Bananas rule, spades drool. End of discussion.

@coppy777  , here is a picture of kind of what mine look like.  I did the search for that AQ wrench you mentioned because I was thinking that maybe it was machined to match those (what I am referring to as) knurls that B&W used on my binding posts.  I guess I could replace them with better posts (like maybe Cardas?) but one of my fatal flaws is probably laziness, and once I have the spades attached and satisfactorily torqued, it's kind of like "out of site/out of mind."  As I typed earlier, however, on the rare occsions that I do have to mess with them, I always wish that they did have hex heads.  I guess I could by a set of eight (I am biwired) Cardas(?) posts with hex-heads, and next time I have to remove the speaker wire spades I guess I could then change them . . . I guess I could do that. . . .

They're heavy brass, not good.

They're heavy brass, not good.

That link was onlty to illustrate what my binding posts look like.  I don't know what B&W actually used.

As mentioned, my Wilsons, with their big pretty hex heads, don’t accept banana connections.  Their latest model terminations now do.  And they sell them as expensive replacements.  Supposedly sound somewhat better.  Even my dealer thinks I probably have better things to do with that amount of money.  So not in the cards for me either, though tempting.  Wrench on my friend. Enjoy.

It is true that some can’t avoid spades. My suggestions in those cases are:

• Consider WBT with the spring loaded spades
• Avoid rhodium at all costs (it’s too hard and poor conductor)
• Stick to soft spades, pure copper cores with gold plating for instance
• Avoid brass, again, too hard.
• If your binding post is not captive (most are) use a lock nut

The softer the spade, the more it will squeeze under compression and provide for a tighter fit. The harder the material on the spade and binding post the less likely you are to have a long term reliable connection.