Ideally you should strip off any wire that is already exposed and has oxidised. Then make sure you have enough of the plastic covering stripped off each cable to be able to fit the plugs. How much will depend a little on the type of plug you bought. Basically enough to make a good contact but not so much that bare copper from one cable will touch that of another. Short circuits like that can be very expensive. This will leave you with shiny new copper for the contact points with the plugs. You might want to solder the bare ends if you have an iron. Twist the bare cable a little before connecting the plug. I tend to use a tissue to prevent touching the bare cable ends as sweat and grease can oxidise the contact over time.
Use one pair of plugs for each end of each cable.
I'll assume your plugs are marked in red and black. By convention use red for +ve and black for -ve sockets on the amp and speakers.
On the cable look for markings to indicate positive and negative, if not you can usually use the text printed on them for identification. Just make sure you connect the same colour at one end as you do at the other.
Red at one end of the strand, red at the other end and black at one end of the strand, black at the other end. Now you're ready to connect them to your kit.
Some cable manufacturers claim that cables can be directional. ie they're made so that they'll sound better if a particular end of the cable is connected to the speaker. If this is the case you will usually find arrow markings on the cable which are supposed to point to the speaker end. There is much debate over the validity of claims for directionality existing or it being a hifi myth and snake oil.
If your cable claims to directional you may as well point the cables in the right direction just in case, then experiment at your leisure later.
If you bought 4 just put your plugs on one end of each cable.
Start off by wiring your speakers up, so that each speaker is connected at one end with a loose wire at the other. At this point I stop and do a little test. Find a 1.5V battery and remove the grilles from your speakers. Hold the positive end of the loose cable to the positive battery terminal and touch the negative end of the cable to the negative battery terminal, whilst watching your bass cone. When contact is made you should hear a click and the cone will either push out or pull in. Note which way it moves. When you relase the contact with the battery your cone will relax into it's rest position. Do this test on both speakers.
If you've got it right both speakers will move in the same direction when you do the test. If they don't swap the plugs at one end of a cable. Repeat test until you have wired +ve to +ve and -ve to -ve. You should get it right first time though.
Now for the anp end. Just make sure you're putting red plugs into red sockets and black into black. also make sure you wire the left speaker to the left amp output and vice versa. Play a CD. Both channels should be working. You can check this with the balance control if you have one. If not disconnect the left phono from your CD player or other source whilst the amp is switched off. Play a CD with the amp on. Hopefully you'll only hear music from the right speaker. If the left is working instead either your CD is connected left to right and right to left or your speakers are. Fix whichever you got wrong.
Make a cup of tea and listen to some music.
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