spades vs. bananas

I recently made a change in spk cable. My previous cable had spades on the amp end and bannana at the spk. The new cable I got has bannana's all the way around. I was a little concerned because I had also heard the sonic rule was #1 bare wire connection #2 spades #3 bannana. Now my observation my be skewed becaue the cables themselves were a significant sonic upgrade. The new cables have the factory terminated Z plugs. The terminations asthetically are beautiful and convenient. This bannana, unlike others, makes 100% surface contact because of it's design. It is gold plated berillium copper. I am very pleased with the sonics and the convenience of plug and play. No binding post wrench required, no worry about stripping the posts, and very very clean looking. I have not had experience with the WBT but I have read many comments that their topline bannana is also an excellent choice. The bannana is also convenient if you like to swap wires in and out. My wife says she also prefers the bannana! So there you have it :^)

I beleive in not using banannas just for the reason of possible failure. The bananna puts stress on the wire connection of the cable (gravity) and over time can fail. The bananna connector also puts stress on the binding post and can damage the binding post over time. Especially concidering the weight of many quality cables. Stay with spades or bare wire if possible. Sometimes this can be difficult when using bi or tri-cable or bi-wire. In this case you can have them custom made to fit your application. JMHO

I agree with Mikec. Bannanas are covenient when swithing out speaker but I always have some sort of problem with them. I swithed to spades since now my system is pretty stable, and convenience isn't needed. For me Bare wires always end up grounding out, which causes a whole new set of problems.

Bare wire has a variety of disadvantages, but the one that puts me off is that it oxidises quickly. With spades and bananas you can terminate the wire in a way that protects the cable from oxidisation.

Redkiwi- I am about to terminate some AQ cables with spades (amp) and bananas (speaker). Others must be, as well. If you could post your recommended method to prevent oxidation, I'm sure lots of us would be in your debt.