Brian, you don't need connectors. You can use bare wire with no problems. I don't use any connectors on my amp end, OR my speaker end(with my current cables). There are two issues here. If the connectors are better conductors than the wire itself(silver connectors w/copper wire) you would get a better "ohmic" contact(electrical speak for lower contact resistance). However, most of us use a connector of higher resistivity(gold plated - usually brass). The contact resistance is higher in these circumstances. The other thing is that even if the resistivity IS lower, many feel that there is a degradation in sound wherever one material transitions to another. So a gold plated brass connector would lose on both counts.
Can I connect speaker wire this way...?
I want to try a set of speaker wire that I have but it has bananna's on the amp end and the amp does not except them. For a trial period, can I remove the bananna plugs and use just bare wire and screw the binding post down on them? I would later add spades if I wanted to use them.