Wgraft5,
You're not alone. I have soldered external speaker wire directly to crossover connections, and know others have done the same. In the past, what I have done for desktop monitors is make a custom twisted cable, two twisted 16ga (13ga total) or two twisted 14ga (11ga total) is used for each + and - conductor. The individual legs are each twisted in same direction and those two pair are both twisted together in opposite direction. 4 wire conductors total, twisted first as pairs, with the pairs them twisted together. One round hole in the cabinet let's the wire bundle pass through. It is sealed in the inside with hot melt glue stick or an adhesive caulk. On the inside of the cabinet, a loose zip tie loop or small dowel piece is inserted through the wire braid and glued against the cabinet opening to serve as a stopper to prevent the cable from being able to be pulled any further through cabinet from the outside. 4 or 5 foot cables from each speaker should be enough for any desktop or nearfield monitor situation. Directly soldering provides the cleanest possible connection and it saves a decent bit of money instead of buying premium binding posts and wire terminations at the speaker location.
