Have my new VP-180, but my speaker wire is WAYYY too long and am looking to get 12-gauge bulk from axiom.

Question is whether to use banana plugs or spades to my receiver, an Onkyo NR-801. Any preference? better/best method?

Am also going to upgrade all speaker wires to other speakers so I can just replace the speakers as needed and not constantly rewire. Am waiting next year to get the QS8s.

Use whatever you prefer, I like bare wire the best. You could also take a look at MonoPrice.com for wire.

I vote for bare wire too. Just watch for stray strands (sometimes the wire gets frayed trying to push it into the small opening on receivers). Bare wire has the least number of connections. Just wire to receiver, instead of wire to plug to receiver.

Although, Blue Jeans Cable has a sonic welding device that looks really neat. (Welds are nearly as good as the wire and plug being one piece.)

I swap out speakers somewhat regularly, I use Axiom's banana plugs to keep the connect/disconnect quick.

Banana plugs into receiver, bare wire into speaker. banana plugs and speaker wire came from monoprice. Sub cable from bluejeans cable.

If you want to do banana to the receiver and bare to the speaker (or the other way around), you can order a piece of wire with double-bananas at twice the length you need, and cut it in half. That may save a bit over two half-terminated shorter pieces.

Good idea Chris.

I just got the bare speaker wire by the roll and then purchased enough banana clips for one side only (5 pairs). It was pretty simple to thread the wire in, screw the two ends together, and then use the heat shrink and a blow dryer to make it all look nice.

Buying a pre-made set could be another option but I would imagine it would cost a little more $

Anyone get the ultrasonically welded, banana plug terminated speaker cable from Blue Jeans Cable yet?

Locking banana plugs from Blue Jeans Cable have been favorite. Superior to bare wire or any other banana connectors I have used, especially for the speaker connections at the receiver/amp.

I may need to check out those locking Banana plugs from BJC. The Axiom ones I have on my receiver are a little loose and I have been sliding the AV unit in and out adjusting various cables and am a little concerned one of the banana plugs will drop out.

Thanks for the tips. I've always used bare wire connections before but was debating which way to go. For now I think I'll go with bare wire, since I don't plan to swap my speakers out unless they're for new axioms. I also need a new cable for my subwoofer so I will definitely look at bluejeans for that.

While there are cheaper, the stock that Blue Jeans uses is top quality stuff. Plus the equipment they use for termination with RCA jacks can't be beat. I've never seen cleaner crimps than those that Blue Jeans produces.

My sub cable is from blue jeans cable and i like it a lot. It's very flexible and lies flat on the carpet and around corners nicely

my A/V receiver has both front left/right, high/wide output jacks, so the total is 3 jacks on the left and 3 jacks on the right. My question is do I need to provide a 3 sets of audio cable (black/red) on the front left and 3 sets on the front right to connect it to the front speakers?, and where's the exact location on the speakers of m80 input jacks?. I observed in the m80 v2 back photo has 2 sets of input jacks my guess is that this is high and low jacks but where is the wide jack?. Anyway, i hope you got my point, thanks in advance for understanding my questions.... Saul

Saul, you don't need to post in multiple places, and it would probably be best overall to create your own thread rather than piggybacking on others. That said, have a look at your first post for my answer.