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Crimping bare speaker cable connections

I have DIY cables in my system. I prefer the bare wire connections vs. spade connections but I don't like the inconvenience of periodic cleaning of corrosion from the wire. I see that there are WBT crimp sleeves availble from www.partsexpress.com. These are to be used as part of their terminal installation. I'm wondering if I crimped one of these sleeves on my bare wire end and placed it through my speaker's binding post, would I solve the periodic corrosion problem? It seems to me it would, but I need to know from those wiser than I. Would it deter the quality of the signal?
mijknarf
mijknarf OP
266 posts
 
Kotta, I think you nailed my situation... my amp dosen't accept bare wire well, so there I'm using a Furutec spade with two set screws (see pic at http://venhaus1.com/fp201.jpg). Reterminating my speaker ends periodically is not a problem only an inconvenience. I have read many posts both here and on AA, seems to me there is no one best solution to avoid re-terminating.
Lugnut: do you have experience with soldering? What solder would you recommend?
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
When I had my house electrical service changed recently I noticed the electrician using a paste on the aluminum cables when he connected them to the copper connectors of the house wires. This prevents corrosion and is essential for aluminum wire connections, but would work just as well for copper. The stuff is readily available and cheap. If you use it you can forget about periodic cleaning of your wires.
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Eldartford makes a good point about the non-corrosion paste but I don't have a clue about its sonic characteristics. It works well on car battery connections too.

Mijknarf, I've use the Radio Shack silver solder. Every report I've read is very positive about it. I used it to solder bannana plugs to my speaker cables. I'm happy with it. Radio Shack also sells a butane soldering iron for very little money. They have various tips for other purposes too. Everyone should own one.
mikesinger
572 posts
 
i have noticed some cable manufactures (tara) fill the empty space with wax and to prevent corresion (not a bad idea)

but in looking at the situation and being a audiophile....how many of us actually keep a pair of speaker cable 2 to 3 years ?

i am on my 6th pair in 2 years.. ( that is pretty scary now that i think about it)

hope that helps,

mike
mijknarf OP
266 posts
 
Thanks for the clarification Lug. Have you done this with success? I may just try it.
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