Unusual(?) spade connection

Bi-wire and shotgun were the first two things I tried that convinced me to look deeper into wire. This was decades ago, back when I was using ordinary hookup wire. So it cost next to nothing to try. (Even then I was so cheap- did I really want to cut 15 ft of wire off the roll to try this unlikely idea out? Lol! Seriously!) To this day I still recommend trying the easiest/simplest/cheapest thing first just to see if it works. If the idea has any merit at all then you should be able to hear it regardless of how well its done.

But this is merely the first step. Then once you know the next is to figure out what is the best way to go about it. So once I knew cables really could make a difference the next thing was to figure out just how much and what is the best value way to go about it. In other words what you are doing, trying elevators and all these different things. 

If you keep going like this, trying a lot of different things, listening close as you can for all the differences, noticing which are better and in what way and by how much, you will very soon be looking back in wonder at how much progress you have made. This is roughly somewhere between a thousand and a million times better than read/talk/buy.

Thanks for all the replies!
Looks like I just filled my schedule for the week!

Excited to experiment with the cables and speaker placement.  Thank God these speakers are on wheels!

And yes, what a difference the simple/cheap things can do!

I was so anxious to hook up the B&Ws as I never owned speakers like this, that I used short Kimber Kable cables.

The short cables didn't allow me to pull the speakers far from the front wall.  So after using the much longer MIT2s with one prong on each amp binding post, I was able to move the speakers around.

Huge difference!  Especially in the bass.

Then I discovered that the midrange/tweeter units atop each speaker can rotate.

This helped to tame the brightness (which may be due to the untreated living room).  

I also followed a suggestion by millercarbon to another poster to first try Styrofoam cups to elevate cables.  Had to triple the cups and wrap rubber bands around them because the MIT2 cable is thick as a garden hose and very heavy.

Although I couldn't really tell any difference with the short cables that I have, there was a difference with the much longer (20 ft) MIT2s.

Makes me wonder how many have purchased a nice pair of speakers, set them anywhere, no thought to basic experimentation and sell them because they didn't like the sound.

Stay safe everyone!

The vast majority just plop em down. A few move them to where they look good. Almost no one knows there is an actual science and method to speaker placement.

Normal first step is like you noticed, to move them around listening for the best/smoothest bass response. More bass closer to walls, tighter bass further away, and where you sit makes a difference as well. At this stage you don’t care much about precision you’re just listening for bass and bass/midrange balance.

Next step, is to listen for midrange/treble balance and imaging. First use a tape measure to make sure they are precisely equidistant to your sweet spot. Then tweak them for toe in. In your case you can also tweak the midrange/tweeters.

Then check again, this time measuring to eliminate even the tiniest fraction of an inch of being not perfectly symmetrical. I've used a framing square and string in certain situations. Because I have found as little as 1/8" to diminish image focus. Its that big a deal. 

Finally, now that you have them dialed in, you can start looking to see what if anything you might want to do in the way of treating side wall reflections. You don’t have to go all GIK there’s dirt cheap things like a folded blanket you can try, or pick up a 2x3’ panel of Owens Corning acoustic panel at the hardware store for a couple bucks. That exact same panel that costs a few bucks is what’s inside a lot of expensive panels.

Its real easy to spend thousands and thousands of dollars and not get as good results as you can get for free or cheap, with just a lot of time and effort.

The old MIT2 biwire cable I have has spades that are too narrow for the posts on my Hegel and Ampzilla monoblocks.

How about Spade to Banana Adapter

https://www.transparentcable.com/products/transparent-spade-to-banana-adapter
https://www.thecableco.com/cab-banana-single.html
http://www.cardas.com/cabd.php