Short piece of spk wire sustitute for spk link?

yes it's fine

Yes, makes a big improvement over the brass jumpers. And it's cheap.

I have a single run of Audiquest type 6 that I can cut to replace the brass jumpers. Thanks for your respones!

Audioquest sells jumpers that are basically about 6" long gold or silver (2 versions) plated pure copper wires. The only difference from using high quality copper wire is perhaps the plating but unplated copper wire squeezed by speaker post will create most likely oxygen free connection.

Ditto on the responses above. The stock links or brass jumpers of most speakers are usually not too good. A short length of speaker wire will produce better results in most cases.

Kijanki made a good point about the connection at the speaker terminals. The quality of connection ie. tightness at the binding posts will likely affect sound quality as well. It may be more feasible to consider jumpers that have spades on one end and bananas on another end instead of using bare wires. A tighter and more rigid connection usually yields better sound.

Quick question. If the OP does go with speaker wire with bare copper ends at the terminals will they have to clean the ends with Deoxit or other cleaners periodically?

Also if what gauge should the speaker wire be? I've seen instances of 22AWG used as replacements for the brass plates all the way up to 10AWG. I don't think I heard the difference though.

Audioquest jumpers are gauge 14:

http://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-Silver-Plated-Biwire-Jumpers/dp/B0006VMATC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1296537277&sr=8-3

My version is gold plated.

Why not try bi-wiring instead of replacing the speaker links with short speaker wires?

I'm using the Signal Cable Ultra Speaker Cables (bi-wire configuration) and they're great!
http://signalcable.com/ultraspeaker.html

It's been suggested to me that the best jumpers use the same wire as the cables (where possible) to maintain the impedance etc. Not sure if it makes a difference, but anything is better than the stock jumpers. I've tried expensive custom jumpers with spades ($180) and a bare ended bit of audioquest cable and both worked about equally well. A tight fit should eliminate the need for copper cleaning over time.

Try the ribbon jumpersfrom Mapleshade. Unbelievable boost in speed, clarity, and resolution at $25. I use the ones with the PLUS upgrade for a mere $35/pair.

I am using Cardas jumpers [both the bigger and smaller ones] and lengths of bare wire. Plain Romex is better than some of the stock jumpers in my system and dirt cheap; I have been using some 14 Ga. 99.999 silver wire from VH Audio, running both single and double ones. I don't know which you will like better but there is a considerable difference between the Cardas and VH in sound.