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Author Topic: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?  (Read 14320 times)

Bob Henley

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Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« on: January 20, 2009, 08:24:15 PM »

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".
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Mike McNany

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2009, 08:27:18 PM »

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

Mike McNany
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Scott Smith

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2009, 08:30:42 PM »

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.
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Dick Rees

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #3 on: January 20, 2009, 08:31:16 PM »

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


index.php/fa/20410/0/

= 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
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Bob Henley

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2009, 08:37:11 PM »

 Embarassed

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  Mad ) 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?
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Dick Rees

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2009, 08:43:11 PM »

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.

index.php/fa/20413/0/

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Tim McCulloch

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2009, 08:44:34 PM »

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
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Dick Rees

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #7 on: January 20, 2009, 08:48:42 PM »

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

 Embarassed

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.
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Bob Henley

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #8 on: January 20, 2009, 09:07:48 PM »

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.
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Tim A Perry

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Re: Tips on soldering Speakon chassis connectors?
« Reply #9 on: January 20, 2009, 09:18:39 PM »

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#



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