Bananas Vs Spades???

I have never compared the two, but I pefer Spades just for the fact of more contact surface. I'm not sure that there is more surface but looks like their should be. Also with spade end, you can get a tighter conection. As far as sound, not sure I have heard a diff, or if I have throught if was another factor.

How about no speaker wire terminations at all? It doesn't get any better than not having it in the signal path to begin with. Of course this goes against audiophile thinking as common sense isn't useful in this hobby. LOL

Good listening

Yes this has been gone over many times. I agree completely with Gmood1. Why put a possible source of degradation in the signal path? Doesn't signal purity make sense?

Whenever possible use bare wire. I'll found that there is little difference between a spade/banana. However, there is a difference between the types of connectors and whether they are crimped/screwed or soldered. If your amp or int. amp has really cheap binding posts you might want to replace with something better such as Superior Electric BP30/31 gold-plated binding posts. Really good and very affordable. Bill.

If you want the convenience of banana plugs, go with a quality brand of Z-style plugs. You'll get more surface area contact then with a spade or bare wire and a snug fit, though not as tight as can be achieved with the other two approaches. Don't bother with the regular-style of banana; the Z-plugs definitely give you a better fit.

You can see the difference between banana and Z here (this is a UK site):
http://www.hifi4less.com/Banana_Plugs.htm