Solder or crimp-on Tweeter Connection?

[Armand]

Hi all.

I need to connect very low gauge Cardas wire (I'd guess 10-12ga.), to the tiny posts of a Seas tweeter. Previously the connection was soldered but it looks like a bear to redo as there's not much extra length on the wire connected to the crossover, which makes connecting the two more difficult.

Any recommendations to solder this thick cable succesfully or should I try to find crimp ons and go that route? If I do, is there a sealant recommended to keep air out of a crimp connection to avoid future oxidation?

Do you DYI'ers use quick on connectors for tweeters or do you solder to those tiny posts? Thanks!

[mikela]

A properly performed crimp is gas tight and will not allow oxidation to occur. They are routinely used throughout the aerospace industry and are considered to be extremely reliable.

[Brian Kingsbury]

I think since this is DIY, alot of people use quick connects to allow easy disassembly for future modifications. If you're going to finalize things, soldering isn't a bad idea. Since tweeters don't require alot of current there's no benefit to using a large guage wire to connect them. I would recommend using a smaller guage of wire which would make soldering more feasible.

[ThomasW]

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=21776

[Alaric]

A properly performed crimp is gas tight and will not allow oxidation to occur. They are routinely used throughout the aerospace industry and are considered to be extremely reliable.

Kindly , BULLS**T. Multi-strand wire will always have air gaps. If you can crimp tight enough to deform the strands into angled planes you have destroyed the connector. Fact of life. A properly done solder connection is ALWAYS the preferred method. Just sayin'. And a proper solder connection is achieved by heating the wire enough to melt the solder-not heating the solder enough to melt. The first method allows the solder to be part of the connecting metal. The second method is a hot crimp. Flame away , guys.

[Alaric]

Oh , as for "sealant" , Honda Dielectric grease is The S**t.

[ThomasW]

People need to mellow out....

[Alaric]

Ok. My bad. Sorry , Thomas. I shall bow out of this conversation.

[Dr.EM]

Soldering should be best, but I'm not sure why such a thick cable is being used to connect a tweeter? That's the issue here, so crimping might be safer.

[Armand]

Thanks for the responses and I have no idea why the modder of the speakers chose expensive low gauge wire either!

I'll probably try crimping as I may want to change tweets sometime in the future. This will make it much easier. And I'll look up my local Honda dealer too.

[cjd]

Obsessive compulsive types will cover all bases: crimp, then solder the crimp...

[mikela]

Kindly , BULLS**T. Multi-strand wire will always have air gaps. If you can crimp tight enough to deform the strands into angled planes you have destroyed the connector. Fact of life. A properly done solder connection is ALWAYS the preferred method. Just sayin'. And a proper solder connection is achieved by heating the wire enough to melt the solder-not heating the solder enough to melt. The first method allows the solder to be part of the connecting metal. The second method is a hot crimp. Flame away , guys.

Have you ever seen a cross section of a properly crimped stranded wire? I spent close to 30 years as a reliabilty engineering dept head in the industry evaluating the physics of failure for all types of components utilized in the space business. I'll stand by my statement.

Oh yeah, I use solder too.

[JonP]

I would also go with the crimped and soldered connector. I don't have the expensive, proper crimpers to make the "right" high quality crimps... and solder is cheap.

I have read several stories of tweeters suffering damage to the connections and wires with soldering, your tweeter may vary... I lost an old Audax tweeter once, it just had pressed terminals in the molded plastic of the body... melted fast with a touch of the iron and I couldn't get the wire reattached.

Also, I'd look closely at the strain relief capability of the terminal mounting pad on the tweeter. As has been said, 10-12g wire is pretty stiff stuff, and might be easily able to snap stuff loose. I've had a terminal break off from not as much stress as I thought it would take, from pulling on wires while moving crossover boards around. You might consider a short, thinner gauge extension with a soldered lug, and secure the end of the heavy wire someplace nearby.

[Hank]

What mikela said. One of our plants used to make automatic phone line test equipment that was installed in telco switching offices and the equipment HAD to be high reliability. Our mfg line used wire wrap guns to wire wrap the many backplane PCB headers (connectors). Wire wrap is a gas-tight connection and gas-tight is good.
Solder if you want, but I always crimp the proper size female connector onto the connecting wire and then close down the mating edges so that it slips onto the tweeter "posts" very tightly. Never have had a connector loosen. I have been known to solder onto woofer "posts" however.
An associate asked me to re-do his DIY Focal two-ways. I found that one tweeter had a melted wire between its post and the voice coil. He had soldered to the posts. 'nuf said.

Regarding dealing with that rediculous heavy guage connecting wire, JonP's last sentence is good advice.

[Dave Bullet]

10-12 gauge is overkill for a tweeter. It may look cool and feel right, but unless you've got a really long cable run from your crossover or need extremely low resistance (unlikely given the padding most tweeters require), 16 gauge or 18 gauge will be fine. Tweeters handle very little power.

I personally always solder unless the tweeters are temporary and likely to be sold. Soldering still allows crossover tweaking, as I then crimp or alligator clip off-board whilst voicing, leaving a permanent soldered connection on the tweeter.

[Armand]

Thanks for the replies. I also noticed that the modder twisted the conductors going to the tweeter. Is this a good practice? I know it reduces capacitance, but increases inductance. I ask because I've never seen speaker cables twisted so why would you do it here.