fliz I tried it all.  I feel the method of binding to the speaker ends is the critical part.  Crummy connections = Crummyniss regardless of the chosen end.  

Funny, if you look at many threads here with same question from 10 or so years ago, bananas were the worst choice. I’m sure quality of connectors has improved quite a bit. 

Keep in mind that if 6-nines copper is important to you, then bare copper wire is continually oxidizing, and copper oxide is a semi-conductor (a diode). Guitar effects manufacturers use diodes to create distortion boxes. Silver oxide is a conductor, so there’s no problem with silver.

I love the low-mass architecture and the metallurgy of the ETI / KLE / Eichman connectors and we selected ETI for our cables. There’s a bit of confusion over the 3 names, and if you’re interested in the genealogy, you can find it here: http://www.eti-research.com.au/the-original-bullet-plug/

ETI dispenses with the intermediate nickel layer found in many connectors which I refer to as audio jewelry - pretty stuff, but sonically lacking (you know who you are).

How much the metallurgy contributes to their sound is impossible to say, since I wasn’t privy to ETI’s prototyping sessions.

What I can say however, is that the connectors I’ve heard with an intermediate nickel layer have a characteristic distorted sound to them.

The ETIs are silver over copper, BTW.

Disclaimer: I have no commercial interest in ETI, but I do have an interest in building the best cables that we can deliver to our customers.

... Thom @ Galibier Design