# Soldering Speaker Wire Ends?



## cheetat1

Do you think this is a good idea if I solder all speaker wire ends? The straight copper is best I know, but sometimes strands come apart etc..


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## dyohn

IMO it's up to you. Some people find it makes handling the wire easier.


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## selden

One objection I've seen is that the solder gradually flows, so if it's separating the copper strands, it eventually results in an intermittant contact and the binding post contacts have to be tightened again after "a while".

FWIW, I use unsoldered stranded wire in banana plugs. It's easierer for me to clamp the wires in the plugs out in the middle of the room than to fight with the speaker binding posts down behind in the dark.


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## lsiberian

cheetat1 said:


> Do you think this is a good idea if I solder all speaker wire ends? The straight copper is best I know, but sometimes strands come apart etc..


Monoprice 1 PAIR OF High-Quality Gold Plated Speaker Banana Plugs, Closed Screw Type - Monoprice.com

Don't make this hard. Pick up the above. Use them to hook up to a receiver. get 7 pairs.

For your speaker end wire. Don't even mess with soldering it. There is simply no need.

It doesn't matter if it's stranded or solid. As long as you have enough gauge(16) you are golden.


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## selden

With strands, you have to worry about a stray shorting to the adjacent connector, which is why some people like to solder them together. Crimp-on spade lugs can be effective at keeping the strands together, too.


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## glaufman

I don't like the crimp on lugs. They're bound to cause issues eventually. Unless you solder them after making the crimp. In which case it's difficult (without a standalone liquid flux) to get the solder to flow to where it's needed. I'm simply very careful about stray strands. Another option is to solder just the tips of the wire, to hold the strands together, while leaving the bare copper to conduct to the binding post.

One trick to avoiding stray strands is to twist the strands really tight. Best trick I've seen for this is when you go to strip the conductors, instead of stripping, use whatever you're using to strip to just cut the insulation, leaving the insulation in place temporarily. Before removing the insulation, use it to twist the strands.

You'll never get a tighter twist than that.


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## StereoClarity

lsiberian said:


> http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10401&cs_id=1040115&p_id=2801&seq=1&format=2
> 
> Don't make this hard. Pick up the above. Use them to hook up to a receiver. get 7 pairs.
> 
> For your speaker end wire. Don't even mess with soldering it. There is simply no need.
> 
> It doesn't matter if it's stranded or solid. As long as you have enough gauge(16) you are golden.


I second the banana plugs. Best investment you'll make. Especially if you change things a lot. Makes hookups really quick.


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## lsiberian

selden said:


> With strands, you have to worry about a stray shorting to the adjacent connector, which is why some people like to solder them together. Crimp-on spade lugs can be effective at keeping the strands together, too.


Nothing like a strand to trip the protection circuit.:huh:


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## lcaillo

lsiberian said:


> Nothing like a strand to trip the protection circuit.:huh:


...if you are lucky and do not toast an output device.:bigsmile: Service techs love big cables with lots of little strands...


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## glaufman

:devil:


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## lsiberian

lcaillo said:


> ...if you are lucky and do not toast an output device.:bigsmile: Service techs love big cables with lots of little strands...


What they love most is when the magic smoke gets out.


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## ctekguy

Alright, I understand the quest for oxidation reduction, however I am not tracking as far as the methods are concern. Can someone please explain?

If the drivers voice coils are soldered to the terminals, then why wouldn't you solder/tin speaker wire to:
 either go into the terminal
 go into a banana plug
 or to go in any other type of connector?
It's just not registering in my head being that microchips, memory, leads and various other electrical connections in components are soldered.

confused :scratch:


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## dyohn

Like I said before:



dyohn said:


> IMO it's up to you. Some people find it makes handling the wire easier.


There is nothing IMHO right nor wrong with soldering or not soldering.


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## lcaillo

The only problem with soldering is that solder is soft and over time it flattens and you may have to retighten the connection.


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## JoeESP9

I have heard of at least one "fastidious" audiophile that has no socket/plug connections in his system. All IC's and cables are terminated in soldered connections. I believe that's too many steps in the "right direction". However, he has gas tight connections.
A gas tight connection is the best way to connect anything. It's required for most military and aerospace applications. There is a link below to a technical paper. It's not full of jargon and formulas. It's informative and an easy read.

Technical Documents And Reference Materials

Myself, I use Kimber postmaster spades soldered with silver solder. The solder comes from the "Shack". It's a lot cheaper than "Hi-Fi" solder. Spades allow a tighter connection.


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## Mike Cason

If you think you have to use solder, either due to loose strands or ease of installation, only use a high quality silver solder. Never use the 60/40 tin solder for your audiio projects. Pure copper wire to your terminals always provides a better connection with less resistance. I would only use the solder when necessary. 

As far as the speaker builders using solder to make their connections within the drivers, there is no getting around that and I feel sure they use a high quality solder, at least with the upper scale driver builders. 

When I solder my drivers to my interconnect wiring, I feed the bare wire through the terminal hole provided for me and carry the wire around the terminal and solder the wire directly to the lead in wire of the driver. I also solder the wire at the hole in the terminal for both a more secure connection and it also acts as a strain releif so you don't rip the lead in wire from the driver.


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## JBL Fan

One vote for solder.


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## Speedskater

Selden touched on this. Solder cold flows, so with time temperature changes and vibration will allow soldered wire in screw terminals to loosen. Also solder creates a hard spot along the wire, so in portable systems or anyplace that the wires vibrate, the wire could fracture at that hard spot.


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## Mike Cason

Speedskater said:


> Also solder creates a hard spot along the wire, so in portable systems or anyplace that the wires vibrate, the wire could fracture at that hard spot.


I learned the technique of soldering to the terminal leads to the cone near the terminal connection from the engineers at Audience. There is very little movement there. I am a distributor for the company. Audience is home of the ClairAudient loudspeakers, Auricap capacitors, and the A3 drivers. They also manufacture a line of very high end audio products.

I haven't experienced any wire breakage as of yet, but when I do, I'll re-post. 

I can see a possible scenerio of a wire breaking in a large section of wire; ie splice or line tap connection subject to a massive amount of movement, just as any other solid piece of metal would. That makes sense.


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## bambino

When i did my connections to my crimp on bananas from PE i skipped the crimping part and filled the hole in the banana with solder and stuck the wire in let it harden and i haven't had any issues. Oh, and i used silver solder.


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## Speedskater

Sometimes I strip a little bit of insulation (1/4inch or less) tin the end, then strip more insulation so that the set screw contacts bare wire.


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## Lucky7!

Speedskater said:


> Sometimes I strip a little bit of insulation (1/4inch or less) tin the end, then strip more insulation so that the set screw contacts bare wire.


I've done similar before, but usually just strip to length, twist tightly and tin the end. Keeps the strands from straying and leaves a clear Cu section to make the joint if that's what you want.

With new builds I just use Speakons or Cu spades, crimped then soldered.


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## joe619

I would prefer soldering the wire to banana plugs for better and tighter connection. Some of the previous post have stated that solder wire becomes lose is nonsense. You just need to know the proper way on how to solder it. When soldering make sure the tip of the soldering iron is touching the wire and banana plug at the same time. The wire will get hot faster than the banana plug, so.. make sure the banana plug is also hot that it can melt the solder wire so you wont get a cold joint solder.To prevent a cold solder, use your solder wire and touch the cable wire and banana plug that it can melt. Plus make sure the speaker wire and banana plug is flat when soldering it together that way its easier to fill up the whole diameter of the banana plug and as a result. You will get a permanent tight connection except unsoldering it. Oh plus don't forget to clean the brown stuff that came from the solder.


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## lcaillo

joe619 said:


> I would prefer soldering the wire to banana plugs for better and tighter connection. Some of the previous post have stated that solder wire becomes lose is nonsense. You just need to know the proper way on how to solder it. When soldering make sure the tip of the soldering iron is touching the wire and banana plug at the same time. The wire will get hot faster than the banana plug, so.. make sure the banana plug is also hot that it can melt the solder wire so you wont get a cold joint solder.To prevent a cold solder, use your solder wire and touch the cable wire and banana plug that it can melt. Plus make sure the speaker wire and banana plug is flat when soldering it together that way its easier to fill up the whole diameter of the banana plug and as a result. You will get a permanent tight connection except unsoldering it. Oh plus don't forget to clean the brown stuff that came from the solder.


Before you call the comments others nonsense you might want to ask for clarification or read the thread carefully. The comments are with respect to lossening are mostly related to tinning the wire and using plugs with set screws or binding posts. The solder does tend to flatten and you have to tighten sometimes. Connections that are soldered together are fine, if they are done correctly. Not all wires and connectors are great for soldering, however, and one much be careful to get a solid solder joint. 

You may want to post an image of the banana plugs you are using, as there are many types and your description may not apply to some of them.


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## ojojunkie

soldered wire ends are difficult crimp or tightening the binding post when used as barewire. a little amount of solder is still workable or use good quality solder with more silver content..


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## TheoBruno

Mike Cason said:


> If you think you have to use solder, either due to loose strands or ease of installation, only use a high quality silver solder. Never use the 60/40 tin solder for your audiio projects. Pure copper wire to your terminals always provides a better connection with less resistance. I would only use the solder when necessary.
> 
> As far as the speaker builders using solder to make their connections within the drivers, there is no getting around that and I feel sure they use a high quality solder, at least with the upper scale driver builders.
> 
> When I solder my drivers to my interconnect wiring, I feed the bare wire through the terminal hole provided for me and carry the wire around the terminal and solder the wire directly to the lead in wire of the driver. I also solder the wire at the hole in the terminal for both a more secure connection and it also acts as a strain releif so you don't rip the lead in wire from the driver.


Hello, can you please advise me as to a reputable brand for the “ high quality silver” solder you mentioned? I never know if Amazon can be trusted for such things.


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## willis7469

TheoBruno said:


> Hello, can you please advise me as to a reputable brand for the “ high quality silver” solder you mentioned? I never know if Amazon can be trusted for such things.


Just FYI, his post was from 2010 and he’s been gone awhile. 
Also, I wouldn’t Tin my wires unless you have a specific need to do so. You’ll get a much better “crush” and connection with bare copper. Banana plugs are ok, and quite useful if your switching receivers or speakers frequently.


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## 1Michael

Cardas Eutectic Solder


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