This is probably a dumb question, but I haven't run any in wall speaker wire before.

I have a speaker wall plate with binding posts on the front, the connectors on the back just have holes to insert the stripped speaker wire into and little screws to tighten down.

My question is, do the little screws tighten down on the exposed wire itself, or do you push it in farther and tighten the screws down on the insulated part of the wire?

Only strip the wire enough to be seated into the receptacle, and tighten down on the bared wire. Be sure there aren't any stray strands from each point.

And, there are no dumb questions! Be sure your cable is "in-wall" rated, not just zip cord speaker wire.

+ "Mr. Hef"
metal to metal contact and your in-wall wiring should meet National Electric Code (NEC) classification CL2 or CL3 - it will be printed on the outside sheath of the wiring. Most in-wall rated wiring looks like this
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=101-207

Cool! That's the way I did it! I don't have to take it back off. :) Yes, I'm using in-wall wire. Thanks a lot guys.