radiob Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Man, took off work today to modify my new chorus`, bought 12 ga old school monster cable, rope caulk and started at it. One question, what is the best wire to use for this?,I only wired and roped one speaker, and had to drill out crossovers,all went well with that until I thought I would eliminate cheap female connector, and decided to silver solder wire to horns, big mistake do not do, for now I have to find new tweeter and midrange diaphrams, the speaker will no longer speak,the soldering iron melted the tiny wires on the diaphram, so I am so discusted that I am prepared to start over. Any recomendations on wire will be appreciated, it seems that Klipsch used 18 ga. wire from factory,but is it a silver wire? better than monster 12ga? it is silver in color, but maybe aluminum. Also I roped my mid and tweet, liitle advise here, rope caulk tweeter with tweeter installed in speaker, because once you wrap it it is almost impossible to put in, I hope this all is worth it, I have only done one so I could compare.Does anyone have any k79k diaphrams? I am not looking foward to waiting on them through a dealer or Klipsch, alo I may as well bu a couple new mid diaphrams for peice of mind, as always, your advice and help is greatly appreciated. Also I do not know where to buy new diaphrams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number 9 Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Oh dear. You've not had any luck so far have you? Personally, pretty much any good quality OFC cable (does not have to be exotic) will be much better than that lampcord used in the Klipsch. Those wires are defintely not silver. I can't believe they did not use at least copper wires. Perhaps that is why MONSTER CABLE is hyped so much today ... retribution for past sins. The distances are short, so I don't think you will hear a big difference if you went with something exotic. Hookup wire, 14-16 gauge should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strabo Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 For the speaker parts, just call klipsch. I wrecked one of the leads on one of my tweeters once too. They had new diaphragms delivered to me in a couple of days. They aren't expensive and they are easy to replace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoggy Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 I really doubt Klipsch would even think about useing any aluminum wire. The silver color you are seeing is probably tinned copper. hoggy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Wires must be long enough to reach the places intended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piranha Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 ---------------- On 6/8/2004 7:48:53 PM radiob wrote: Man, took off work today to modify my new chorus`, bought 12 ga old school monster cable, rope caulk and started at it. One question, what is the best wire to use for this?,I only wired and roped one speaker, and had to drill out crossovers,all went well with that until I thought I would eliminate cheap female connector, and decided to silver solder wire to horns, big mistake do not do, for now I have to find new tweeter and midrange diaphrams, the speaker will no longer speak,the soldering iron melted the tiny wires on the diaphram, so I am so discusted that I am prepared to start over. Any recomendations on wire will be appreciated, it seems that Klipsch used 18 ga. wire from factory,but is it a silver wire? better than monster 12ga? it is silver in color, but maybe aluminum. Also I roped my mid and tweet, liitle advise here, rope caulk tweeter with tweeter installed in speaker, because once you wrap it it is almost impossible to put in, I hope this all is worth it, I have only done one so I could compare.Does anyone have any k79k diaphrams? I am not looking foward to waiting on them through a dealer or Klipsch, alo I may as well bu a couple new mid diaphrams for peice of mind, as always, your advice and help is greatly appreciated. Also I do not know where to buy new diaphrams ---------------- Send BEC (Bob Crites) from the Forum an email or PM. He has helped me with k77 diaphrams. Bob is a great guy and is extremely helpful. I bet he can help you too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 My local dealer uses Kimber 4PR speaker wire in re-wire jobs on Heritage Klipsch speakers. Apparantly, the difference is noticeable and desirable, although I have not heard it for myself (didn't want to fork over the $250...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 You need a soldering iron that you can regulate the heat on, it takes a good amount of solder to bond the 12ga wire and you don't want to expose the solder tabs on the drivers to more than a few seconds of heat at a time. No more than 700-750 degrees tops, it will be easier if you tin the speaker wire leads first prior to soldering them to the tab as it will bond quicker. You learned a hard lesson unfortunately, there are alot of saavy folks on this board that could have provided you pointers before you dived right in. Well I hope that you can get them up and running soon without too much trouble. Sometimes the old saying holds true, if it isn't broken, don't fix it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiob Posted June 9, 2004 Author Share Posted June 9, 2004 Thanks everyone! Your right if it aint broke dont fix it, I orderd 4 spare tweeter and 4 spare mid diaphrams today and a new crossover for a bill of 360.84, had to buy ultra fast shipping, lesson learned, Will crank again..Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number 9 Posted June 9, 2004 Share Posted June 9, 2004 hoggy ... its not tinned copper ... I tried so hard to believe that this could not be true, but the wires in my Forte circa 1990 are not copper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiob Posted June 9, 2004 Author Share Posted June 9, 2004 I think it is aluminum, I checked and it is not tinned copper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Aluminum works fine for speaker wires. You guys shouldn't get all torqued-up about things that don't matter. Quit being a bunch of anal ninnies. Or maybe you fellas think ole PWK didn't know what he was doing? So why'd you buy the speakers then if he was such a klutz? Heh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number 9 Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Aluminum wire works fine for speakers?? That's the first time I've heard anyone say that. Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 3 inches of aluminum does not create a massive resistance differential vs 3 inches of copper, and aluminum doesn't oxidize and corrode like copper. That's why. Paul was doing the smart thing - taking the absolute minimal (we're talking less than a nanofarad here) resistance hit in order to ensure that you wouldn't be replacing diaphragms just because the wire that connected them rotted out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strabo Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 ---------------- On 6/10/2004 9:49:00 AM Griffinator wrote: aluminum doesn't oxidize and corrode like copper. That's why. ---------------- Sorry man, it does. aluminum rusts (oxidizes) just like iron, steel, or copper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiob Posted June 10, 2004 Author Share Posted June 10, 2004 I doughbt PWK planned on me putting 600 watts trough each of his chorus` speakers either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Hmmm, I'll have to think about that one. Aluminum isn't a ferrous metal, it doesn't have iron in it -- at least, you can't get it to stick to a magnet. I guess it doesn't "rust", but corrodes -- I have no idea what the difference is though. I'm pretty sure internal speaker wire of the older Klipsch speakers is tinned copper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strabo Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 I used the term rust loosly as in anything that oxides. Aluminum uses oxide to protect itself. An aluminum oxide coating over pure aluminum will protect the pure inside from being contaminated with more oxide from the outside. It's kinda wierd. Because of this, you don't normally see pitted aluminum but it does happen in rougher service. Combine that with the knowledge that electrical signals travel along the outside of the wire and you see that aluminum is not a good conductor because the signal is forced to run through the oxide or to run unnaturally through the core of the wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 Strabo----In practice aluminum would seem to work fine. One thing I noticed in 33 years as a Boilermaker making 100% X-ray high pressure welds is that it didn't matter if the welding cable was aluminum or copper, the current went through fine. Even when heli-arcing and using hi-freq machines. And believe me, I could feel the softness, push or grainyness of an arc, far more than I think audiophiles hear differences in gear. The only difference was that the higher resistance of aluminum of standard gauge meant that you had to turn the machine higher on long runs of lead, like from the bottom of a blast-furnace or smokestack to the top. No big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number 9 Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 >>> 3 inches of aluminum does not create a massive resistance differential vs 3 inches of copper, and aluminum doesn't oxidize and corrode like copper. But we are talking about more than 3 inches. This is used everywhere in the cabinet. This may go off on the tangent that all cables sound the same, so I won't go there ...its like arguing about religion and favorite colours ... but in my experience ... oxygen-free copper cables sound much better than alluminum. And I say that from having heard really big differences. Call me anal, say that I'm wasting my coin, but I'm going to replace the wires in my Fortes with copper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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