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Solder speaker wire leads for JL style connection?

5K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  xt577 
#1 ·
This seems like a no brainer to me but I was curious if there were any drawbacks:

I have a JL Audio XD700/5 amp that accepts speaker wire without any terminals on it (aka bare ends). Should I solder the bare ends of the speaker wire that will eventually be placed in their respective terminals on the amp (held in place with the set screws)?

Thanks.

Sorry for being a n00b :confused:
 
#5 ·
I tend to leave them bare. When I tin these types of connections, they seem to loosen over time as the tinned wire can't compress under the set-screw. The bare wire allows the wire to compress and take the shape of the set-screw and barrel, and I can't think of one time when I've had a bare wire set-screw connection loosen on its own (assuming it was tight to begin with). Same is true with those removable "Phoenix" style connection blocks.

:cool:
 
#12 ·
I tend to leave them bare. When I tin these types of connections, they seem to loosen over time as the tinned wire can't compress under the set-screw. The bare wire allows the wire to compress and take the shape of the set-screw and barrel, and I can't think of one time when I've had a bare wire set-screw connection loosen on its own (assuming it was tight to begin with). Same is true with those removable "Phoenix" style connection blocks.
x2...My experience as well.
 
#6 ·
there really is no right or wrong answer here...personally i tend to do it when i deal with small speaker wires going into crossovers. But never do it for larger power or ground wires going to amplifiers.

But i dont think i would ever drag out a solder gun JUST to do it...if the gun is out and hot...sure why not?
 
#8 ·
I used to like the ferrules that were provided with the Genesis amplifiers. It's just a short bit of thin-walled copper tubing that slips around the wire prior to tightening down the set screw. This prevents the set screw from chewing through the wire strands, and unlike tinning the wire end, the ferrule is designed to compress.
Audison used to have them in their parts catalog many, many moons ago. Theirs were gold-plated and looked great, came in a variety of diameters. Everything from 16 gauge up to 1/0.
Many of the Neutrik plugs that I use for pro audio come with annealed copper ferrules.
Worth looking for in your local electronics parts supplier.
 
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