To terminate.. or not

I'm not interesting in obsessing on this one. Rather, I want to order some stuff and listen to some music on my new speakers!
Headshrinker2 03-04-09

Then go with spades or banana plugs.
With bare wire there is always the chance of strands of the + & - coming into contact with one another at the terminations. Can be bad news for the power amp.....

Moving stuff around? locking bananas are the easiest to connect and disconnect. I would have locking bananas AT THE AMP end. (unless easier to use speaker end. Bare wires are only OK if you tin the ends so they cannot unravel and while in a hurry moving stuff around you inadvertently cause a short with a strand of unraveled wire (think blown up amp)

Jea48:
When choosing between spades or bananas, is one connection type thought to be better than the other?

In my opinion BFA style bananas are the best compromise. They always fit tightly, but without the need to "lock" them. Because they maintain constant outward pressure onto the inside of the speaker binding post, they are "self-tightening. This is a huge benefit over bare wire or spades which can loosen over time.

BTW, you can buy BFA style bananas very inexpensively at Multi-Contact USA. I think they are $1.11 each. Here's a link to an excellent review of a DIY speaker cable that uses the Multi-Contact USA BFA style bananas:

http://6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html

Enjoy,

TIC

Not every amplifier accepts bananas. Consider spades at least on amp side. From the purist's point of view spade provides the best sound but it's probably way above level of your gear and cables.