Joining speaker cable

P

PhillipStanton

Guest
I know its less than desirable, but I need to join some speaker cable in a way that allows me disconnect / reconnect easily. So soldering is out.

Anyone got any recommendations on good plugs and sockets plus suppliers? Join would be visible, so it needs to be reasonably neat.

Thanks in advance.
 
I've got a cables coupled by stripping plenty off each end and twisting it together. I've then covered that in blue-tac to prevent the 2 polarities touching.

It's not great but is better than not connecting them at all!

Edit: Use care with this method as the opposing polarities absolutely must not touch at any time, ever. :lesson:
 
Originally posted by eviljohn2
I've got a cables coupled by stripping plenty off each end and twisting it together. I've then covered that in blue-tac to prevent the 2 polarities touching.

It's not great but is better than not connecting them at all!

I would not recommend this at all :(.

1. Wires twisted together will suffer from oxidation causing high resistance and may well work loose anyway.

2. Blue-tac is not a suitable insulator, it only needs someone to touch the joint and you could have a short circuit.

The easiest way would be to use a two way screw terminal block. Not neat, but at least it's reasonably secure.

Maplin may well stock some suitable plugs and sockets.
 
Originally posted by eviljohn2
As I said, dodgy wire is better than no wire!

Not if it shorts out and blows up your amplifier.
 
or better still insulation tape. Hardly expensive stuff!!
 
Just a thought. I'm no audio expert but I am an engineer.

If you bought 3 banana SOCKETS per speaker, you could solder them in a Y shaped configuration. This would allow you to plug a short length of cable into your amp leaving two sockets for your speakers.

You could then terminate all cables with banana plugs allowing you to disconnect one set of speakers / Inputs before reconnecting another.

A couple of warnings!!!!!!! Always swith the amp off before playing with your speaker connections. NEVER have both sets of speakers or inputs connected at the same time (could short out your amp). If you do try this, be certain to arrange the connectors so that they can't touch either using physical means or by using insulating tape.

I have no idea what this would do to sound quality and I suspect it may be a more expensive solution than you are looking for.

Alternatively, if possible, arrange your equipment so that access to the rear panel is easy and use banana plugs.
 
Blu tac does not insulate. I found this out the hardway and got electrocuted, luckily my PC PSU cut out so nothing was damaged.

It contains lots of moisture which is why i guess this happened.

\\Chris
 
Many thanks for all the suggestions folks. Blue Peter would be proud of some of the suggestions :rotfl:

Agree that this is less than desirable from a sound quality point of view, but necessary so that I can clean from time to time :eek: (the rears are in the middle of the floor behind the sofa).

hornydragon's suggestion gets my vote.

Thanks again
 
Slide on some heat shrink, twist the clean bare cable ends together, solder them, use a lighter to shrink and voila.

Maplin sell soldering irons for less than ÂŁ5.
 

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