I bought a couple pioneer 4x6 and the terminals on them are a bit smaller than the ones on the Polks I had in there. So, my adapters won't fit the pioneers. Can I just cut the terminals off the adapter and connect the pioneer terminals by twisting and taping instead of twisting, soldering, and taping?

 

twisting and taping sucks. It's unreliable and can even be dangerous.

Soldering is not necessary though. Crimp-on connectors are secure, cheap and easy.

 

I would never twist and solder and tape.

I'd twist and solder and heatshrink! But that's just me... like Jim said, crimp connectors are fine. Try to get a good crimp tool; a good one's jaws look like ( ( , cheaper one's jaws look like ( )

 

Why would you never twist, solder, and tape? This is only speaker wire, no power wires involved.

 

people will hang me in the village square for saying this, but since I pull my 6x9's out so often, or at least I used to, I have wire nuts on the wires... never EVER had a problem. You just have to get the right size.

I'd never recommend it, and I must point out that I actually did solder my 4x6 wires.

Go with quick-disconnect terminals with plastic boots that protect them, if you plan on taking them out in the future... make life easy on yourself.

 

Twist and Tape jobs stink. As was already said, you don't need to solder, use crimp connectors. AND DON'T USE WIRE NUTS (virtual smack for scrappy ). You asked why not, there no power, but bad connections on the speaker wire CAN kill the internal amp IC in in HU. And I think Tom's objection to tape is cheap tapes tends to lose it's sticky over time and can unravel. That's bad as well.

 

solder is the best way but as said crimp connectors are more the norm.

 

Solder is best, crimp is second, twist and tape is like driving a
Ford Pinto!

If you have the music cranked up, and that twist connection opens for just a second, you stand a good chance of blowing the amp's output. Don't take a chance of loosing an expensive amp over a $15 dollar crimper of $30 soldering iron.

Trust me, I have been repairing high dollar electronics for 25+ years.

 

well said.

 

A good one should have both types of jaws. THe ones that look like (( are for uninsulated crimps, and the one that looks like () is for insulated crimps. $20 Klein tool in Home Depot's electrical department is the way to go.

 

I always solder my wires to the speaker terminals. I always seem to screw up crimps and then the speaker crackles and.... you get the idea.

 

Just be careful to use low temp solder and do it quick, don't melt the factory solder where the voice coil wires connect to the terminals, and don't drip solder on the cone. I like the push on connectors best.

 

FYI-

if the two wires going to the speaker touch while the head unit/amp is on - you could blew up circuit components in your head unit/amp. Which means you'd probably have to buy a new one. Some units might have protections circuits.

63/37 solder is the best. it doesnt remain in liquid form as long as 60/40 solder. just makes soldering a little more reliable and easier.

before you connect speakers and if you want to eliminate crosstalk --- leave the insulation on both wires, take one end of the wires and connect it to a hand drill. the drill will twist the two wires tight together. now youve just made twisted pair speaker wires. dont pay extra money for them like some idiots do.

 

Crosstalk?

 

actually to speakers crosstalk wouldnt make probably any difference since the signal is huge. my bad. but like the wires that go from the pre-outs on the head unit to amp would be better if twisted pair since the signal their is very small.

 

crosstalk is when one electromagnetic signal (or electromagnetic noise) is picked up on a wire. if the signal is picked up on both wires in a twisted pair - the induced signal in one wire will be positive and negative in the other and together they will cancel out the crosstalk. a (+) added to a (-) = 0.

but anyway its not important for regular speakers.

 

Every one get ready for 'Lead Free' solder, stuffs a PITA.

 

i never twist and tape, the previous owner twisted and taped an electric fan power wire and it shorted and blew my relay, causeing the car to over heat, and causeing me to be late for work

i use quick disconnect connectors for the inside of teh car, and i use crimp style, then wrap, and then put in conduit under the hood

 

twisted pair speaker wire? never heard of it...

oxygen-free, I have, however heard of... I doubt you can tell the difference.

 

I've got a tube of it sitting at my desk from when Newark Electronics was here. I haven't tried it yet. He insists this new crap is supposed to be better than the other lead free stuff. I hope he's right, or I'm going to have to stock up on a lifetime supply pretty soon.

Although, from talking with him, from the sounds of it, the leaded stuff isn't going to disappear from the consumer market anytime soon.

 

If that new stuff works out OK let me know what brand and all it is. Most of the manufactures are demanding that NO old solder be used on the new LF PCBs. I hate this crap as it stands now.

 

all manufacturers of industrial electronics are being forced to go lead-free. My company's products have to be lead-free by 2006. Dont know about consumer goods cause im not in that business. As far as leaded soldered disappearing from your local radio shack - that will never happen.

 

I always wondered why I felt so good when I was soldering all that time... mmmmm

 

Yeah, all those years of electronics, when I was hunched over a PCB with the solder smoke going up my nose- it always smelled so good... Then there was the time I was doing bodywork and was sanding the area on the roof between the top of the door window and the hatch window, without using a mask or wearing a shirt- and found out later that spot was lead, not "strange gray bondo"... I'm a goner.

I think you missed my joke, I said I'd twist solder and Heatshrink. I heatshrink/solder everything I can... there's no crimp terminals in my car. But I'm funny like that!

Oh, those are for uninsulated?? Didn't know that, thanks! Doesn't the (( jaws make a better crimp anyway?? I feel like I'm never getting a decent crimp out of the () jaws. I'll have to check that tool out tonite; my crimpers are ancient. (Been a long time since I used 'em, ha, ha)

 

And to think of all those PCB I was chewing on......

 

Actually... I believe MECP says to never solder speaker leads to the speaker as it places too much heat on the voice coil(s).

I am thinking that the solder you see on the terminals from the factory is placed before the final speaker construction.
You are always suppossed to use connectors of some sort.
Anyone hear different?
Tuck

 

Theoretically they could use a heat sink, but odds are its done so fast it won't damage the voice coil.

 

yeah I doubt you would ruin the voicecoil that easily... I mean you can solder on a sophisticated PIC microcontroller for a long time before you actually do any damage.

 

What about the crimpers that look kinda like this.. (<... they make a nice dent in the cimp and they crimp well too.

 

honestly, if it works, who cares, right?

I really like quick-disconnects, but people say that a more perminent setup should be crimped, or soldered.