Do speaker wires need to be protected at exposed end-points?
Speaker wire is low voltage. Yes, a meter would tell if they were actually hot, but it surely would say no here anyway. If you are truly paranoid, then feel free to put wire nuts on them, or even easier is electrical tape. It can't hurt.

In fact, I have some speaker wire hanging around myself, left by the previous owners of the house. It comes out of a corner near our staircase. Since I have absolute knowledge that it dues nothing, I've just left it there. One day when we redo the carpet in our house, it will get torn out.