You make some excellent points. I actually had a dust cap poked in by a toddler years ago so I learned that one can never be too careful. I also learned mother's don't like rope. You answered my following question. The speakers involved in this thread are Axioms, not Focal Grand Utopia's. Does the connection really matter so long as the connector isn't junk and the wire is fastened to it properly? I use banana plugs with 2 screws per to manage the strands in the Axiom wire.