To Mofimadness and others who responded, I wish Magneplanar would get hip to the needs of its customers, and also the evolution over the last 20 years of new speaker connectors, and the 5 way binding post.
bdp24 suggests getting rid of the whole terminal assembly ( which according to him improves the sound). So why doesn't Jim. Winey or whoever runs the company save us all the grief regarding this issue, by redesigning the assembly, and if possible offering a simple DIY kit for owners of older Magneplanars. I totally agreed with Statman, why does the customer have to necessarily do the surgery on the speakers, that should have been the responsibility of the design and marketing team.
It is bad enough that most Maggie speakers are a pain in the butt to find proper acoustic placement, generally require a high power amp with high current, and are large in size starting with the 1.7 and going up the line