Soldering 101 for Audiophiles

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.

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.

Make sure you use solder made for electronics, namely rosin-core solder. Don't use acid core solder - that's for plumbing.

Herman

I don't what you are really trying to say or accomplish, but I am always curious when someone on this forum says "why don't you just Google _________ ?!"

Having been online for at least a few hours a day since about 1997, I am pretty familiar with Google, and assume most Audiogoners are as well.

In my experience, this forum tends to be geared more towards audiophiles than a universal search engine and is therefore likely to offer a more concentrated source of audiophile friendly advice.

To everyone else, thank you - this all sounds pretty straightforward.

Cheers,