@mitch2, provided some good information but just a cautionary note to all regarding the first link he mentioned. The Furez stuff he carries is great and at a very good price and if it interests you then there are many other places to buy from. I had a problem when I bought from this ... this .. person.
First order was fine but the following order for the same components was shipped to me at a higher shipping cost which when questioned was told that the package was heavier than before. WTF, it was a repeat order. Crazy for a business owner to provide a good product at a good price and then treat a repeat customer as an idiot and try rip him off on the freight. The overcharge was refunded with no apology.
The FUREZ lugs are pure unplated Cu and very difficult to find. They are available with standard size jaws but have various sized barrels to exactly fit the wire used for a superior connection. This lug to speaker wire union is paramount to the end result. FUREZ also have low-mass very tight fitting banana plugs. The plugs/lugs can be crimped and/or soldered. I do both with the solder used primarily to exclude oxygen.
For all connectors avoid the cheap and very nasty brass based rubbish on offer. And yes these dreadfull things damage the signal. You have brass of dubious purity which is usually coated in nickel because it polishes up nicely so that it looks good when gold plated.
You now have different metals with very different IACS that you intend passing your precious signal through that you have paid huge amounts of money for, with the component manufacturers using high quality power supplies, short signal paths, resonance control and other attempts at keeping the signal pure, only to be sabotaged by crap connectors. You would be horrified at just how many, even very expensive components cheap out on the connectors. Some fit huge beautiful looking things but understand that this extra and unnecessary bulk has extra and unnecessary eddy currents in addition to the extra and unnecessary plating 🙄
IACS for various metals (international annealed copper standard) with pure Copper as reference at 100%
Silver 106%
Copper 100%
Brass 28%
Nickel 22%
Cupro-nickel 5-15%
Dissimilar metals are how diodes are formed. I do not want my signal travelling through this mess!
Richard Vandersteen has what looks like a cheap way of providing speaker termination. His designs have, or did have, screw connectors on the back which will accept lugs. Note though that he eshews the ubiquitous 5-way binding post for a low-mass terminal that can be securely tightened with a large screwdriver.
I have my own way of terminating cables to my DIY amp but it’s not for everybody.
Duelund has not been mentioned, is inexpensive and definitely sounds best with no connections. Just strip off the insulation and use unterminated. There is much on the net to entertain re: Duelund speaker cable.
If you can DIY then visit Chris at VHaudio for some proven recipes and components. I see lots of advice to stay with one brand which does not make sense to me.