Does the quality of the spades matter

Do not use dissimilar metals. Gold-on-gold is preferred since it oxidizes less. Surface area offsets and conductivity issues.

Okay, You can use the "eye candy" wbt spades or some carbon copy but the best sounding connectors are the AudioQuest and simliar purest designs. The AQ #P8 spades will be almost impossible to beat in means of performance not to mention cost.

KiD

Aren't most speaker posts gold plated? If so, aren't we all running into a dissimilar metal mating regardless of what we do?

I know that many prefer bare wire and that may sound good for a while, but it is very difficult to keep clean. I thought that one of the primary purposes behind spades (etc) is to provide an easier surface to maintain since the spade connection to the wire should be airtight. Given that, the optimum material may depend on your habits. Gold is easiest to maintain. Both silver and copper require constant maintenance -- if you don't think you will clean the terminals monthly or quarterly, then silver and copper will become increasingly less articulate over time.

To aummarize, all conductors sound a bit different. If you keep the terminals clean, go with copper, gold or silver depending on your taste. If you don't keep them clean, go with gold. BTW, the impact of gold may be less than supposed since you are matching to gold anyway via the terminals.

Ozfly makes excellent sense to my mind. I'd follow his advice. Cheers,

OZ - yes and no.

Copper over time will oxidize and cupric oxides can tend to be semiconductive, thereby forming semiconductive films on areas that have been exposed.

Silver oxides (tarnish) are conductive and therefore do not exhibit the same potential for affecting the signal that the cupric oxides might pose.

Having said that, any good binding-post interfacing with a spade will render the junction gas-tight, therefore no distinct oxidation will occur. There may be other potential problems, such as metals migrating (i.e. a pure copper spade on a gold plated binding post is a place to watch for migration or "leeching").