Hello! I'm building onto my existing house, and I pre-wired one room
with speaker wire for a "surround sound" effect. (I plan to put a
speaker in each corner of the room, and the wires for these speakers
are now running inside the completed walls.)

Unfortunately, I now realize that my speaker wires are about 3 feet
too short, and so they don't extend to quite the right spot in the
room where I want to put my audio stack.

I _could_ put the stack in the spot were the four speaker wires come
out of the wall all together, but -- and this is my question -- would
it cause any obvious loss of audio quality to merely _add_ another
three feet of speaker wire between each short wire and the back of my
stack by just "splicing" the ends of the wires together (that is, by
twisting them around each other and wrapping them in electrical
tape)???

Your opinions will be greatly appreciated. (Oh, and FYI, this won't
be a super-expensive colossal audio system . . . just a medium-grade
system meant to sound "good" to an average, ordinary listener . . . in
other words, I'm not an all-out audiophile, but I do care a fair
amount about sound quality.)

Thanks!

Shane

"CajunUSA" wrote in message
om

Hello! I'm building onto my existing house, and I pre-wired one room
with speaker wire for a "surround sound" effect. (I plan to put a
speaker in each corner of the room, and the wires for these speakers
are now running inside the completed walls.)

Unfortunately, I now realize that my speaker wires are about 3 feet
too short, and so they don't extend to quite the right spot in the
room where I want to put my audio stack.

I _could_ put the stack in the spot were the four speaker wires come
out of the wall all together, but -- and this is my question -- would
it cause any obvious loss of audio quality to merely _add_ another
three feet of speaker wire between each short wire and the back of my
stack by just "splicing" the ends of the wires together (that is, by
twisting them around each other and wrapping them in electrical
tape)???

The preferred method of splicing speaker cables usually involves soldering
and taping. If soldering is not possible, then twisting the wires tightly
and tightly applying proper-sized wirenuts would be your best plan "B". Then
tape to ensure that all remains secure.

I _could_ put the stack in the spot were the four speaker wires come
out of the wall all together, but -- and this is my question -- would
it cause any obvious loss of audio quality to merely _add_ another
three feet of speaker wire between each short wire and the back of my
stack by just "splicing" the ends of the wires together (that is, by
twisting them around each other and wrapping them in electrical
tape)???

Three feet of wire would be no problem at all.

A twist-and-tape junction _would_ be a problem, eventually if not
immediately, due to oxidation of the copper.

Don't twist-and-tape. Strip the wires, twist-and-solder, and insulate
(tape is OK, but it's much better to slip a piece of heatshrink tubing
over the wire before you twist the ends together, solder, cool, slide
the headshrink tubing up over the soldered junction, and then heat the
tubing with a hairdryer or heatgun to shrink it into place).

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Hosting the Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

Or you could use good quality plugs and sockets or use crimp butt connectors
(even better than soldering) but DO NOT just twist the wires together and
insulate; as the connection will soon oxidize and go high impedance.


"CajunUSA" wrote in message
om...
Hello! I'm building onto my existing house, and I pre-wired one room
with speaker wire for a "surround sound" effect. (I plan to put a
speaker in each corner of the room, and the wires for these speakers
are now running inside the completed walls.)

Unfortunately, I now realize that my speaker wires are about 3 feet
too short, and so they don't extend to quite the right spot in the
room where I want to put my audio stack.

I _could_ put the stack in the spot were the four speaker wires come
out of the wall all together, but -- and this is my question -- would
it cause any obvious loss of audio quality to merely _add_ another
three feet of speaker wire between each short wire and the back of my
stack by just "splicing" the ends of the wires together (that is, by
twisting them around each other and wrapping them in electrical
tape)???

Your opinions will be greatly appreciated. (Oh, and FYI, this won't
be a super-expensive colossal audio system . . . just a medium-grade
system meant to sound "good" to an average, ordinary listener . . . in
other words, I'm not an all-out audiophile, but I do care a fair
amount about sound quality.)

Thanks!

Shane

I _could_ put the stack in the spot were the four speaker wires come
out of the wall all together, but -- and this is my question -- would
it cause any obvious loss of audio quality to merely _add_ another
three feet of speaker wire between each short wire and the back of my
stack by just "splicing" the ends of the wires together (that is, by
twisting them around each other and wrapping them in electrical
tape)???

That will work until the wires at the joint oxidise a bit. Better to
make a soldered joint. Or use some screw-down connectors.

Thanks kindly. Looks like soldering is the way to go.

Shane

Arny Krueger wrote:

I _could_ put the stack in the spot were the four speaker wires come
out of the wall all together, but -- and this is my question -- would
it cause any obvious loss of audio quality to merely _add_ another
three feet of speaker wire between each short wire and the back of my
stack by just "splicing" the ends of the wires together (that is, by
twisting them around each other and wrapping them in electrical
tape)???


The preferred method of splicing speaker cables usually involves soldering
and taping. If soldering is not possible, then twisting the wires tightly
and tightly applying proper-sized wirenuts would be your best plan "B". Then
tape to ensure that all remains secure.


I don't know how this would affect audio quality, but as far as
voltage applications go for a car for instance, a good crimp
connector properly installed has proven less resistance than soldering.

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 00:33:58 -0500, "WindsorFox[SS]"
wrote:


I don't know how this would affect audio quality, but as far as
voltage applications go for a car for instance, a good crimp
connector properly installed has proven less resistance than soldering.

To get a good, gas-tight connection requires production crimpers, not
the kind of crimpers that typically come with a kit of terminal lugs.
Production crimpers are pretty expensive.

If I have to use hand crimpers, I also solder.


johnc, the ex-pat
US Army, Ret.
Saudi Arabia


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Anonymous wrote:

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 00:33:58 -0500, "WindsorFox[SS]"
wrote:


I don't know how this would affect audio quality, but as far as
voltage applications go for a car for instance, a good crimp
connector properly installed has proven less resistance than soldering.


To get a good, gas-tight connection requires production crimpers, not
the kind of crimpers that typically come with a kit of terminal lugs.
Production crimpers are pretty expensive.

If I have to use hand crimpers, I also solder.

I assume you crimp first.



johnc, the ex-pat
US Army, Ret.
Saudi Arabia


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On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 18:19:24 GMT, CJT wrote:


I assume you crimp first.

Umm, yeah. I'm not sure that was a serious question. Then I decided
that it doesn't matter. If you are new to this kind of stuff, the
answer may not be obvious.

My fault. What I should have said was, "First I crimp. Then I solder."

johnc, the ex-pat
US Army, Ret.
Saudi Arabia


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