Bananas Vs Spades???

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

I have the same cables (length, brand, model), one pair factory terminated with WBT spades and the other pair with bare wire. There is no contest. Bare wire is superior.

I also have factory terminated Kimber Select jumper cables with WBT bananas and other cables terminated with WBT bananas. Same thing. The banana connectors really do a number on the sound....don't know why, they just do. I have never liked a cable with WBT termination. Confusing, because Kimber uses them on all their top notch stuff.

"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".

Like I said ..I rest my case. ;-)

Gmood1, if you thought I was arguing your point, I think you're a little jumpy. Actually, I didn't understand your comment about how bare wire "goes against audiophile thinking." From the posts in this thread so far, it's pretty clear that bare wire is fairly common practice. I use bare wire connections myself.

Anyway, banana plugs have their place, and I like the Z approach (Nordost offers these as alternative to spades) over expanding bananas, which I think are more prone to small contact area. I don't have experience with the controlled comparison that RJA asks about, though.