Elementary Question on Shortening Speaker Wire

This is probably a very rudimentary question so apologies in advance. I have an old receiver that has spring clips for connecting the speaker wire. I have an extremely long piece of wire that I’m wanting to shorten. I cut it to size and stripped the sheathing on the end.  I was thinking I could just connect the raw end of the wire into the receiver, but I don’t get any sound. Is this doable or am I supposed to solder the end first?  I did notice that the other end (the end that wasn't cut) has a silver coating, which I assume is solder.  

Thanks in advance and sorry if this is a dumb question.