Connectors from cross-overs to drivers question

Find someone who knows how to solder to teach you.  If you don’t know what to look for, you’ll end up with “cold” solder joints which will cause you no end of aggravation in the future.

And you definitely don’t want to use those cheap clips if you care about sound quality.

Mucluv,

I have decided to solder the connections and your solder recommendation is appreciated.  What temperature do you recommend for this solder?

Dougthebiker,

I worry both about damaging the driver with the heat of the soldering iron as well as cold solder joints.  I will find somebody to tutor me on the task.  I see guys in soldering vids seemingly just touch the soldering iron to the union of the wires and I  seem to have to keep the soldering iron on the union for way longer than they do, often melting the plastic coating on the wire. I have been using 60/40 rosin core solder so that might be why?  Thanks for your response.

The biggest mistake I see people make with soldering irons is thinking they can "creep up" on it.

This can be especially bad with low watt irons on heavy terminals. There are some tricks to get around this though.

First, it is essential that the tip is properly prepared and tinned. If the tip is not properly tinned, you can not transfer the heat to the part and it will require too much contact time. There are plenty of good videos on this subject, they all pretty much have the same theme, add solder and scrub it in with a brush or brass wool until it is evenly coated.

Soldering also requires really good contact with the part, so do not be afraid to use some real pressure and twisting/scrapping motion to get the tip in good contact with the part.

Start by tinning the wire, get a good even coat, try not get too blobby. Next apply the tip to the terminal, dab the solder around where the tip meets the terminal until it starts to flow and get a thin coat. Now touch the iron to a wet sponge, this will cool the tip and force the iron to run at full heat, apply the wire to the terminal and put the iron against the wire until the solder starts to melt, and then drag the iron around until it contacts the terminal and melts the solder there. Remove the iron and do not let the wire shift even in the slightest until it changes color.

I have a nice Hako iron, and I run it about 450C when I do this work. This is way higher than typical soldering temps, but it lets me get in and out very quickly. Being quick is the key, so either run at very high temp, or use a high watt iron.

For audio stuff, I use Cardas silver solder. If you see it cheap on Amazon or Ebay, is almost certainly counterfeit.

The iron temperature is dictated by the type of solder you are using.  The person who teaches you to solder can walk you through that.  Only more expensive soldering irons have temperature displays. 
 

I’ve built a couple of big 3-way speaker kits with a 35 watt iron with no problems.

The term 'silver solder' refers to a very high temperature solder requiring a propane torch. That's not what you want.

Instead you might try a resin core solder with a small proportion of silver, like WBT brand solder. It's very good but pricey, and I use it exclusively.