I just purchased a HK AVR525 that I will be connecting to set of Dahlquist DQM9 speakers. The speakers have a 5 way binding post that will accept banana plugs. My stupid question is: do the banana plugs on either end (receiver or speaker) add anything that simply plugging in bare wire would not? Do I have to use plugs on either or both ends? And, is it worth $15 bucks/set to get 24k gold Monster plugs? Thanks for the advice.
No, bare wire is fine and IMO preferable. Just make sure there are no strands to cause shorting. Banana plugs are fine for quick convenient connections.
my monster cable pin connectors snapped when i stepped on my cable so i soldered the bare wire and use that in my superzeros which works fine.
i'm sure wire guage is alot more important than connectors. the 10 guage monster cables totally relaxed the sound of my reciever especially in the bass when i switched from generic lamp cord.
it would seem, as mentioned, that bare wire could give a better connection as you can tighten your binding post alot firmer than a banana plug. besides, a cable has more surface area which would seem to allow current to flow more freely.
the downside of bare cable is that it eventually frays if you don't solder it.
i always thought that spade lugs were the "ultimate" connection.