Splicing Speaker Wire

Snagglepuss1318

I ran 12ga. Speaker wire for a 7.1 dedicated HT. I have it in a 3 gang blue electrical box. Before the room was drywalled I shoved it into a pipe and taped it off so they wouldn't cut into it when they routed around the electrical boxes. Sure enough they somehow managed to cut into my wires. I left a little bit of a service loop up top, and the closet the wire is run into I installed a drop ceiling. Originally wanted to run the wires directly into the amp. Now I'm afraid they will be too short even after taking out the service loop. Should I:

A. Splice the wires to extend them a couple feet
B. Put them on Banana or Binding Post Jacks
C. Run new wires
D. Other

Is there any signal loss when using jacks and splicing?

engtaz

C. run new wires. They will be in there for a while. Do it now, before you have to do it later.

engtaz

Never cheat yourself with regret.

heiney9

Run new wires unless it's a big hassel. If the new wires aren't an option the next best solution is to twist the wires and secure/seal them with shrink tubing. It's better than wire nuts or any type of splicing connector.

H9

LessisNevermore

What about using a good silver solder, and the shrink wrap tubing? (I have a couple shorter than desired cables myself...):o

heiney9

LessisNevermore wrote: »

What about using a good silver solder, and the shrink wrap tubing? (I have a couple shorter than desired cables myself...):o

That woould work even better. Shrink tubing is nice because it eliminates the need for solder, but you can use the solder and shrink tubing for the ultimate long term connection.

dudeinaroom

LessisNevermore wrote: »

What about using a good silver solder, and the shrink wrap tubing? (I have a couple shorter than desired cables myself...):o

+1 on that. Just did a repair on a battery powered mixer for one of the local bingo hall and did just what you said. Because it is just an electrical connection and not a signal path I used rosin core solder. Any thing with an audio signal going threw it I like to use silver. Best choice in my opinion would be to run new wires, but the solder is defiantly a close second.

Snagglepuss1318

Any known signal loss from splicing or jacks?

engtaz

splicing with solder and shrink tubing, no. any crimp type can allow bad contact orver time.

crd2002

they make a double sided connecter you put the wire in on each side and its insulated on the outside

Lowell_M

+1 more on the solder and shrink tubing. I actually had to do the same thing for a different reason in my basement.

dudeinaroom

do not use butt connectors or scotch locks!!!!!

vonnie123

I needed to extend some high quality speaker cables in the past....the solder and shrink tubing method works pretty well.....I couldn't perceive any signal loss or change in the music delivery.