Help with high level subwoofer connection

..just wondering why you want to use bananas....they are a convenience if you want to connect and disconnect many times... they are not the best way to connect for audiophile purposes.  Is the issue that the wires don't fit into the receiver output?...  If that's the case, put one wire into the receiver that fits... strip off some covering  before the end, and wrap the second wire's copper onto it.  Use electrical tape to finish.  You just made a Y connector.

That was the issue. It's an A/V receiver with a bunch of connections back there and I have to pull it out. So wrap the wires around each other? 

Good banana plugs work very well and lots of discerning ears like ’em, so fear not the banana! I have 2 RELs on an amp with my main speakers using bananas for the mains, spades for one sub and the second sub uses bare wires securely stuck in the bare wire hole on the same largish 5 way posts. I realize the second sub connection seems sketchy, but it all hangs together tightly and works very well. If you have only one REL (like I used to) the banana/spade combo is easy. I use AQ spades and bananas as they’re easy to simply attach with the little supplied wrench. If the receiver has spring clips and not binding posts just wrap the wire together and hope it fits.

I have to agree with wolf, I worked in HiFI for many years (now retired but still a HIFi junkie at times) and found that having good clean terminations of speaker cables solved quite a number of service issues down the road for many clients and the AQ bananas and spades are an excellent example of quality terminations. They are also very easy to deal with when moving, cleaning or changing bits of the system.

I have a M&K sub that I drive at speaker level simply because my ARC Pre amp specifies a 20K ohm minimum impedance load.  The sub sounds excellent using spades at the sub with the bananas stacked into the speaker lugs on my amp using an equal length run of Kimber 4VR as the cable for each channel… of course the longer the run the more the cable quality influences the signal and mine are only 7' long.

I also found, and still do find for myself, that cable choices are potentially a place where I get a bit of OCD happening.

I have learned to trust what I like to hear and I experimented continuously  for years, having had the luxury of working in a great high end audio shop… For some the cosmetics play a big role, or theory, or price... or all of the above...

My experience is also that a great AC power source makes for a surprising difference in my systems overall resolution and is a good high return of value for the $$ spent...  I discovered the Shunyata PS8 as a great place to begin, the entire set up sounds cleaner…  even though my system is is plugged into a 15amp daisy chained $.97 wall socket… next on my to do list… A 10 Ga 20 amp dedicated feed from the mains, probably cheaper than any other upgrade I could do...
Remember to Enjoy the music as much as the chase!

You can buy banana plugs that you can piggyback another banana to.   Spades are much more secure though.....