how to connect multiple speaker wires together

Place the additional speakers in another room and install speaker wires leading to the receiver's Speaker B terminals. Just make a good, clean connection and that’s all you really need. To strip speaker wire you can use a number of tools. It is also possible to connect even more speakers to the receiver by using a speaker switcher, which acts as a hub. Turn on the Dual Audio toggle switch. Hold the tool & pressure in place firmly so it cannot move. To use Dual Audio, pair the phone with two speakers, two headphones, or one of each, and audio will stream to both. Connect 4 speaker wires to right and left inputs on the amp. There are some great tools that are very affordable that will cut wire very well and make extending speaker wire much easier: Of the 5 listed here, I recommend and use wire cutting pliers as they’re capable of cutting a wide range of wire sizes. To twist two wires together, you first need to strip the insulation off the wires. Now, there's a way to break the speaker cables, and then there's a better way. 2. Insert the wire in the stripper and close it carefully on the insulation. putting two 8 ohm speakers in Series results in a 16-ohm load. Rotate the wire to the other side and apply the solder until all of the wire is fully saturated with solder. Hold both There may be a marking on the insulation to indicate positive. After the soldering iron is hot, apply heat to the wire with the tip. Connecting speakers or headphones to a 3.5 mm mini jack. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. It’s fairly fast and gives professional results with very little hassle or work. If you’re wondering which of these two speakers is more complicated to set up, the answer would probably be the passive speakers. Simply twisting the speaker wire and then wrapping with tape isn’t enough. Wire nuts, also called wire twist connectors, are typically used for wiring installation in homes & buildings. It also leaves behind an adhesive residue if it has been subjected to a lot of heat as often happens in car audio installations. In an earlier article we looked at the issues involved in connecting multiple speakers to one amplifier. If it's not clear which is the positive cable and which is negative one, will mixing them up damage the speakers? You never join 2 wires together at the amp, e.g. Does the extension cable need to be the same length on each speaker? The wire for each speaker should actually be two wires consisting of a stranded metal core covered by a flexible insulation. That’s because speaker wire manufacturers sometimes have different internal wire conductor sizes. The reason is that electrical resistance is higher in smaller (IE, thinner) wires than in larger (IE, thicker) ones. https://geoffthegreygeek.com/connecting-multiple-speakers-to-amplifier You’ll get the hang of it after a few tries. Be sure to connect the red wires to the positive terminal, and the black wires to the negative terminal. The connector will insulate this splice. Having a 4-conductor wire, you draw just one cable within the long-distance. Is it safe to join the wires with electrical tape? You’ll also need some electrical wire and solder, too. They’re sold based on the wire gauge they can be used with. Measure the distance needed to extend your speakers’ existing wire. The best way to connect multiple amps when it comes to REM, is through one remote wire. For crimp connectors, 3/8″ or more should be fine. For your first few times, practice on some surplus wire that won’t hurt your speaker wire length needs. Between the two ways, using solder is extremely reliable but more hassle & takes more time. Cut one length of new wire based on each of your measurements. For wire nuts: In one hand, hold together one exposed tip of your existing wire and one exposed tip of your new wire. You can add multiple speakers in every room for consistent volume all over, or put 1 device in each room. I recommend trying that as since the internal opening is a bit bigger you can be sure they’ll fit with various types of speaker wire near that size. Whether you’re using bare wire or banana plugs, these simple connection points will work with any 10-gauge speaker cable, allowing you to easily dictate the length of wire … For very long extensions, you will probably have to increase the gauge of wire to prevent an overload on the wire or your amplifier. If using heat shrink tubing, slide a piece of tubing long enough to cover the solder connection onto one of the wires before making the connection. Using crimp connectors is one of my favorite ways to splice & extend speaker or power wire as a professional installer. This article has been viewed 461,436 times. Although red is listed as fitting 18 AWG wire, I’ve been using blue butt connectors with 18 AWG speaker wire for years without problems. Stripping speaker wire can be a little bit tricky, but it’s a skill you’ll pick up quickly after a few tries. There could be a slight change in volume from one speaker to another because there is a power loss from a extremely long cable, but it's unlikely. They’re pretty fast, but unfortunately, on occasion, I’ve seen them come lose from wire so I don’t generally recommend them. Because it’s very unreliable and can be a mess to fix later. One strand is the positive. Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0. Here are a few reasons why I recommend it: There are only a few steps involved: cutting the wire (if needed), stripping the wire, and preparing the wire & crimping the connectors. Each wire should now have two splices. Crimp very hard with the tool to make press the connector down hard, holding the wire inside permanently. Copyright © 2017-2021 SoundCertified.com. For soldering: Twist together the exposed tips and perform the soldering process. You may be tempted to use the “just twist and tape” method, but I strongly encourage not to do so. Slightly stretch the tape as you wrap so that it adheres neatly to the insulation before and after the splice. Again we'll assume that each speaker's impedance is 8ohms. Home Speakers. I recommend standard wire a standard low-priced wire stripper/crimper (shown above) or similar. Thanks! For soldering, you’ll need a minimum of 1/2″ to be able to twist the wire together. In each set of wires, one is positive and the other is ground or negative. These usually are identified in someway, for example, one may have a bump along the length of the insulation another a white line and yet another may have a copper colored wire while the other wire is silver. It’s not very hard once you know how to connect & splice wire correctly. Feel free to leave a comment or question below. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 461,436 times. Hi Gopi. Amid the current public health and economic crises, when the world is shifting dramatically and we are all learning and adapting to changes in daily life, people need wikiHow more than ever. Then squeeze very firmly. Please consider making a contribution to wikiHow today. To make matters worse, over time heat can affect electrical tape and it can begin to come off of the wire. PARALLEL SPEAKER WIRING Parallel circuits are the simplest electrical circuit to wire. Next, connect the split wires to the negative connection of all of your speakers and connect the single end of your cable into your amplifier's negative jack. In this video, I show you how to connect electrical wires together. Music uses alternating current (AC) signals and doesn’t flow in only one direction. These are less common, but of speaker & power wires that have a copper and a silver color, you can pick one of the two to be positive. Tightly twist the wire so it can be pushed into the connector properly. But the tape runs out over time, and the smaller tow truck from the cables can easily separate this type (usually an Y) from the connection. The end of each wire should already be separate or split, forming a “Y‿ shape of only a few inches. Here’s a list of the most common ways to tell which is the positive wire: Of the 5 kinds, imprints can occasionally be a little bit harder to notice so sometimes you need to look very closely under good lighting. The main trick is to pinch only the wire’s insulation and not the wire strands themselves. Read the directions for the particular connectors you have purchased. Every day at wikiHow, we work hard to give you access to instructions and information that will help you live a better life, whether it's keeping you safer, healthier, or improving your well-being. That’s to prevent the wire from touching each other and cause a short circuit that can permanently damage the output components in an amplifier or stereo. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/b\/b8\/Extend-Speaker-Wires-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Extend-Speaker-Wires-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/b\/b8\/Extend-Speaker-Wires-Step-1.jpg\/aid11960-v4-728px-Extend-Speaker-Wires-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"