I use bananas and bare wire. Mostly bare, though. Just like my back, know-what-i'm-sayin'?!
Up until recently, it was bare/tinned wire or pins for me. The move to Magnepans as my main speaker practically necessitated a move to banana jacks. This has proven somewhat fortuitous, as the other set of speakers in use right now (ESS AMT 4) also have provisions for dual banana jacks. As it is right now, I am using Monster Cable terminated with pins on both ends, but am using dual banana jack adapters on the speaker end. Once my Citation 16 arrives, I will convert both ends to “native” banana jacks.
However, when I was still using the Kenwood L-07M/JVC zero9 combo, I used very short cable terminated with spades on both ends.
Banans wherever I can. On the vintage gear it's usually tinned bare wire. And on my Sansui 3000A it's small spades as all there is on the back of the receiver are screws.
Braid on one end & banana's on the other.
I think the nicest connectors with the contact about as good as spades is Z type bananas like the ones in the upper right of this page:
http://www.knukonceptz.com/These fit tightly without any looseness like standard bananas. My speaker lugs only take spades or bare wire otherwise I'd use these bananas there as well.
As often as I change speakers and move things around I must use bananas. The best bang-for-the-buck plugs I've found are from DIY Cable. My speakers use the matching terminal posts as well. The connection is as good as can be hoped for a very affordable price.
http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info....products_id=544http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info....products_id=543