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September 11, 2011 - 7:57pm
#1
Speaker connectors: what to use and whether or not to solder and how?
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bare naked wire will work just fine
unless you have really long runs, 10 gauge wire is really overkill
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm#wiretable
Thanks for letting me know,
I do have runs that are long. I googled this question and it said to use 10 gauge wire for distances involved. I bought some nachimichi banana plugs before I read this forum. What's confusing is that people say 'bare wire' corrodes, and should be 'tinned' with solder. However; the solder is not as good a conductor as the bare wire, and reduces the conductivity of the wire. Sort of a damned if you do, and damned if you don't kinda thing. I'm going to use what I bought, but was just wondering how to seal it up to keep the 'bare wire' inside the plugs from corroding? I think I will just use a silicone sealant?
Anyone else feel free to comment please.
You aren't going to notice any conductivity issues. It's much better to have a reliable tinned connection than have to keep taking a bare wire connection apart every few months to clean it up. Too much is made about solder when there are hundreds of soldered connections inside your preamp, amp , cd and dvd player to no end. The best connection is a soldered connection. Crossovers inside a speaker are soldered for best performance.
I had a 6' pair of DH Labs Q-10 Signature cables. I cut them in half and connected Kimber Postmaster spades to the cut ends. I used Radio Shack Silver bearing solder ($5.69 for a 4 Oz. roll) to tin the bare ends before crimping on the spade lugs. Radio Shack Silver bearing solder is a real bargain when compared to stuff like Wonder Solder.
... with silver content solder for better conductivity is my recommendation. Use a high grade copper cable...the cheap stuff will discolor eventually and degrade connectivity. As recommended, above, there's no need for additional connectors...that's just another source of trouble. The fewer chains in the link the better.