[Z7What]

I'm just about finished installed a huge network in a friends new construction house as well as installing a HTD WHA System. We started the install with advice from HTD and it turned out it was sorta not the best advice for his setup. So with that being said some of the speaker wires that is rann to each zone isn't long enough to reach the actual speaker. So what I did was installed a heavy duty plastic electrical box in the zones that need the wires extended and ran the feed from the amp into the box. My plan it to run speaker wire from the speakers to the electrical box. From inside the box I was going to connect the feed from the amp wires to the wires from the speakers.

What is the best way to connect the speaker wires together? The electrical boxes will be in the attic and a solid cover will be installed after connections are made. Just wondering what's the best way to connect them together.

Here's a like sneak peek!

Nothing is secured for good yet. Once all the wires are ran I will secure them better!

Thanks Wayne

 

[Garidy]

I'm just about finished installed a huge network in a friends new construction house as well as installing a HTD WHA System. We started the install with advice from HTD and it turned out it was sorta not the best advice for his setup. So with that being said some of the speaker wires that is rann to each zone isn't long enough to reach the actual speaker. So what I did was installed a heavy duty plastic electrical box in the zones that need the wires extended and ran the feed from the amp into the box. My plan it to run speaker wire from the speakers to the electrical box. From inside the box I was going to connect the feed from the amp wires to the wires from the speakers.

What is the best way to connect the speaker wires together? The electrical boxes will be in the attic and a solid cover will be installed after connections are made. Just wondering what's the best way to connect them together.

Here's a like sneak peek!

Thanks Wayne

https://images.search.yahoo.com/ima...=yhs-mozilla-003&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-003

 

[Glimmie]

For 1 to 1 simple splices I would use Euro Barrier strips.

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/tb-50/50a-12-position-terminal-block/1.html

You can get these at any electronics / low voltage supply house and they can be cut apart to make any number of positions.

No reason you can't use ordinary electrical wire nuts either. Just a bit more sloppy but inside an electrical box it's quite OK.

 

[Skytrooper]

Probably just using wire nuts would be ok. You already got boxes in which to make your splices.

Me, since I already have materials on hand would slip heat shrink over a wire, twist the wires together, solder, clean with flux stripper, slide the heat shrink over the splice, shrink the heat shrink. That's just me.

 

[CharlesJ]

I would certainly solder the speaker wire joints.

 

[Garidy]

I would certainly solder the speaker wire joints.

I agree, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, if i ran out of solder half way through and just nutted or blocked things together...

 

[Z7What]

Would something like this be just as good or better then screw on style wire nuts?

Thanks, Wayne

 

[scruff67]

Would something like this be just as good or better then screw on style wire nuts?

Thanks, Wayne

no, twisting and securing with a wire nut will make a better connection that that thing

 

[FMW]

The best way is to solder them and apply heat shrink tubing to the joint.

 

[Skytrooper]

Wire nut would be better. That is a crimp type wire nut. Sometimes you gotta watch what type crimper you use to make a proper crimp.

 

[WarHorse]

I have used crimp-on butt splices occasionally. On my outside 12v lighting run with 4 splices, 500 ft of 12 ga., i get no perceptible voltage drop at the other end. I use the same wire for the speakers.

 

[RayDunzl]

If not soldering, I'd put some goo on all the connections for protections.

Back during my Telecom days this went on all the power connections, and I have a multi-lifetime supply in my toolbox.

NO OX ID-A

 

[CharlesJ]

I have used crimp-on butt splices occasionally. On my outside 12v lighting run with 4 splices, 500 ft of 12 ga., i get no perceptible voltage drop at the other end. I use the same wire for the speakers.

Is that no difference with the 4 splices? The actual voltage drop with 500ft of 12 ga is noticeable. A 20 Watt bulb at the end would drop 2.2V in the wire.

 

[Skytrooper]

Z7What,
I am looking at the blue and white cables you have ran and am assuming some of it is CAT cabling. I noticed they are hung with cable tyes. I have read that that's not a good thing to do. Supposedly over time the tyes will dig into the cable and change its performance.

You may want to look into this and get some opinions. My cables are all ran with clamps made for this and spaced close as to have minimum sagging.

 

[Z7What]

Z7What,
I am looking at the blue and white cables you have ran and am assuming some of it is CAT cabling. I noticed they are hung with cable tyes. I have read that that's not a good thing to do. Supposedly over time the tyes will dig into the cable and change its performance.

You may want to look into this and get some opinions. My cables are all ran with clamps made for this and spaced close as to have minimum sagging.

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, the blue wire is Cat6. Finished running almost everything the other day. Right now we have 20 runs of Blue Cat6(Internet), 6 runs of Grey Cat6(HTD KeyPads), 3 runs of Brown Cat6(Phone), 24 pairs of speaker wire, only thing left is 8 runs of Red Cat6 for PoE Cameras.

What type of clamps did you use? In the picture it's hung loosely and the ties are spaced. Once it's all finished I was going to go back tighten them up and install plenty more for better support.

Wayne

 

[Skytrooper]

I can't remember where I got mine. They are called J Hooks. The ones I like are plastic, come in different sizes depending how thick your wire bundle is. They are also gently curved as not to put any sharp edges on the cable. Also when bundling cable together, it is suggested to use Velcro. Cable Tyes can be used, just don't pull them real tight.

Google J Hooks. You will find articles on why J Hooks should be used.

If this was my house, I would use J Hooks. I'd feel a lot better.

 

[highfigh]

no, twisting and securing with a wire nut will make a better connection that that thing

There's nothing wrong with crimp caps, as long as they're crimped tightly. I ran a few car audio shops and hired a kid who thought he knew everything. I saw him with wire nuts, which our company strictly forbid because our installations came with a lifetime warranty- if any of our connections came un-done, we fixed it, free. I told him to take the wire nuts home or throw them out, but to never use them while he was working for that company. He did his usual "I know these work and I'll show you" BS and when we pulled on the wires, the nut spun off and the wires separated easily. I cut the ends off of the wires and crimped them together after twisting them. We pulled A LOT harder and when the wires finally came apart, it was because the wire strands failed, not because the cap came off.

Crimp caps can't come off because of vibration, either.

 

[highfigh]

I'm just about finished installed a huge network in a friends new construction house as well as installing a HTD WHA System. We started the install with advice from HTD and it turned out it was sorta not the best advice for his setup. So with that being said some of the speaker wires that is rann to each zone isn't long enough to reach the actual speaker. So what I did was installed a heavy duty plastic electrical box in the zones that need the wires extended and ran the feed from the amp into the box. My plan it to run speaker wire from the speakers to the electrical box. From inside the box I was going to connect the feed from the amp wires to the wires from the speakers.

What is the best way to connect the speaker wires together? The electrical boxes will be in the attic and a solid cover will be installed after connections are made. Just wondering what's the best way to connect them together.

Here's a like sneak peek!

Nothing is secured for good yet. Once all the wires are ran I will secure them better!

Thanks Wayne

Plastic conduit clamps work well for securing bundles of wires- don't bundle them too tightly and definitely don't tighten wire ties too tightly around Cat5e, Cat6, etc. Maintain minimum bend radius (4x the diameter) and if you must splice wires, make sure you can get to them easily, in the event that the connection fails.

I don't use wire nuts for much and almost never use crimp caps- wire nuts hold pretty well, but with stranded wire, the thread can break some of them and that weakens the jont. Caps hold better, but if the joint needs to be somewhat streamlined, this doesn't work. Butt splices do this much better and hold well, but again, only if they're crimped correctly- the ferrule is usually split and the line of the split needs to be in the concave part of the crimper's die. If it's to the side, the joint will be significantly weaker. Also, an attic can become hot and in some places, humid. IF I locate a splice in an area where it will be humid, I use dielectric grease, regardless of how the wires are joined if they're not soldered. If possible, solder the wires and use Heat N Seal shrink tube- this has glue inside and when it's heated, the glue melts and flows, sealing the joint. Heat sealing butt splices are available, too- some have glue, the others don't but they seal extremely well. Parts Express sells these.

 

[Glimmie]

There's nothing wrong with crimp caps, as long as they're crimped tightly. I ran a few car audio shops and hired a kid who thought he knew everything. I saw him with wire nuts, which our company strictly forbid because our installations came with a lifetime warranty- if any of our connections came un-done, we fixed it, free. I told him to take the wire nuts home or throw them out, but to never use them while he was working for that company. He did his usual "I know these work and I'll show you" BS and when we pulled on the wires, the nut spun off and the wires separated easily. I cut the ends off of the wires and crimped them together after twisting them. We pulled A LOT harder and when the wires finally came apart, it was because the wire strands failed, not because the cap came off.

Crimp caps can't come off because of vibration, either.

Yes, crimp connectors are very good. But you have to have the right tooling do do it right. The ultra cheap crimpers do not crimp well at all. Then there are people who think you can just use a pliers. This is where crimp connectors get a bad rap.

 

[highfigh]

Yes, crimp connectors are very good. But you have to have the right tooling do do it right. The ultra cheap crimpers do not crimp well at all. Then there are people who think you can just use a pliers. This is where crimp connectors get a bad rap.

I have seen people use their teeth. Really.

I use a Gardner-Bender crimper-stripper but also have several others for specific types of terminals, like Packard Weather-Pak, TNC/Mini-UHF, crimped F-connectors, combination F/RCA/BNC compression style and a ratcheting crimper for butt splices.

The combo crimper also has threaded holes for cutting machine screws and I have used this style for over 20 years, starting when I did car audio. The most recent one is stainless, so it lasts longer, but its cutter needs sharpening because it's worn. I used to kill one of the regular steel ones in 10-12 months when I was installing a lot and when I replaced them, they were plain worn out. The last place I installed for- in my first year there, three of us worked in the shop- two of us were full-time and the manager installed part-time. He came out at the end of the year and told us to guess how many cars we had worked on- 2900, by three people, including the big competition systems, full alarms with retro-fit window roll-up and door locks, subwoofer boxes & speaker panels and box design using Term Pro (predecessor to BassBox Pro).

We all used somewhat different crimpers, but caps, butt splices, quick disconnect, spade and ring terminals were used by the thousands and we had almost no comebacks for anything, none for terminals coming off.