Is Speaker Termination Required?

The engineer is right but it doesn't matter much.
Unterminated can possibly sound better. BUT unterminated can and DOES lead to shorted wires, swearing when you can't get ALL the stranded wires to behave not matter what as you try to thread them into the little hole in your 5-way binding posts..
Terminated wires are just easier and safer to deal with in the real world.

I have often used unterminated in the past and still think it is theoretically better but all the cables I have used for years have come terminated and most would not work well without it for practical reasons. I have found the binding posts are probably a bigger problem. I replaced the stock ones on my Spendor S 100s with $3 all metal ones from Madisound and got a significant improvement. Whether this was mainly due to the better material or much better grip and contact I don't know. I noticed the same effect when I replaced the stock plastic knob terminals on one pair of my Meridian 605s with Michell metaL ones.

I agree with Stanwal. The binding posts tend to be a bigger problem . Lots feel bare wire is best and for the reasons mentioned are probably rite. Elizabeth is correct in the application of it and the ooops that can happen. Cheers.

That is one less connection for each wire.Terminals with a good secure connection should be fine too.The secure termination is what is important for me in my experience.

But isn't this really about the sound or is it about what's easy?