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[Bob Henley]

I have a bunch of speakers that I need to change over from Hubbell twist locks to Speakon. I finally got all the connectors: each speaker will end up with a NL4MPR (which has four big prongs that have holes in the middle) and a NLJ2MD-V (which has small tabs).

I'm wondering if anybody has tips on how to solder these guys. I'm fairly new to soldering, but I feel confident doing XLR cables (I bought a 28-channel patch snake with no connectors for $15 and got that to a working condition). I tried one today with the crappy soldering iron we had at school and it went badly.

The soldering gun I have available to me is a Weller "Universal 140/100 Watts".

[Mike McNany]

Why not use the appropriate spade lug female, faston, crimped on the wire as it is designed for?

Mike McNany

[Scott Smith]

A good iron will make for good work.  Tin iron tip, apply heat to work, apply solder.  Solder will flow towards heat.  Work quickly...don't over heat...and don't over-apply solder.  Let work cool naturally, and avoid movement while solder is fluid.  After a couple times...work should flow nicely.

[Dick Rees]

Mike McNany wrote on Tue, 20 January 2009 19:27

Why not use the appropriate spade lug female, faston, crimped on the wire as it is designed for? Mike McNany

= 1000 words.

There was a thread a couple of months ago about Speakons, soldering, etc.  You could try a search.

Concensus was:  no solder/various reasons

[Bob Henley]

 

Well, it seems like I've been going about this in the wrong way.

Does anyone have a good diagram of how these fastons work?


Next question: The combo jacks have a "vertical PCB mount". I assume that these aren't intended to be used on speakers, but we would really like to use them in a fixed installation role on the output panels because we get many clients (including one choir teacher   ) that use 1/4" connectors on their monitors, bring their own cables, and don't always have accesses to the equipment we own. The combo takes care of that problem and adds a lot of flexibility. How should I go about attaching these to speaker wires?

[Dick Rees]

Bob....

Go over to your neighborhood hardware store and have them show you the spade lugs (female).  Now look at your electricians wire stripper/pliers/multi tool.  You'll see some "holes" just above the pivot.  These are for crimping connectors such as spade lugs.  Very simple.  Get the proper size lug for the wire you have and crimp away.  Slide the female lug over the tang and there you go.

[Tim McCulloch]

Strip the wire so the bare conductor fits fully into the crimp barrel, no more, no less.  Use the appropriate crimper die for the terminal/wire gauge.

If you want to do MILSPEC crimps you'll need some training, but for this application this should suffice.

Have fun, good luck.

Tim Mc

[Dick Rees]

Bob  Healey wrote on Tue, 20 January 2009 19:37

The combo takes care of that problem and adds a lot of flexibility. How should I go about attaching these to speaker wires?

Every Speakon connector I've bought (haven't bought recently, though) has had instructions with it.  I would assume the "combo" will have all the connections "built in" for either type.  There should be a single set of connections covering both.

http://www.neutrik.com/us/en/audio/204_48538941/Speakon_Comb o_productlist.aspx

Click this link, click on the appropriate PDF and go to page 9.  Note that the 1/4" connector they show is a TRS connector.  I'm not sure if it will make a difference or not.  They do give +/-:tip/sleeve wiring designations.

[Bob Henley]

All the other pictures show TS connectors, though.

The Tip (+) and Sleeve (-) seem to confirm. I wonder if the picture in the product guide was intended to be that way or was a mistake. I'm not sure why someone would use a TRS connector for a two conductor speaker cable.

[Tim A Perry]

Bob, I find that if I use cheap off brand solder that no matter what temperature, technique, or tool I used the results are poor.

Kester, Ersin, and even Radio Shack solder all work fine.

In addition the the diameter makes a difference at times. In general, the larger the piece you want to solder the larger the solder.

Heat the terminal and the wire and apply the solder. On larger work such as this, take 2 to 3 seconds to heat. apply solder for one second, keep heating to allow the solder to flow for about one more second.

The joint must not move while it is cooling.

The joint should not have pointy parts sticking out

For more elaborate instructions, with pictures try http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-solder/

a really nice video is here:   http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=how+to+solde   r&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&a mp;a mp;a mp;resnum=4&ct=title#

[Geoff Doane]

Bob  Healey wrote on Tue, 20 January 2009 21:37

Next question: The combo jacks have a "vertical PCB mount". I assume that these aren't intended to be used on speakers, but we would really like to use them in a fixed installation role on the output panels because we get many clients (including one choir teacher   ) that use 1/4" connectors on their monitors, bring their own cables, and don't always have accesses to the equipment we own. The combo takes care of that problem and adds a lot of flexibility. How should I go about attaching these to speaker wires?

Quote:

Features & Benefits Combine Speakon D size receptacle and 1/4" jack Save rack space and costs by combining 2 connectors in one housing Mates with two types of connectors offering greater flexibility of interconnections Rear panel mount PA-wiring: 1+ is connected to Tip, 1- to Sleeve

From Neutrik's web site, it looks like the TS connections (nothing there about the ring) are connected internally to the 1+ and 1-.  You don't have an option to use 2+ and 2-, although 4-pole plugs will fit in this jack (unlike the 2-pole jacks).  The connector is really meant for through-hole PC board mounting, but I guess you can solder wires directly to these if you have to.  Sta-kons aren't an option unfortunately.

http://www.neutrik.com/fl/en/audio/210_1697645325/NLJ2MD-V_d etail.aspx

GTD

[Andy Peters]

Bob  Healey wrote on Tue, 20 January 2009 18:37

Next question: The combo jacks have a "vertical PCB mount". I assume that these aren't intended to be used on speakers, but we would really like to use them

They are meant to be soldered to a PC board, perhaps like a crossover board in a speaker cabinet.

They are the wrong connector for your application. Return them, if possible, and get the proper solderable or faston type connector.

-a

[Adam Whetham]

I was with Tim P. on the soldering part of it. I've always soldered my speakon panel mounts and wouldn't have it any other way. They stay put and work well. I've had to many bad crimp's (A few that I should have noticed but didn't) and a few spades that became loose and came off at in opportune times. But I've yet to have a bad solder joint on Speakon panel mounts.

I don't require the need to hot swap around my patch panels so it works for me.

To each his own though.

There are a few spades at locations I work at. When done properly they work very well. I've just had bad luck with gear getting bounced in a trailer it seems. The main thing if you do use spades is to do them properly.

*note cable mount connectors still use the screw. I wouldn't change that up.

[Rick Stansby]

Bob  Healey wrote on Tue, 20 January 2009 17:37

Well, it seems like I've been going about this in the wrong way. Does anyone have a good diagram of how these fastons work? Next question: The combo jacks have a "vertical PCB mount". I assume that these aren't intended to be used on speakers, but we would really like to use them in a fixed installation role on the output panels because we get many clients (including one choir teacher   ) that use 1/4" connectors on their monitors, bring their own cables, and don't always have accesses to the equipment we own. The combo takes care of that problem and adds a lot of flexibility. How should I go about attaching these to speaker wires?

Instead of using the combo jacks you could just drill another hole in the patch panel and add a dedicated 1/4" jack.  

[Mike McNany]

Just mount NL4 speakons on your patch panels and speakers. THEN buy 3-4 NA4LJ (if I got the letters right). $7 to $8 each. These are NEUTRIK brand adapters that are a speakon plug with a 1/4" TS jack permanently mounted in the end. Then anyone can plug in a TS connected monitor.

Mike McNany

[Rik Turner]

do yourself a favor and get a real soldering station

the old standby Weller WTCPT  theyve been making them since the 60's, or was it 50's? I have a late 60'sone and it works great and you can still get parts.

A new one is about 135 street price but keep your eyes out on fleabay, I waited and waited and scored onr for 20 bucks and it had about $75 dollars worth of tips and the kicker was the seller threw in an almost full 5 lb roll of kester solder from the way back whens


Other than that keep an eyey out at flea markets estate sales, some realtive that was a HAM  etc etc another thing I'd never go without again is a desolder station, but much more difficult to find

Soldering is a great skill to have , practice and patience make perfect, and dont cook your joint , sweat them

[Scott Smith]

Rik Turner wrote on Wed, 21 January 2009 22:30

do yourself a favor and get a real soldering station..

+1.  Not an oversized soldering gun, and not some cheapy iron either.  A decent "soldering station".

[Bob Henley]

I ended up finding a "Weller Standard" gun in the school today that we had put aside as broken. I changed the tip and got the connection with the combo jack on the first try. It looks like they will work with a bit of caution during the soldering.

I'm hesitant to parallel connectors on the outputs (we don't have a patch panel, they're spread out around the stage) because of the fact that in a school, if something can be hooked up wrong, it will be. I have a hard enough time convincing people it's not OK to parallel six speakers as it is.

Thanks for the help!