Re-terminating Speaker Cable.

chezi61

Wammer
Wammer
Jul 20, 2005
2,026
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Fife , Scotland.
I have to re-terminate my speaker cable from 4 bananas/spades each end to 2 each end.:Not Sure:

I've bought 8 Nakamichi locking bananasandheat shrink , said banana plugs have 2 screws to fix the cable in place , do I solder the wires together first or use bare and tighten? Bearing in mind that the Audioquest is basically 2 solid core for the HF and 4 for LF and are approx 1mm dia , so will be 6 wires together. Is it better to tin each core individually first before soldering together?

Also solder? How much of a difference will silver solder make over leaded solder , apart from an emptier pocket?

chezi. DIY dickhead.
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E

Effem

Guest
Best policy I think is to solder them first because when you tighten up the soppy littlegrubscrewit tends to push out of the way most of the wire it's supposed to be clamping down onto
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If you can get it grip the entire bunch of wires firmly then no need to solder. Don't overdo the soldering otherwise the grubscrew stays proud of the plug body and you then can't get the cover on.

The only time that silver solder is essential is with silver wire, ordinary solder is OK for copper and silver plated copper wire.

 

Sid and Coke

Wammer
Wammer
Aug 3, 2005
260
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nr St Andrews, Fife,
One the few occasions that i've tried silver content solder I've found it a bit of a pain to work with. If i have to solder anything these days i just use decent quality electronic solder - 'multi-core' is one band to look out for, it always seems to work for me.

If soldering Banana plugs i've found that getting a large lump of wood ( eg 4" x 4" ) and drilling some 3.8 - 4 mm holes in it, then plugging the banana plug into the wood whilst you solder is a great way to gain an extra pair of hands. The wood is a good insulator so doesn't drain all of the heat out of the plug you are soldering, don't worry it won't burn either, although it might smoulder a little.

If your new plugs are going to be a long term soluton then soldering will help ensure that the connection stays good and will prevent oxidisation.

Personally I wouldn't bother ( i always used to solder - but tend not to now) i would bare the ends of the wire, treat it with a decent anti corrosion inhibitor ( I'd use Caig De-Oxit persoanly , but only because i've got some) and then just tighten up using the grub screws, perhaps pop a blob of superglue on the grub screws when you've finished to help prevent them vibrating loose.

HTH.

 

kennyk

Well-Known Wammer
Wammer
Aug 8, 2005
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HiFi Trade?
  1. No
can't you get 2 spades on each of the emotion terminals?

 

mosfet

Wammer
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Jul 20, 2005
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Surrey
AKA
Richard
There’s some irony in soldering plugs to expensive “hyper-pure†oxygen-free loudspeaker cable. The best way to cause a metal to take on impurities (such as oxygen) is to heat it up to a high temperature – soldering plugs or spades is a good way to achieve this!
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A cold weld joint, from a purist point of view and similar to what S&C suggests, is the preferable option if you want to retain all those .99999’s.

 

Sid and Coke

Wammer
Wammer
Aug 3, 2005
260
0
0
nr St Andrews, Fife,
You could also try crimping your cables, wich as a wire teminating process is my favorite for consistency and performance.

Here is a piccy of a set of QED original Qudos that i own. The smaller speaker ends look like 4mm plugs , but they are not. They are QED gold plated copper ferrules used to 'Bulk up' thin wire so that QED Airloc plugs can be fitted. I got hold of some (all QED airloc dealers will have loads of spares) and thought they would make a great alternative to bare wire. I must admit that i used an Aircraft wiring crimper to attach them though ( a Daniels AVF-8 for info) as i knew it would look neater.

The spade connectors are made by Profigold (iirc) , it took a while to find something affordable and suitable. they are made from annealed copper which is gold plated. despite the materials they where nice and cheap ( just like me ). I crimped them using a pair of mole grips and a ball bearing ! ( again iirc) simple heath robinson technique- but very effective.

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E

Effem

Guest
chezi61 wrote:

meninblack wrote:
Mmmmm. Those are some tasty-looking bananas.
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Prolly cheap shit with a Nakamichi badge , check this;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/32-NEW-NAKAMICHI-24K-LOCKING-Banana-PLUGS_W0QQitemZ5869381600QQcategoryZ295QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

chezi.
They are not the best plugs in the world but they are relatively cheap. Need two hands to tighten them which is a right pain in the butt when you don't want to move your speakers or fiddling around behind your rack connecting them to your amp
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Kiang

Wammer
Wammer
Jul 21, 2005
1,430
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83
Leeds, , United King
I would go with sid and cokes idea

Dunno what it will do to the sound if anything but is the better technique.

Find a friendly dealer who fits airlocs

 
E

Effem

Guest
Stop faffing aboutChezi - forget the silly plugs, get yer arc welder out and do the fekkin' job properly by tacking straight onto the speaker terminals:D

 

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