That makes sense. Or you could get spades, they would work as well.
The bar is probably gold plated...if not you may have a valuable piece of precious metal! It is removed to bi-wire, or bi-amp (theoretical, but less pratical than "normal" bi-amping)
If you are not getting 100% of the strands of the conductor to make proper contact with the post, in theory you are not getting everything available that the amp has placed on the cable. This assumes you have proper connections on the amp side as well. Proper banana plugs are not very expensive. They are readily available. Ensure they are gold plated as well....unless you can afford solid gold!!!;)
Regards,
BBIBH
