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Many people will probably wonder how to extend the speaker wire? Our lives are never permanent, and future claims do not always have the opportunity to be addressed. At this point, the key is adjusting to the changes that are coming and the constant changes.
To help you be better equipped, we will help you by telling you all the do’s and don’ts when you want to extend a speaker wire. It is an essential skill to guide you to withstand the winds of time. Whether you are trying to fix the cables’ appearance or if you want a little more leeway, it is not too difficult to extend the connections.
All you need are the right tools, supplies, and techniques.
How to Extend Speaker Wire: Required Tools
Wire Cutter
- 9" Crescent Pro Series diagonal compound action pliers
- Made with co-molded grips for added comfort
- Compound leverage design provides 50% increase in cutting power
Butt Connectors
- ✔️【PREMIUM QUALITY】Thick copper barrel ensures strong secure crimping every time, providing minimal voltage drop, high current flow, and less heat. These will prevent short circuits and problematic wiring that inferior connectors are known for
- ✔️【DURABILITY】Each terminal features a thick tinned copper barrel that resists corrosion to hold the wire tight when crimped. The barrel is created from one seamless piece of copper that eliminates the problem of the barrel opening. Your wire will never slip out of the connector
- ✔️【WATERPROOF】Insulation tubing has unique dual-walled design. High quality 3:1 shrinkage tubing has a heat-activated sealant lining to provide a 360 degree secure seal. It's flame-retardant, waterproof, and can be used underground
Wire Crimpers
- 【Product upgrade】NEW 「 HX-50BI 」with 6 dies in AWG: 8,6,4,2,1,1/0,NOT IN METRIC
- 【Precise dies】Hexagonal rotating dies are processed with Wire EDM Cutting, more accurate than normal casting dies.
- 【Comfortable operation】Comfortable grip with antislip surface saves strength and improves user's experience.
Heat Guns
No products found.
Heat shrinkable tube
- lower maintenance costs
How to Extend Speaker Wire
Step 1
- You will mainly need to pay for your sound system and unplug it from the wall socket.
Step 2
- Disconnect the speaker cable from the back of the stereo or home entertainment system and examine the cable.
- Each speaker’s wire should be two wires consisting of a metal core covered by a plastic insulator.
- One wire is effective, while the other is the ground wire.
- These are commonly determined in some way. Among other things, one has the possibility of having a flashing line across the wire, while the other has a white line, and another way can have a copper-colored line while the other is silver.
- In this way, both positive and negative wires can be detected.
- The result of each wire must be separated or divided forming a “Y” of only a few centimeters.
- The ends of each “Y” should already be stripped, exposing about 2 cm from the metal center.
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Step 3
- Speaker cables are available in a variety of calibers and thicknesses. This should be marked on the cable or can be found in the instructions for your sound system. If you can’t make out the same bulge, try to get as close as possible. The speaker connection cables must be included in this process.
Step 4
- Purchase numerous cable connectors, which fit the cable gauge, and tape them up.
Step 5
- Cut the new cable. At this point, you are required to measure the distance you need to extend the cable as it exists in your speakers.
- Cut a new length of cable based on your measurements.
Step 6
- Prepare the platforms of each cable.
- Divide several centimeters of wire at the end of each of the recent wires, forming the “Y.”
- Cut and remove the insulation from each cable’s end by exposing 2 cm of the clean metal strips.
Step 7
- Connect (weld) the new cable to the existing cable and isolate it.
There are several procedures for doing this.
- A preferable connection is made by soldering the wires together and placing a heat-reducing pipe near the soldering point.
- Other procedures are the use of cable covers or connector rings.
- Welding or connecting the wires requires the use of welding tools or pliers. Without these tools, caps are the preferred alternative.
- Take the prepared ends of the new cable and the existing cable. You must hold them with 4 metal tips.
- Connect the positive wires to the news wires. There are marks on the insulation that indicate they are positive. The metal wires must be different colors to indicate they are positive.
Make the electrical connection.
If you are using heat shrink tubing, slide a piece of tubing long enough to see the weld spot on one of the wires before making the connection.
For the plugs, keep an exposed end of your existing wire and a tip of your new wire together.
If you want good sound quality in your system, you should have a speaker cable for surround sound at hand. This cable is one of the most important ones. It does most of the voices and extends their sound so as not to lose even a little bit of gain, establishing a good quality in the resulting audio.
Place
These exposed ends are next to each other, holding them between the thumb and index finger.
On the other hand, place a cap over the ends that are together. Turn it clockwise. On the inside, the metal tips will roll up and come together firmly.
This will insulate this joint.
To weld: the exposed ends must be twisted together and the welding process executed.
To press them, place the cable’s prepared ends into the cable connectors and press the ends. There are several products for doing this; some look and feel like caps, and others look and work completely different. Read the guidelines for the particular connectors you purchased
Repeat this step for the ground wire group
At this point, each cable should have two connections. Wrap some electrical tape around each group of wires or slide the heat shrink tubing over the wire connectors. Subtly tighten the tape while rolling it to adhere firmly to the cable insulation near the joint. To shrink the tube, you will need a heat gun to heat the tube occasionally.
Speaker wire connectors are extremely important. Without them, this project is very unlikely to be 100% complete.
Step 8
Repeat this step for each group of speaker wires.
Step 9
Connect the clean ends of the new extended cable to your sound system. Normally, connect the positive cable to a red connection and the negative cable to a black connection.
The extended speaker cable is necessary to succeed in this project.
Step 10
Reconnect the system to power, turn it on and check that everything is OK. To connect the speaker wire, you must follow the indicated procedure. However, it is always good to leave this to the experts. If you want to do this, you should know that a bad installation of these cables can damage your audio equipment or affect any wires.
The length of the speaker cable
With every meter of cable, a little signal is lost. So make sure the cable is as long as necessary. With a length of 20 meters, you will not be able to hear any sound loss. But if you are looking to turn your shed into the next big disco, the cable could be longer and cause sound loss. In this case, the best thing to do is to take the cable with a greater thickness than recommended (for example, instead of 1.5 mm², opts for a 2.5 mm² cable).
Tip for better sound:
If you are a sound perfectionist, make sure that the length of the cable between the amplifier and the speakers is the same for all the speakers so that the rhythm is played simultaneously.
You can use a link
Many people find it a bit short of using an HDMI or cinch cable, so as an alternative, you can extend two older, shorter cables using a coupling to connect the two cables. Links can be hard to find, so it’s best to order them online or go to your local electronics store.
How to Extend Speaker Wire: FAQs
Can you extend the speaker wire?
Doing so can reduce the audio quality and performance of the connected speakers. There are numerous changes to consider when extending speaker cables.
If you want to extend your speaker cables, you should contact a professional audio equipment dealer or a home installer to purchase the necessary equipment for this purpose.
What if the speaker cable is quite long?
The rule is that the cable’s total resistance should be less than 5 percent of the speaker’s nominal impedance. Its emblems are the 8-ohm speakers, which means that 16 gauge is good for up to 48 feet of travel (per speaker). The 14-gauge speaker wire is good for 80 feet of travel, and the 12-gauge wire is good for 120 feet.6
Is it OK to connect the speaker wire?
It will not damage anything unless the wires are cut. If you have a connection block, it can be a little stronger. But if it has good torque, then there is no problem, and it will sound the same.
Conclusion
Who doesn’t want to extend their speakers so that they can be heard well? If you want to do this in the same way as several, you can connect numerous cables to extend them.
In another aspect, we understand that soldering gives the most outstanding sound, but you need experience with the work. It would help if you took good care of the speaker extension cable. This type of cable is a little delicate. The proper use can be found on the Internet. The installation method can be found in the article read above. Whether you buy new cables or extend the old ones, pay attention to the cable’s quality to ensure the most outstanding sound.
Cheap couplings available at electronics stores offer a simple and safe way to extend cinch or HDMI cables.
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