Anyone went back to using bare wires on speakers?

No, I prefer the convenience of leaving the connectors on and it would be difficult with the flat speaker cables I use. I do bypass the binding posts at the crossovers by using them to pinch the wire feeding the crossover and the spade connector together instead of passing the signal through the binding posts. Probably about the same effect as removing the cable ends and nothing is modified.

04-13-11: Lewhite
One of the local salons ,who shall remain nameless, told me that it was less then prudent to not use solid silver spades on my silver kimber. The reason being to avoid the oxidation of the silver wire.

Avoid oxidation of silver wire ? Not good advice. Silver Oxide (aka Tarnish) is a better conductor than silver itself. That is why older silver cables sound much better than new ones...

There are no connectors on my DIY silver ribbon speaker cables.

Two flat silver ribbons each wrapped in wide Teflon tape, then placed back to back and wrapped again. At the ends, I just folded the ribbon lengthwise and managed a bit of origami to get the right angle and separation of the ends. Then I cut a notch with small scissors and fitted the end to the binding post.

Every year or so I unplug and clean the tarnish off and polish the exposed silver, then clamp them again.

Regards,

I use bare wire on my Revel F52 and Pass amp..

Copper oxide is an insulator; by contrast, Silver oxide is a very good conductor.

http://www.spearitsound.com/siltech/siltech_faq.htm