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Soldering 101 for Audiophiles

I am replacing the tweeters in my Tympanis with new ribbons which I have just received from Magnepan.

Unscrewing all of the screws, it seems they are connected at the top and the bottom with a soldered connection?

I have a cheapo pencil shaped soldering iron from Radio Shack around the garage but otherwise havent soldered anything since I tried to put together a Hafler amplifier in 1979 and ended up paying someone else to do it.

Can anyone please explain:

* basic soldering technique
* what materials do I need for the best audiophile connnecton? Silver?

Thank you,
cwlondon
ngjockey
1,042 posts
 
Heat the wire, not the solder...except for heavy guage wire where that may be the only way to start.

WBT silver solder is good but not practical to buy a whole spool for a couple connections. There is copper based solder that many consider better for the dollar but, as I said, don't worry about it for a couple connections and just get some Rat Shack resin core.
drjoe
130 posts
 
Soldering is kind of an art. Newbies tend not to get the solder joint hot
enough before applying the solder. Too much heat and you can wreck
a circuit board for example. After you solder the joint it should be shiny not
dull. Practice with some wire. What solder you should use...lots of
choices... silver, 60/40, silver-copper type, and a whole bunch of others.
Which is best...I don't know. The bottom line is if the solder joint is cold
usually meaning dull then it will make no difference what solder you used.
Joe
davehrab's avatar
davehrab
380 posts
 
Here's a link with video tutorials to get you started

http://www.tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
As per Drjoe....I usually "tin" the iron a bit and then touch the connection to be soldered....once the solder begins to bleed into the connection I apply more solder to the wires....the process is best done quickly as too much heat can damage stuff and tons of solder has no advantage.

Use of the solder sucker device is also the key to cleaning things up on an old connection. I like to start with everything clean. A connection will be much stronger if you remove all previous solder from the terminal.
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
I had fellow who installs landscaping (plastic pipes) tell me that he "is real good at sweating pipes" so I let him into my basement to replace a small area of galvanized.

As soon as I saw him torching the solder---not the pipe---I smiled and called a real plumber.
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