Skoczylas, Pierre HATES redundancy in all things (after all, he worked for the government didn't he?) so if he can't redesign connectors to be more sonically streamlined then he will seek to do away with them and I would agree with him that unterminated speaker wires sound best (audio-wise, he and I are both minimalists).
But, while I'm at it, Nonoise wrote: "Folk should know that he was head of the design team on the F-16 Tomcat and A-10 Warthog and got in the secretary of wars hair over supply line efficiency in Europe (Pierre was right)". Indeed he was. Evidently there was the right way, the wrong way, the Army way and Pierre's way(!)...no doubt Pierre's was best!
I change things around every now and then and so far (knock on wood) none of the IC's have broken...yet (although I've always tried to be careful with them)...can't answer for your cats, though...
The Mapleshade sound tends to be very clear, fast, tight and extended across the board with excellent soundstaging, PRAT and dynamics.
Regards. John