Using non-terminated speaker wire?

Ten years ago I was evaluating two different sets of speaker cables in 8' & 6' lengths, and did not like the connectors on one of the pairs I custom made. Prior sets were all crimped and soldered. These were slide-on screw-clamp barrel connectors, no solder. Just did not sound good, connectors got removed eventually.  

I think I was comparing Supra vs. two different sets of older solid core AudioQuest copper #6, #8 or something at the time. #6 Gray was not bad as I recall.    Well, I was ordering different connectors I wanted to try and it was 10-14 days before I received them. Bored waiting, I went and bought some local Audioquest connectors that were not cheap.  I installed them, and the sound got worse, veiled over. Just weird.  I added / removed / added / removed a few times, testing. 

It proved that some speaker wire connectors can impact the sound in an unexpected and strange way. What was a surprise to me was just how much worse it made the sound.   The raw cables without connectors were nothing special or overly expensive. I ran it that way for a while [a few years] until I ended up with pro made cables with much better connectors. Raw can sound better, then there is open exposure and oxidation to the copper and connection itself left raw too long. Try it and see first hand if you have a few stripped sets lying around or can buy some raw from a spool.  See first hand what you think. It's a good test to learn from in any case.  

Bare wire 

Mike

OP: you are absolutely right. Bare wire makes best connection by removing an unnecessary piece, aka connector. If you are not constantly changing speakers/amps, bare wire is the way to go. That's what I do. Just be sure to get all the litz threads in the binding posts to avoid shorts. 

Bare wire, Straight strand not twisted in a good tight compressed lug.

Thanks, guys; if I remember correctly (I bought these cables nearly 30 years ago) the ones I want to shorten are Kimber 8TC with what looks like 4 individual and insulated blue wires/and 4 black wires on each negative run and the same on each positive run.

Bare wire is fine, but I would tin the ends with silver solder to eliminate stray 'whiskers' that can short amplifier outputs. Not good. 

The biggest issue for me is that most speaker connectors come undone very easily. The lightest movement of the speaker cable, whether you use bare wire or a spade and the nut comes loose.

For this reason and others I always prefer bananas and I like Viborg for the combination of cost and the way the banana pin and spring are shaped a great deal.  Needs a hot air gun to finish installation.

In fact I like bananas over spades by far. Basically I’ve come to not trust 99% of the speaker nuts (the part not the person). The threads are not fine enough to grip well and reliably over time. I’ve literally never had a banana come undone like I have had so many bare wires and spades.

I remember your "spades drool, bananas rule" thread, @erik_squires . I take it the heat gun (I have one) is for finishing the job with heat-shrink? The wire I want to shorten is Kimber, and it appears to have 8 individually insulted strands for each cable. (8 for the positive and 8 for the negative.) Is this going to present any particular challenges I should be aware of?

I take it the heat gun (I have one) is for finishing the job with heat-shrink?

Yes.  There's a lot of left outside the part that is inserted so good to have it well insulated.  Plus it looks nice. :)

Is this going to present any particular challenges I should be aware of?f

I don’t think so, unless the total gauges is bigger than 10.  If you find it doesn't feel like it's gripping all of it consider crimp-on sleeves like they use for WBT and Furutech.  Relatively cheap here.

@immatthewj shortening Kimber 8TC is not that simple, here is my advice: 1) strip isolation using good, matched to wire, professional stripper. check wires to ensure no damage made to wires. 2) use perfect fit ferrules and crimp-tool to get all wires together. 3) soldering, filling w/solder ferrules, will improve connection and integrity 4) ferrules can be used as final termination, shrink tube will help as well. 5) for more reliability and to make it look nice, use a solid, well built banana plug (I like Furutech), to put on top of ferrules.

@erik_squires +1 "The lightest movement of the speaker cable, whether you use bare wire or a spade and the nut comes loose” - Yep, bananas for speaker end are the best! I used Neutrik FL4FX series connectors for up to 80kW Pro-Sound setups, - w/o any issues! 

Thing is perhaps the voicing of cable and connector are spot on, may be changing voicing without them. Oxidation another concern so you tin them with solder, solder can change the voicing. When you think about all the dissimilar metal used in cabling and connectors really is a complex issue. Personally I rather like most of my cabling with rhodium connectors, voicing of system based on that, really no upkeep with rhodium. I do use bare wire connection with my Rel subs.

rhodium layer delaminates easily.. I only rely on well recognized connector manufacturers like Neutrik/Furutech etc.. 

Quality plating of any kind doesn't delaminate easily.

I don't know if Rhodium delaminates easily but it's a bad choice for low conductivity and hardness.  The low conductivity is self-explanatory.  The hardness means it's harder to grip.  Softer metals deform under pressure and provide better contact.