Rdmarsiii Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 You'd have to get something like this. I'm not sure if these are solderless or not, though. If you head over to headfi.org, i think thats the site, they have all kinds of tutorials on here. JohnL9013, a member on here, made his own interconnect. I'll get a hold of him for you to see what all it took. He said it was extremely easy. He's out of town right now, though, for Christmas. He has a little cabin up in Maine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verso Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Hm, I'm sorry was there supposed to be a link there? (referring to, "You'd have to get something like this. I'm not sure if these are solderless or not, though.") I really appreciate all of your help, Rdmarsiii! Thank you for being so patient with me too, heh. I'll go check out headfi.org and see what I can find. - Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Oooh, my bad... http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F011%5F003%5F001%5F004&product%5Fid=274%2D287 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verso Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Hm, what would make a plug solderless? Would the person at radio shack know which ones are solderless and which ones are not? This sounds pretty simple so long as no soldering is required. But I'd also have to figure out which is positive and which is negative, right? Or the sound will sound a little off? And the wire going into the positive output on the back of the subwoofer would have to go to the positive part of the plug, right? And wire going from negative output on the back of the subwoofer would have to go to the negative part of the plug, right? How would I go about figuring which part of the plug is positive and which part is negative? Will they be marked? I bet not. Not if I have to take the casing off of it. You know my father would probably be able to help me with all of this, he's a smart guy and good at this kind of stuff. - Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Hehe, yeah, and he could prolly solder. So you could leave it up to him to figure out which ones are positive and negative Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verso Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Actually, he can solder! I wonder why I didn't think of that before. He does HVAC. When he's installing outdoor condesning units (I've seen him install one before), he has to solder the pipes that go from the house to the unit. Hm, guh I wish I could find that tutorial again, it showed how to make an awesome cable kit for the PR 2.1's but instead of the speaker wire they used I can probably use the lamp wire (it's better, right?) Will the solder reduce sound quality at all? I'd like for soldering to be avoided though, maybe the guys at Radio Shack will know which ones do not need to be soldered although I'm not quite sure how that'd work. I'll use the cables that come stock with the PM 2.1's for a while until I find that tutorial and get the materials together. I'm so excited, I'll probably pick up the speakers this week! - Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Yup, according to PWK, lamp cord is the best you can use. Solder shouldnt affect the sound in any way. So this week, eh? Let us know how you like em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verso Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I certainly will! Thanks for all of your help, once again! I just Googled and I cannot find that tutorial. It was a perfect tutorial too. If anyone finds this tutorial, please link me - it was perfect. It involved some soldering I believe but it was an excellent tutorial. Stupid Monster Cable, now I need to go fishing for this tutorial again because of their stupid lawsuits. Heh. - Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 You're welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verso Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Hey, I was talking to one of my friends who says that Radio Shack probably has exactly what I need. Something about 'dual to RCA' - any idea? I was thinking, maybe I could put one of these onto the back of each satellite? http://img.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/33/335205.jpg And then get two of these cables... http://www.hosatech.com/hosa/images/CRA-400G.gif Then cut the heads off the last two heads and strip it to be able to connect them to the back of the subwoofer? Just an idea, probably a bit more expensive than making them myself - but it could take the guesswork out of it - you know? Heh. But according to him Radio Shack should have exactly what I need already premade. (shrugs) What do you guys think? - Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 lol, I'm sorry, but I dont think your friend knows what he's talking about. You can try butchering cables if you want, but I wouldn't recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verso Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Well, he says that Radio Shack has dual RCA to 1/8" which is probably what I would need, or isn't it? I'm not sure I think I'll go with the lamp wire idea. 12g right? Is that too big/small for the PM 2.1 system? - Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChoppedBroccoli Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Yo Steve...everything you need is right here: http://www.soundwise.org/mods/cablemod.htm This will give you the overall concept, pictures, and layout. As far as solderless connections: I believe it is possible, but frankly since the headphone plug connections are so small to work with, using a soldering pencil iron actually made it easier. A couple of hints: #1: 16 gauge wire is probably as low gauge you want to go with the 2.1's. 14 gauge may work, but 16 gauge is more than enough. The reason I say this is because the insulation for the wire gets too thick to work with (not the wire itself). I actually used Monster speaker wire 16 gauge (only because I had a reel of it laying around in the house from a previous installation); the problem that arose was that the headphone jack base couldn't slide up and down the wire and made it very difficult to work with. See this pic to see what I am talking about: http://www.soundwise.org/mods/cablemod/cablemod14.jpg The gold cylinder and plastic sleeve couldn't slide up and down the wire like in the picture because the wire insulation was too thick. I ended up just using the Radio Shack wire suggested in the tutorial (hell it was cheap anyway). SO BASICALLY: Choose wire whose insulation isn't too thick (ie just use the Radio Shack wire suggested) OR if you choose to use wire with thicker insulation you'll have to find a headphone plug that accepts bigger gauge wire . #2: For each speaker cable, make sure the conductor wires are insulated from each other. In other words, make sure the wires never have the possibility of touching each other (look at this pic: http://www.soundwise.org/mods/cablemod/cablemod16.jpg). He places the black electrical tape there so the wires/contacts will never touch...frankly, I think you might as well wrap each contact with black tape to be extra sure. If for some reason those wire touch you can get a short and that can fry your amp. #3: If you are worried about pos/neg, don't worry. If you buy the speaker cable suggested in the tutorial, you'll notice that one has a white stripe on it. This is the positive conductor. The positive conductor goes to the shorter contact on the plug. See this picture: http://www.soundwise.org/mods/cablemod/cablemod20.jpg So if you are worried, just read and follow the instructions very carefully from the tutorial in the link I posted above. If you buy the same exact parts from Radio Shack and just work patiently you'll be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verso Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 ChoppedBroccoli, You've done it! That is the tutorial I was looking for! Ah, I Googled just about everything and couldn't find it! (puts it in favorites). Thank you sooooo much! I think I'll have my father solder everything together for me, I'll watch to see how he does it for future reference. I've seen him solder before but I think I'd mess up. Heh. Do you think that these speaker wires will be reliable? I mean, making your own speaker wire seems a little - uhm - dear I say it? "Ghetto" - lol. Eh, on secound look at the tutorial it looks like the speaker wire will be cheaper making it yourself and just as reliable so long as you do not screw up. Should I use the Radio Shack speaker wire or maybe the 12g lamp wire? The 12g lamp wire is supposed to be cheap and from what Rdmarsiii tells me, PWK preferred it? And if it's good enough for him, well damn it's good enough for me! Heh. - Steven EDIT: I think I'll try to use the 12g lamp wire instead and see if the 1/8" plug from Radio Shack used in the tutorial will fit. Great tutorial. Thanks for the help, guys! Merry Christmas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChoppedBroccoli Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Lol...that tutorial link was in my response to your post in the 2.1 forum. You didn't have to search anywhere but there. Nevertheless, I always find myself forgetting that site too and I end up using google to find it again in the end. I would just use the Radio Shack wire, but its upto you. Lamp wire will work just fine, but you'll want a multimeter to figure out pos/neg. Also, make sure your mini jacks will accept that gauge wire WITH their insulation. Again, if you are worried about compatibility just use all the parts described in the tutorial and you'll be fine. The speaker wires should be reliable (I've had mine for 1.5 years now). Just make sure to work carefully and slowly. Make good connections and insulate the conductors as I said. Also don't let the wires get too hot when soldering otherwise the insulation will melt. When your done wrap some extra electrical tape right before the jack so the wire gets stiff before the plug; this will make the wire stiff so that the soldered contacts/connections will not be subject to tension from bending/twisting of the wire. See this pic: http://www.soundwise.org/mods/cablemod/cablemod17.jpg...you see where he has that electrical tape? I just wrapped a bunch at that area so the wire became bulky and stiff. This makes it hard to bend the wire at that point and put pressure on your mini jack connections. Too get nice soldered contacts, use some fine sandpaper to rough up the bare wire and contacts. Then clean both the bare wire and contacts with rubbing alcohol and then solder. Also, when you are all done clean the mini plug connection and the wire ends with rubbing alcohol again. Every so often (for me once every six months or so) I clean the connections again to ensure a clean connection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verso Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Interesting, Ah! Thanks everyone! ChoppedBroccoli, Rdmarsiii! Stupid question: The smaller the number gauge, the larger the wire? Or is it the other way around? 12g is larger than 16g - or is 16g larger than 12g ? I think I'll use the Radio Shack speaker wire I guess, I don't know what the difference would be between the Radio Shack speaker wire and the lamp wire... So basically you followed the tutorial, Chopped Broccolli? And made your own speaker cables that way? Did they work well for you? I'm sure they'll be better than the ones included in the package, and that is all that matters to me. - Steven Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Talk about hijacking a thread Oh, and the 12g is bigger and cheaper... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 but 12 gauge is sold as single line not double....... HIJACKER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rdmarsiii Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 What? I think some ones trying to get their post counts up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChoppedBroccoli Posted December 25, 2004 Share Posted December 25, 2004 ---------------- On 12/25/2004 2:25:16 AM verso wrote: So basically you followed the tutorial, Chopped Broccolli? And made your own speaker cables that way? Did they work well for you? - Steven ---------------- Lol...Steven...yes I followed the tutorial and they worked great for me. I think you are freaking out too much and worrying about everything and asking about every possible scenario. Here are my suggestions. #1 Get your speakers first #2 Listen to them with the included cables #3 If you are not satisfied and decide to make your own cables and get stuck, come back here and we'll help you (one of us will) I know you probably are trying to just get familiar with the speakers and want to know everything about them (which is a good thing), but you should just take it easy and chill a bit. First you need to buy the speakers and make sure you like them. This is way more important than speaker cables at this point. Despite what many people may tell you, better speaker cables do not really change the sound of the speakers that much (maybe slightly, but its not dramatic). The biggest reason for making your own cable is to get more length and to get rid of the crappy 'scratchy' mini plug connection Klipsch provided. If your looking for a big change in sound quality with new speaker cables, you'll be dissapointed...so you should like the sound of the speakers BEFORE the cable mod. Once you get past that, then we can help you with your cables. If you follow the tutorial (which is written very well) you'll be fine. I was just like you when I decided to make my speaker cables...I had never soldered anything, I didn't have many tools, nor am I any genius. But if you follow the tutorial, you'll be fine (many other people have used it including myself and have had good results). Its Xmas eve (well Xmas day for you)...you should be in bed by now (isn't it like 3am EST?). I live in CA so I have an excuse as to why I'm posting at this time (its only 11:50pm here). You should go to bed otherwise Santa may not leave you any good gifts (who knows maybe you'll get some speakers and cable)...LOL Good night, and have a great XMas day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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