Connectors from cross-overs to drivers question

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.

Always solder the leads to the drivers. It makes a better connection and if you don’t, corrosion can build up between the clips and the leads or the clips can fall off. I bought a roll of resin core, silver solder years ago. I believe it’s only 4% silver, the rest is Tin and Lead, so it melts really quickly.  There’s a bunch of videos on YouTube on how to solder.

All the best.

The WBT solder is 4% silver and is lead based so it melts at low temperature and is easy to use.  It is expensive.  Even more expensive is the 6% silver solder from Audio Note.  Their solder is lead free-mostly tin, silver, copper and antimony-which makes it compliant with European environmental laws, but it is a bit harder to tell if you have a good solder joint (it does not have the shiny silver look of a good job of soldering). 

Both brands of solder is certainly overkill for this one particular job.  If one is building a whole amp or the like, it may make sense to use such ultra-premium parts as silver solder, but for just this one job, stick with regular solder.