Terminations

I used to use spades, now (thanks to Pierre Sprey of Mapleshade) have gone strictly to bare wire. It's more direct, and I've experienced no oxidation problems at all. YMMV, of course. I also used to bi-wire, BTW, now find that single-wiring, using Mapleshade jumpers, increases clarity with no perceptible downside. This has been the case with ProAc Response 3s and now with Gallo Ultimates, powered by CJ Premier l2s. Cheers, Dave

In my opinion, bare wire sounds the best. If you're con-
cerned about strands of wire coming apart, apply silver
solder ay the very end of the wire. Make the point of con-
tact on bare wire.(Especially easy on the spk. end.)If you're spks. are bi-wireable, consider replacing stock
jumpers with the same wire you used from your amp to spk.
This should be quite easy considering you're only dealing
with two identical solid guage wires for the +/-. If you're
concerned about oxidation, buy wire a little longer and re-
terminate yearly.

I prefer good spades for their very positive connections, but have used bananas and bare wire with no apparent degrdation in sound quality-- at least on a short term basis. Bananas can be handy if you change equipment a lot. Cheers too. Craig

I prefer bare wire. I haven't noticed oxidation and it is one more way to shorten the signal path.