Speaker wire terminations  may work better mechanically as adding a termination introduces another potential point of error in installation or failure over time. The most common termination types are soldered or crimped pin or spade lugs, banana plugs. Which type to use is determined by the connectors on the equipment at each end of the wire.

Some terminations are gold plated, which is functional  on consumer equipment speaker lines. In a moist environment, gold-plated connectors can resist corrosion better than some other materials, although they should only be mated with other gold-plated connectors.