Practice soldering, you can master it on the first wire. then heat shrink the connections.
On my boat stereo after the heat shrink was tight I put a little liquid tape on the ends. never had any issues.

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Put the liquid tape on before the heat shrink.

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Butt connectors are as good as the pliers used to crimp them.

If you crimp them correctly, then seal them they work fine.

No need to solder a bunch of speaker wires up when they end up connecting to the speaker with a slip on spade connector.

Good crimp pliers

Shitcrimp pliers

 

I would not recommend soldering the wires from the amp to the speaker. As already stated, crimp connectors work just fine. Secondly, a good solder job is fine but an average or poor solder job will fail pretty quick. The insulated crimp on connectors are a buck or two more than the cheapo exposed connectors.

Also remember you're going to have to tune the amp. If you use a multi-meter to tune or a DD-1 distortion meter you will need somewhere to connect the meter leads. I use the male end of spade connectors on the amp end for just that reason. It's also easier if you ever swap speakers or decide to move wires around for whatever reason in the future.

 

The StaKon type (Klein) crimping pliers are definitely the way to go. I have used those with butt connectors then slide shrink wrap over and seal with no problems at all. Soldering probably ultimate if you can do it ok.

 

Wait. I have been using "Shitcrimp" pliers??? Nobody ever tells me these things. It's like condoms. If somebody would have told me about these things, I would have two more bikes in my garage!!!

 

butt connecting the wires will do fine. theres quality butt connectors that can be heat shrunk to seal them which is what I would recommend using regardless of location of the wires. and yes use a quality crimping tool

 

I soldered the speaker connections on my boat also because they kept falling off. but I have been soldering since I was a kid I just cant stop.

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If you are going to heat shrink the connectors and space is limited, or you just want a nice tight splice, these uninsulated connectors are fine. Cost less too. You can also hit them with solder after crimping. Just heat the connector and feed the solder into the center hole.

And you can get the splices with heat shrink already on them. Just crimp and heat. But they can get a little costly if you need more than a few.

And you can get what are called step down splices. They come in handy when splicing on lighter wire to existing heavy circuits. Like when adding LED's to older incandescent scooters.

 

I've used the crimp connectors w/shrink on them already, but that top guy....that's slick right there. I like it.

 

Of all the ways there are to crimp splice secondary wire, there is one that you should avoid.

These things are junk.

They are no better than twist and tape.

 

Marine shrink wrap is another good choice, it has that sealant glue in kit when you heat and seal the connections, makes a good seal like the heat shrink butt connectors TD posted .

 

If they are smaller wires find your local telephone guy and ask for "scotch locks" they are loaded with "icky pic" prevents rodents and repels moisture for corrosion resistance. He would probably just give ya a few for free. If you don't like em throw em in the drawer for another project! Strip wire, insert, squeeze together done and permanent.

 

I happen to have a large stock of those at home (and work). I use them for various projects. If Ma Bell can use them and send 120v through them for a T1 line, they'll work just fine for any low voltage work.

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I personally would never use scotch lock connectors , and we don't not use them in the shop either that I work in.

 

Scotch locks are the bane of the automotive world..... I cannot tell you how many wiring gremlins are created from using them. We see them the most on trailer wiring issues. People love to use them to wiring their utility trailers and what not. Whats most troubling is that, at first they work great. then after time, weather, and the constant vibration of use and roads they always work them selves loose. Creates resistance that burns and shorts the wiring out. or blows fuses. or simply just doesn't work even though, from all appearances the little devil is connected fine. They are fine in a pinch but people use them and then leave them installed. Weeks or months later your chasing gremlins because people couldn't be bothered with repairing it correctly. As a mechanic, personally I hate them and wish they were never invented. Sorry.... im stepping off my soap box now. :wink:

 

Check out these bad boys. Just heat and enjoy.

 

Is there a brand name for those?

 

+1 on the screw the scotch locks wagon. oyy, they make my diagnostic skin crawl......

 

The goal of any wire connection is to make a gas tight seal between two conductors. Soldering is, by far, the best way to do that in this case. Always use Heat Shrink over the soldered connection. Google it, there are probably dozens of videos on how to solder. The key is to heat the work, not the solder. Solder should melt on contact with the wire, not the iron. It has to flow on it's own and bond with the wire, otherwise you end up with what is known as a cold-solder joint, which is bad.

Crimp connectors are ok, but they have their limitations. Not the least is the minimal contact they have to make a gas tight seal. If air can get in there, it will corrode the wires and add resistance to the connection. You do not want that, especially if you are dealing with power connections (or powerful audio).

Speaker connections using blades are very adequate connections. As long as they are not loose. Every time you plug them together, it makes a slight scraping of the surface that removes oxidation and makes a gas tight seal.

 

Soldering is best, and I wouldn't touch ScotchLocks with a 10" pole. But the biggest issue with butt connectors is - being round - they're very easy to crimp incorrectly. Regardless of the tool used, if the seam is on the side, it will cause it to split open when crimped and weaken the joint.


Always crimp one end where you can see that the seam lines up with the tool, and then crimp the other end so that the crimp dimples line up with each other to ensure that the seam isn't getting split open during the crimp.

 

Cummins recommends them on ecm wiring and engine harness repairs. Use a heat gun if possible or be carefull with a micro torch. Torch too close cooks the wire insulation and makes it hard so it cracks. Then you have problems just past the shrink tube.

 

We use the environmental splices in aviation all the time. However on my scoots and other small engine machines I prefer soldering and using heat shrink tubes.
If you never spliced a harness before which ever way you make your connection remember to stagger your splices so you don’t end up with a massive bundle. I see it all the time with first timers.


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