Spade vs bare wire

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

Both silver and copper wire will oxidize if using bare wire you should tin the wire ends but do not allow the solder to penetrate the insulation as that will contaminate the tinning.