Cardas Internal Wire Replacement For The SDA SRS 1.2TL
Comments
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Just wondered if anyone has eliminated all the nylon sockets and just hard-wired, avoiding all those contact points via the harnesses?Jeff
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I don't think the Goertze comes any smaller than 13g so this may not be a good choice. I know this is high dollar cable, but I can get it for $11/ft, or almost 1/3 less than the AQ. Do you have an opinion about using this wire for this project and maybe also for the crossover cable?
Thanks.
I would stick with 15g or 16g for internal wire. Heavy gauge wire is ok for SDA interconnect cables.Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
DarqueKnight wrote: »This evaluation is going great. Fifty feet (25' of red and 25' of black) of Cardas wire, which will be used to finish the SRS rewire, is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. When the Cardas wire goes on sale again, I will order enough to rewire my three pairs of CRS+'s.
Each pair of my CRS+'s will require 17 feet of black Cardas wire and 7 feet of red Cardas wire. Each of my individual CRS+'s requires the following:
SDA inductor: 10" red, 10" black.
Tweeter: 20" red, 20" black.
Stereo Driver: 20" red, 20" black.
Dimensional Driver: 20" red, 20" black.
Binding Post: 13" red, 13" black (x2).
Binding Post SDA pin: 2" black.
Binding Post SDA blade: 2" black.
The SDA cables of the SRS and CRS+'s will be replaced with Cardas 9.5 AWG (20' of red and 20' of black for the SRS's and 15' of red for each of the CRS+ pairs).
Hi DK, waking up this thread again.
Looks like Soniccraft is having a sale ending tomorrow, so I think the Cardas wire should be 20% off:
http://www.soniccraft.com/specials.htm
Looking to order the wire I'll need for my CRS+'s, just looking at this post of yours and I'm a bit confused. You're saying you need 17 feet of black and 7 feet of red per pair of CRS+'s. But if I add up the requirements for each individual CRS+ (SDA inductor, tweeter, etc...) I'm seeing 83" of red and 87" of black. So if that's per speaker, so each pair needs double that, then I'm assuming you meant 17 feet of red, not 7, correct?
Not certain when I'll be able to actually do this project, but I want to grab the wire while it's on sale. Thanks!Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
Looks like Soniccraft is having a sale ending tomorrow, so I think the Cardas wire should be 20% off:
http://www.soniccraft.com/specials.htm
Thanks for the reminder. I had seen mention of the current sale in another thread, got busy with other things, then forgot about it. Fortunately I log in to check my notifications periodically. It sucks that we don't get email notifications anymore.Looking to order the wire I'll need for my CRS+'s, just looking at this post of yours and I'm a bit confused. You're saying you need 17 feet of black and 7 feet of red per pair of CRS+'s. But if I add up the requirements for each individual CRS+ (SDA inductor, tweeter, etc...)
I'm seeing 83" of red and 87" of black.
The "(X2)" note is for two 13" pieces of black for the binding post, so that would make a total of 100" of black per speaker.So if that's per speaker, so each pair needs double that, then I'm assuming you meant 17 feet of red, not 7, correct?
I meant to say 14 feet of red per pair (7 feet per speaker). The black wire requirement is 17 feet per pair (8.5 feet per speaker) as stated.Not certain when I'll be able to actually do this project, but I want to grab the wire while it's on sale. Thanks!
I'm not certain when I'll feel like handling Cardas wire again, but I will place my order for tomorrow for enough wire to do all three of my CRS+ pairs:
45 feet of red 15.5 AWG
55 feet of black 15.5 AWG
65 feet of red 9.5 AWG
(A little extra of each type will be ordered "just in case".)Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
Thanks!
What do you mean we don't get email notifications? I still do. Check your settings...Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
My settings are correct. Notifications stopped working for me and others about a year ago. We reported it to Polk, but they have not gotten around to fixing the issue.Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country!
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Strange, mine work fine.Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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DarqueKnight wrote: »...I'm not certain when I'll feel like handling Cardas wire again...
Just spoke to Cardas technical support about this issue, they confirm the solder pot technique. They said not to use regular rosin-core solder, as the rosin will burn off in the solder pot and contaminate the solder. They recommend bar solder. Cardas bar solder is out of stock at Soniccraft and Soniccraft said they are not ordering any more because it's such a low-volume mover. It's only sold in 2-lb. bars, and is over $60, which is more than I paid for the wire!
The guy at Cardas (Brian) was very helpful. He understood that I really don't want to go spending $60+ on solder for a project this small, and was poking around Amazon to help me find something more reasonable. He recommended a brand called Kester, in the 63%/37% formulation:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGHSD1K/
I'm also ordering a pretty reasonably priced solder pot from Amazon as well:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D175356/
I've ordered some of the Cardas flux from Soniccraft.
The technique Brian told me to use is as follows: Strip off the outer jacket from the Litz, revealing the individually insulated strands. Dip that into the flux, and then dip into the melted solder for 3-5 seconds. You'll want the solder very hot, at the high end of the variable temp of that solder pot. This will burn off the insulation from the individual strands leaving a perfectly tinned wire. He said there will be a yellowish residue from the burned insulation that gathers at the top of the melted solder in the pot, that should be spooned off and removed between each strand that you tin.
Hope that helps!Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
DarqueKnight wrote: »My settings are correct. Notifications stopped working for me and others about a year ago. We reported it to Polk, but they have not gotten around to fixing the issue.
yep had that problem went back and re-clicked and reset everything just like it was ....worked for me. -
DarqueKnight wrote: »65 feet of red 9.5 AWG
Ouch! I actually needed 65 feet of red and 65 feet of black. This is because I use an AI-1 Dreadnought for each pair of CRS+s, and each Dreadnought will have a pair of 20 foot dual conductor cables, rather than one 20 foot single conductor cable.Just spoke to Cardas technical support about this issue, they confirm the solder pot technique. They said not to use regular rosin-core solder, as the rosin will burn off in the solder pot and contaminate the solder. They recommend bar solder. Cardas bar solder is out of stock at Soniccraft and Soniccraft said they are not ordering any more because it's such a low-volume mover. It's only sold in 2-lb. bars, and is over $60, which is more than I paid for the wire!
I'll get a soldering pot and solder bars in the future .... when I'm more dedicated to audio than I am now.
In the meantime, the technique that worked well for me was using a 60W Weller soldering station. I fanned out the wires of the end to be tinned and completely coated each strand with hot solder. The enamel was burned off and the solder stuck to the bare copper. The ends were bathed in hot solder for 5 seconds.
If you use a solder pot, and especially for larger wire like the 9.5 gauge, spread out the wires a bit rather than just dipping the end in the pot. Otherwise, the inner strands may not get tinned.yep had that problem went back and re-clicked and reset everything just like it was ....worked for me.
I tried a reset and save a while ago and it did not work for me. :sad:Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
Do I need any special tools other than a crimper to do the Molex work? I'm planning to get new connectors, not reuse existing, so I shouldn't need any special extraction tools. Is any tool needed to insert the pin into the connector?Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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There aren't any insertion tools needed. Just push it into the connector and it will lock into place.Home Theater
Onkyo PR-SC5508 Sharp LC-70LE847U
Emotiva XPA-5 Emotiva XPA-2 Emotiva UPA-2
Front RTi-A9 Wide RTi-A7 Center CSi-A6 Surround FXi-A6 Rear RTi-A3 Sub 2x PSW505
Sony BDP-S790 Dishnetwork Hopper/Joey Logitech Harmony One Apple TV
Two Channel
Oppo 105D BAT VK-500 w/BatPack SDA SRS 2.3 Dreadnought Squeezebox Touch Apple TV -
Excellent. Thanks!Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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Maybe I'll be making these sooner than I thought! Just ordered the Molex parts from Mouser and the WBT quick connects from hndme.com. Unfortunately I'm not able to test them out, as my SDA's are packed up for my pending house sale. But at least I know that when I set them up again they'll have minty new Cardas wiring!Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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Here's a question for those smarter than me: the data sheet for the pin/socket connectors on Mouser lists some $260+ crimping tool for them. I don't have anything near that fancy. Any reason I shouldn't be successful with this:
I intend to use that with the WBT connectors as well.Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
I just crimped mine with a pair of needle nose pliers, and added a little solder, worked perfect for me..
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I figured. A $260 dollar crimping tool? Seriously??
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/TE-Connectivity/90546-1/?qs=%2fha2pyFadujhrR03uYfuP2ayERmSVwa2IB1KL0S3U%252bc%3dGood music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
Yeah, that's insane...
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C'mon, Neil, if we buy two the price comes down to $231 per. In with me? :razz:Jay
SDA 2BTL * Musical Fidelity A5cr amp * Oppo BDP-93 * Modded Adcom GDA-600 DAC * Rythmik F8 (x2)
Micro Seiki DQ-50 * Hagerman Cornet 2 Phono * A hodgepodge of cabling * Belkin PF60
Preamp rotation: Krell KSL (SCompRacer recapped) * Manley Shrimp * PS Audio 5.0 -
I just crimped mine with a pair of needle nose pliers, and added a little solder, worked perfect for me..
I used the flat end of my wire stripping tool and a dab of solder.I figured. A $260 dollar crimping tool? Seriously??
But it's a really good crimper. :sad:Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
DK, too bad those WBT connectors aren't available in any other sizes. I like your trick for getting it to grab the 1/8" tab. I suppose the 3/16" connections just grab on their own without any trickery?Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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C'mon, Neil, if we buy two the price comes down to $231 per. In with me? :razz:
Bargain!Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance. -
One good thing about this project is it will finally allow me to use the binding post covers that I got from Trey.Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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DK, too bad those WBT connectors aren't available in any other sizes. I like your trick for getting it to grab the 1/8" tab. I suppose the 3/16" connections just grab on their own without any trickery?
The WBT connectors are just the right width for the 3/16" tabs. Sometimes I would have to use pliers to gently close down the height of a connector that was a little loose. Also, I found that if I closed down the height of a connector enough, and pushed it as far as it would go on to a 1/8" tab, it would fit very snugly and I didn't have to use the trick.Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
What about for the 1/4" tab on the tweeter then? Are they too snug or they fit?Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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What about for the 1/4" tab on the tweeter then? Are they too snug or they fit?
I measured a width of 3/16", with analog calipers, for the wide tab on the RD0198 tweeter. The base of the RD0198 wide tab is 1/4" and it fits the WBT quick disconnects.
Figure 1. Narrow tab of RD0198 tweeter. The tab is 1/8" wide and the base is 3/16" wide.
The narrow tab of the RD0198 tweeter is the same size as both of the narrow tabs on the RD0194 tweeter.
Figure 2. Pushing the WBT quick disconnect all the way down over the RD0194/RD0198 narrow tab allows it
to grab the base and the inner edges of the quick disconnect grab the sides of the tab.
I had to close down the quick disconnects' blade gap a bit for a snug fit on the narrow tweeter tabs. The wide 3/16" tweeter and driver tabs usually fit snugly, but sometimes a disconnect would require closing down.
Figure 3. Wide tab of the RD0198 tweeter.
Figure 4. Pushing the WBT quick disconnect all the way down over the RD0198 wide tab allows it to grab the
1/4" wide base and the inner edges of the quick disconnect grab the sides of the tab.
Figure 5. The driver tabs (MW6503 shown) are 3/16" wide with a 1/4" base, same as the RD0198 tweeter.
However, the 1/4" base on the drivers is usually not usable due to globs of solder.
Figure 6. MW6503 driver tabs with WBT quick disconnects.Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
Thanks for that!Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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My Cardas wire arrived today. I'm trying to psych myself up to go and get my black oak CRS+s from my work office and rewire them. I would like to get this out of the way before my holiday company arrives. I am definitely not going to rewire my other two pairs of CRS+s any time soon.Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country!
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My CRS+'s are disassembled and packed up, we're getting ready to sell our house. But I've got the XO's and the wiring harnesses set aside, so I'll probably get moving on this after Christmas, just so I can pack the stuff up. Getting ready to move tons of stuff out of the house and into storage to get it out of the way so we can start doing fun things like drywall repairs and painting.Good music, a good source, and good power can make SDA's sing. Tubes make them dance.
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I wanted to go with the Cardas, but it just sounds like a PIA, so I went with the Supra Rondo 2x2.5, it arrived in the mail today as well.
