banana plugs or not?

IMO, The best connection is bare wire or Eichmann bullet (silver or gold.) I like both with different systems.

The amp is more important than the cable as long as the cable is properly made and of adequate size and quality to do the job of supplying current.

If you stick with bare wire, when you strip the insulation and retwist the wire. do NOT touch the copper with bare skin. Use either cloth or ppapaer towels only to keep your body oils/sweat/salt off copper.
And monster bananas are junky anyway.
Use bananas with a good connection. Like AudioQuest.
Bananas are great if you want to switch wires a lot. otherwise stick with bare wire.

Bare wire. Just cut into some new wire every so often to get rid of oxidation.

Bare wire - if you can squeeze it to create oxygen free connection. Next best IMHO would be spade.

Agree- bare wire is the best. However, i use bananas because thats how my wires came.

NOT...

Hard-wired is the best, yet impractical. The fewer connection points the better. Bare wire not so good with silver or other exotic metals.

If you decide to go with bananas, the AudioQuest BFA bananas are easy to install on your wire with a dual set screw connection particularly if you have thick wire like my Kimber 8TC. They are much nicer than the Monsters-I have had both. My local Best Buy had the AQ's in stock in the Magnolia section.

BFA definitely. I use them on the amp side of the speaker cable. Replaced the spaded. Feels more secure and I "more connected" to the amp.