Weather in the NE area is really nice so decided to start installation of my new DLS's that have been sitting in my home OFC for 3 months....my first real SQ upgrade, bye-bye Kappa comps.
The terminals on the 6.5" DLS mid's are male flat 'stub' (you guys probably have a tech term), the + is about twice the size of the - but both are really small. Like f-me small. I have 12 ga wire running to the mids and crimped some female connectors on the wire but they just didn't get tight enough on the male spkr 'stubs' for my liking. Tried to clamp them down, just could not get a connection that I felt good about.
I was hoping not to solder the wire, and the holes in the mid's male term is way too small for 12 ga, would get a few strands thru it, thats about all.
Solder small pigtail leads to the speaker tabs, then crimp on some bullet connectors, or Dean's connectors, or Anderson powerpoles, or some other quick connect - and then crimp your 12AWG to the female half of the connectors.
Solder small pigtail leads to the speaker tabs, then crimp on some bullet connectors, or Dean's connectors, or Anderson powerpoles, or some other quick connect - and then crimp your 12AWG to the female half of the connectors.
Hope this helps,
John
So use some lighter-gage wire (16/18/20 ga) to solder to the speaker terms, install connectors on the ends of those tails & mate them with the 12 ga connectors.
Stupid Q....how do you clean the terms/wire before soldering? I'm fine with soldering techniques but if it's not clean (which after all my fumbling, these definitely are not clean) I'm not sure how to prep?
In all honesty, I'd slip some shrink wrap over the wires and solder them directly to the terminals. You can't make a better mechanical connection.
Thats an option and I have shrink tube....it's just those tabs are so small compared to the 12 ga wire and there's solder connections next to the tabs. To solder it direct, the wire would basically be laying on a terminal that is maybe 2/3 the size of the 12 ga wire. I'd feel better about it if the wire could loop thru the hole in the terminal, then solder it over onto itself & the tab - that would be a good connection.
I'm really disappointed that this is even an issue, connecting to a speaker should take a couple minutes and be stupid-easy. Bless the DIY 'no question is stupid' boards!
There are small female quick connect terminals made for those small negative terminals. They definitely won't fit 12 gauge wire. 12 ga is overkill anyway, so you might want to downsize by splicing in a couple inches of 16 ga to make it easier to solder.
Precision Power P-771NX, JBL MS-8, Massive Audio NX4, Xtant 1.1i, CDT MX-3MO with DRT-26A upgrade, MX-3CSL center, JBL MS-BassPro SQ
Maybe a case of size does matter? I can think of no reason why you would need 12 gauge speakerwire to mids. 14 or 16 gauge would have been plenty and you would not have had these problems.
MB C240 Stealth install, JBL MS8 Processor
Pioneer PRS-Power, DLS Nobelium 6.2 active front
DLS Nobelium 10i sub
Maybe a case of size does matter? I can think of no reason why you would need 12 gauge speakerwire to mids. 14 or 16 gauge would have been plenty and you would not have had these problems.
I understand & agree. I have a bunch of 12 ga wire leftover from an old outside low V lighting system, probably 50 ft or so, its free and good quality. it has a nice thick insulation for running thru the door sock and under the carpet to the crossover.
I do have some short pcs of 16 ga that I can use for a pigtail, that seems to be a good solution. But understand, these tabs are so-so friendly to like 20/22 ga wire (the neg tab is just stupid small), it's not even close for 12/14/16. These are 150 RMS speakers and, if you run them active, the mid alone is 150 RMS which is another reason for going a little heavy on mid wire size. I would be cool with DLS if they made it friendly for 16 ga and above, unfortunately thats not the case here. Great feedback though!
Making the transition from larger conductor to smaller - so that it will fit the slide-on connector that fits the speaker tab - is the key.
Whether you make this transition at a quick connect plug, or you just butt splice larger wire to smaller, really doesn't make any difference.
I like to have some sort of mechanical quick connector in all device wiring, that makes it easier to disconnect if you have to perform mechanical maintenance.
You'll still need to solder at the speaker terminal - use wire size appropriate for the size of those tabs. Unless these terminals are badly corroded, flux contained in rosin core solder will act to clean them enough for proper bonding. If you don't use rosin core solder, use some sort of flux paste before flowing the solder. DON'T use acid core solder - this stuff is probably still around, but should only be used for mechanical joints (copper water pipes, etc.) - acid core solder will degrade electrical connections.
Solder to it.. solder the wire flat to the terminal.. don't try poking anyting through..
Clean the terminal with acetone on a Q-tip, being careful of course..
MAKE SURE YOU MOVE FAST... use a hot (10-20min heating) iron, tin the terminal, quickly, let it cool.. lay the wire on, iron it, apply solder, melt, remove, cool by blowing or damp rag.... if it takes anymore than a few seconds, it's taking tooooo long..
this is where speed is of the essence.. the longer you take, the more heat will be soaking out into pastic and other parts..
Quote:
The years passed, mankind became stupider at a frightening rate. Some had high hopes the genetic engineering would correct this trend in evolution, but sadly the greatest minds and resources where focused on conquering hair loss and prolonging erections. - Narrator: Idiocracy
Thats an option and I have shrink tube....it's just those tabs are so small compared to the 12 ga wire and there's solder connections next to the tabs. To solder it direct, the wire would basically be laying on a terminal that is maybe 2/3 the size of the 12 ga wire. I'd feel better about it if the wire could loop thru the hole in the terminal, then solder it over onto itself & the tab - that would be a good connection.
I'm really disappointed that this is even an issue, connecting to a speaker should take a couple minutes and be stupid-easy. Bless the DIY 'no question is stupid' boards!
One possible fix would be to take a pair of wire strippers, and using a smaller gauge stripper hole on the stripper cutter, to reduce the overall diameter of the conductor.
Apply the solder to the wire first. Place the pre-soldered wire against the speaker terminal, and apply the iron to the wire just long enough to melt the solder.
OK, will clean the terms with some acetone, solder (quickly) some smaller wire for pigtails that can plug into the connectors on the 12 ga. Good solution and I also like the ability to unplug. Just need to shake off some St Pats and get to work!
I did the pigtail thing with the mids, worked out fine....after I bought a new soldering gun at Home Depot 15 mins before they closed on Sunday night! Old soldering gun (passed down 20 yrs ago from Grandpa) wasn't getting the jobs done anymore, took forever to heat up enough just to barely melt solder.
Got the new comps installed, added some deadening to the outer door while I was in there, ran the new crossover wires under the carpet, and I'm now breaking in DLS UP6i front comps on about 1/2 their RMS power (new amp forecasted for later this Spring).
Crazy Small Speaker Terminals
, bye-bye Kappa comps.
Re: Crazy Small Speaker Terminals
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