In article ,
"Arny Krueger" wrote:

Matthew Weigel wrote:

It's that the exposed wire oxidizes, and the contact deteriorates.

By definition, exposed wire is not part of the contact between the connector
and the wire.

Yes and no. There is some minimal distance around the exposed wire-
including that part that is the contact- that oxidizes. If the area of
contact is spread out across many threads with small gaps (an issue with
stranded wire that isn't completely locked down), that minimal distance
makes significant inroads on both sides of each thread, with an end
result of greatly reduced contact.

IME if the speaker connector is tightened down proper[u, the
wire surface will still be bright at the point of contact, should you later
disconnect the wire.

Sure. You have to properly connect banana plugs only once, however,
regardless of how many times you might do something that requires you to
disconnect and reconnect the speakers. Spending $15 to reduce effort
over the life of any stereo system I have (the banana plugs are
reusable, not crimped or soldered), the number of times I have to worry
about making solid connections, is very much worth it. At a guess,
anyone who has already bothered to shell out for 12ga speaker cable
won't mind it at all.

--
Matthew Weigel
the email address is real
the contents of the post are not