shielded bare wire or dremel. the fewer contact point in a chain the better. 10 awg copper is very nice but dremel is easier considering your investment. keep in mind if the spades are 'coated' in gold, you'll be drilling that off as part of your contact surface so maybe bare wire again is better...or send the wire back and say then need to make it fit your equipment, not their tooling presses. the afficianados will say all the electrons will get cramped struggling to find the gold surfaces for jumping off....and well, it's not like its Rhodium.
Can I cheat and not get caught?
I bought a nice Accuphase P-450 power amp recently and was surprised to find the speaker connectors accept only bare wire or VERY large spades. Since my speakers are Vandersteen 3As, I had HCM Audio make a set of double bi-wired cables to the tune of over $300 (I know, that's cheap in the big scheme of things) and was shocked when the 5/16
spades would not fit over the posts. I was finally able to force the spade(s) barely onto the post and tighten the connector enough to secure it, but I'm wondering if it would be better to insert one prong of each spade into the hole for bare speaker wire, then tighten the connector. Or should I try to widen the gap in each spade slightly/carefully to get a better conventional connection?
spades would not fit over the posts. I was finally able to force the spade(s) barely onto the post and tighten the connector enough to secure it, but I'm wondering if it would be better to insert one prong of each spade into the hole for bare speaker wire, then tighten the connector. Or should I try to widen the gap in each spade slightly/carefully to get a better conventional connection?