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Best way to connect speaker wire to an amplifier?
- Thread starter Koeitje
- Start date
Which is why I use banana plugs with a screw rather than solder. Although one can solder them, that's fine with thin 'speaker cable, but with something like 2.5mm or 4mm cable, the insulation on the cable will melt before the solder does. If you really don't like screw terminals, then crimping is an alternative, but offhand I don't know of any crimp on banana plugs.
S
- Thread Starter
- #23
What kind of crimping tool can I use for these?
https://compassaudio.co.uk/product/hollow-z-type-4mm-banana-plugs-audio-connectors/
Those should be a gas-tight fit if done properly as far as I know. That's a good connection with good longevity.
Those look like they'll crimp with any crimping tool, the sort of thing you can buy in any automotive / tool shop, or indeed use a decently robust pair of pliers. Those are low mass enough that you should be able to solder them either instead of or as well as crimping, then put the heatshrink sleeving on both for colour coding and to tidy up the appearance.
S
- Thread Starter
- #26
Thanks, my plan was to try soldering first but if that doesn't work to try crimping.
You need to "tin" both the twisted cable end and the connector before connecting them.
- Thread Starter
- #28
I know, but with those plugs you have to solder through the hole to make it flow properly. But that technique requires a lot of heat, because you lose a lot through the plug. If you don't do it that way I doubt you can get a decent connection. We'll see how it goes
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Before I soldered some hefty spade lugs on Canare 4S11 (2x14 awg per lead) I bought an inexpensive 100w soldering gun. I think I paid $15 or so for it, but I am sure that it was the only way to get enough heat into that connection in a short enough period of time.
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My concern with those is that sawtooth style banana plugs, in my experience, grip a LOT tighter than the "leaf spring" type, but without a handle, they would be a real pain to insert and remove.
Count Arthur
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I have some just like them, they can be fitted and removed easily enough.
With regard to soldering, some nice, low melting point, leaded solder is much easier to work with and results in a better finish than some of the ROHS stuff. I have some WBT silver solder and regardless of its audio claims, it is very nice to work with.
I actually prefer solutions without solder, so I usually go with crimping, screw terminals etc. . In an ideal world, it would only be copper surfaces, cold welded together. But since we don't live in an ideal world, I rely mostly on a selection of wire end sleeves / wire lugs and banana connectors. On the amp side I have wire lugs that fit into the screw connectors, on the speaker side I use banana plugs. Probably among the best banana plugs are the ones from WBT, but they are really damn expensive. They have a pin at the back that you screw in to adjust the pressure between the surfaces. I think I have seen copies of it, but don't remember where.
When soldering to gold plated connectors, some extra flux might come in handy unless you have some solder that has a high flux content. In this regard audio brand solders might actually be beneficial, from what I have seen they usually have more than 3% flux, mostly of the RMA type. Using a leaded / lower melting point alloy might reduce the risk of melting plastic parts of the connector assembly (if there are any, more of an issue with connectors that use insulation materials). I don't have any of the audio brand solders, but Sn62Pb36Ag2 is a low melting point, eutectic alloy. It's expensive compared to other leaded alloys and with ROHS in place kind of hard to find, but the silver content makes for very shiny joints. The WBT stuff might work well too, I haven't tried that but audio shops are one of the few places where you can still order leaded alloys without much hassle in Germany. Might be similar elsewhere.
Another word on soldering speaker wire:
Generally speaker wire is pretty thick, the copper will take away massive amounts of heat. So either you have a powerful iron or you just crank up the temperature. Usually what will happen is you will tin the leads more or less successfully, but solder will flow along the copper into the insulation. Not good. There should always be a gap of at least 5mm between the tinned wire and the insulation in my opinion, because otherwise the tinned-together conductors will likely experience bending stresses in different directions and break sooner or later (without anyone noticing it unless you actually check for that). So strip off a little more insulation and make sure there is a gap between the stiff, tinned wire and the beginning of the insulation.
When soldering to gold plated connectors, some extra flux might come in handy unless you have some solder that has a high flux content. In this regard audio brand solders might actually be beneficial, from what I have seen they usually have more than 3% flux, mostly of the RMA type. Using a leaded / lower melting point alloy might reduce the risk of melting plastic parts of the connector assembly (if there are any, more of an issue with connectors that use insulation materials). I don't have any of the audio brand solders, but Sn62Pb36Ag2 is a low melting point, eutectic alloy. It's expensive compared to other leaded alloys and with ROHS in place kind of hard to find, but the silver content makes for very shiny joints. The WBT stuff might work well too, I haven't tried that but audio shops are one of the few places where you can still order leaded alloys without much hassle in Germany. Might be similar elsewhere.
Another word on soldering speaker wire:
Generally speaker wire is pretty thick, the copper will take away massive amounts of heat. So either you have a powerful iron or you just crank up the temperature. Usually what will happen is you will tin the leads more or less successfully, but solder will flow along the copper into the insulation. Not good. There should always be a gap of at least 5mm between the tinned wire and the insulation in my opinion, because otherwise the tinned-together conductors will likely experience bending stresses in different directions and break sooner or later (without anyone noticing it unless you actually check for that). So strip off a little more insulation and make sure there is a gap between the stiff, tinned wire and the beginning of the insulation.
I use a solder pot for tinning the 4S11. It gets the solder really into the threads with a minimum of excess.
And clamp on a heatsink in the gap to divert heat from the upstream insulated cable.
Count Arthur
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With regard to non-soldered options, why has nobody come up with something like a drill chuck, rather than crummy grub screws?
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FWIW, PE shows these when you search for "banana crimp".
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I've always wondered why high(er) end speakers don't incorporate something like that. Adding banana plugs just creates another connection in the scheme. I get why folks who really need to connect and disconnect speakers regularly want banana plugs or some other connection, but for me, I wouldn't mind bare wire into a more secure connector directly on the speaker.
Count Arthur
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I actually meant a banana plug, or spade connector that attaches to the speaker cable with a chuck type mechanism. However, if the speaker terminals on amps and speakers were also of a chuck type, they could be used in combination, such that you could either insert a bare wire, or a banana plug and the outer of the chuck could also be used to clamp a spade connector. It might be a little bulky, but it should be possible to come up with something that's really versatile.
Most of the better power amps, afaik, use hefty multi-way cable connectors which will accommodate a substantial cable in the through-hole of the post in a position where tightening the cap/handle will clamp the bare wire well. If I was not in the position of needing frequent component swaps, that is what I would do with semi-annual cleaning/retightening.
Stick with bare wire
gfx_1
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But those Nakamichi plugs from China have two screws. Strip the wire 20mm (slightly more than 3/4 inch)
and the cable has a decent connection. I found after years trying to get bare wire in Marantz speaker connectors
banana plugs a handy alternative and quicker to change. Got 12 of them for 8 euro incl. shipping
(it took maybe 2 weeks pre corona)
