How to Solder:
An Illustrated DIY Guide to Making Your Own Cables
Part 1: Choosing a Good-Quality Cable
Part 2: Choosing a Quality RCA Connector
Part 3: Assembling the Necessary Tools and Supplies
Part 4: Soldering RCA Plugs
Part 5: Soldering XLR and 1/4” connectors
An Illustrated DIY Guide to Making Your Own Cables
Part 1: Choosing a Good-Quality Cable
Part 2: Choosing a Quality RCA Connector
Part 3: Assembling the Necessary Tools and Supplies
Part 4: Soldering RCA Plugs
Part 5: Soldering XLR and 1/4” connectors
Most enthusiasts who frequent this and other home theater forums are no doubt familiar with the Canare do-it-yourself cables that use the company’s proprietary crimp-on RCA connectors. Did you ever wish there were an alternative that didn’t require expensive tools? Well, there is: The old-school soldering method.
Now, I’ll be the first to agree with what the fans of crimping tell us, that their method requires no special skills. They’re right: Crimping is straightforward and idiot proof. But once you’ve made the cables, what are you going to do with those proprietary crimping and cable stripping tools? After all, you can’t use them for much of anything else.
It’s here that we see the distinct advantage of soldering over crimping. Most of the tools needed are inexpensive generic items that you can use for all kinds of projects. In fact, you may already have some of them in your toolbox. Even the soldering iron itself doesn’t cost much. A suitable iron can be had for less than a quarter the price of the Canare tools. A nice variable-heat soldering station, a considerable upgrade from a basic iron, is still about half the price of the Canare tools. Like the other tools, a soldering iron can be used for projects other than audio/video cabling. For instance, once I soldered a couple of wires from my garage door opener remote to a switch on the dash of my car. That put an end to fumbling for the remote every time I came home. Just one example of what you can do with a soldering iron and a little imagination.
The only downside to soldering is that some people apparently can’t do it. However, if you have the ability to do intricate work with your hands and have a keen eye for detail, you can probably solder. All you need is the proper instruction – that’s why we’re here!
Soldering can be tricky and intimidating, but it’s easy to understand in theory. It’s technically defined as a process of joining metals by fusion and solidification of an adherent alloy. The adherent alloy, or solder as it’s commonly called, has a relatively low melting point in the range of 350-400° F. The most common solder used for DIY cables and other electronics-related work is a rosin-core, 60/40 tin/lead alloy. Much as external fluxes accomplish with other welding processes, the rosin is a cleansing agent that removes oxides from the surface of the metal that would interfere with the molecular bonding of the solder. Typically only non-ferrous metals like nickel, brass, silver, gold, etc. can be soldered – at least with the type of solder used for electronics applications.
The soldering process involves heating the surfaces of the metal pieces to be welded, typically with an electric soldering iron, to a temperature above the melting point of the solder but below their own melting point(s). When the metal pieces reach the proper temperature, the solder can melt and "flow" via capillary action into the joint and bond the pieces together. The rosin aids in the process by allowing the solder to flow smoothly. When the solder cools and solidifies, you have a sturdy bond that is extremely robust. Robust enough, in fact, that when cables and connectors are subjected to undue stress or abuse, the wire itself will physically break before the soldered connection fails.
Once you know how to solder, you can make just about any kind of cable you might have a need for. Need an RCA to XLR cable to connect a BFD equalizer to your receiver and subwoofer? No problem. How ‘bout a 3.5 mm stereo to dual 1/4” plugs, like if you wanted to connect an i-Pod to a sound mixing console? I don’t even know if you can buy such a cable, but you can sure make one! If you have a store-bought cable that quits working, no need to discard it. You can clip the RCA off the bad end and install a new one.
You can also terminate in-wall wiring for your home theater installation and save a lot of money. It’s far cheaper to buy spools of bulk cable and loose connectors than long lengths of custom-made, pre-terminated cabling. Not to mention, running and dropping bare cable inside walls is infinitely easier with non-terminated cabling.
Choosing a good cable
Naturally, if you’re going to take the trouble to make your own cables, you might as well make good ones. This means using quality materials, as not all cable is created equal. But how do you know if the cable you’re considering is any good?
I suppose I have a advantage over many people in this department. Back in the 90s I spent several years as an installer for a sizable full-service pro audio company – “full service” meaning we did not only permanent installations in places like churches, recording studios and concert venues, but also sales, equipment rentals, and sound reinforcement for live shows (including national tours for big-name acts). One of my duties when installations were slow was making repairs to all the cables that came back damaged from the shows and rentals. So as you can imagine, I’ve cut up more cables and spent more time hunkered over a soldering station than anyone should ever have to. Not to mention making up from scratch any kind of unusual audio or video cable that an installation might require.
The side benefit of a gig like this is that you learn to recognize what separates the good cables – and connectors – from the junk. That said, I certainly don’t pretend that anything I have to say on the subject should be taken as “the last word” – you are certainly free to cut up a few hundred cables and decide for yourself.
Internal / external construction
Cabling pro or novice, we are all familiar with the skinny, generic cables supplied with most of the components we buy, and even a novice might rightly assume they are as cheap as it gets. But don’t assume a cable is better just because it is thicker. Thicker cable can be functionally just as bad, or even worse than the generic stuff. It’s what’s inside – under the outer jacket - that counts.
All audio and video cabling will have an insulated center conductor housed inside a metallic shield. If there is more than one center conductor, better audio cables will intertwine other filler materials with the conductors, such as strands of cloth or plastic, to help the cable maintain a round shape. (However, this will generally not be the case with installation-grade cabling.) Here is a picture of a cable with the outer jacket stripped back, showing the shield, center conductors and filler materials:
Typically, shields come in three types. A multitude of tiny, individual strands of wire arranged into a braided or spiraling configuration are the most common shields used in the cabling we use in our equipment racks, while a foil-wrapped shield is most commonly seen in the installation-grade wiring used for (logically) permanent installations.
Braided shield
Courtesy of Mogami Cable
Spiral shield
Alternative spiral shield
(each conductor shielded separately)
Courtesy of Mogami Cable
Foil shield
Courtesy of Parts Express
Braided shielding is generally thought to be superior to spiral, but in my opinion that’s not an iron rule; there are certainly some excellent examples of spiral-shielded cable available. My rule of thumb for a good shield is pretty simple no matter what the type: If it’s dense enough that I can’t see the center conductor underneath, I’m a happy camper.
Here is an example of a poorly-made cable with an inadequate shield:
As you can see, the cable is fairly thick, which immediately gives a good impression. But take a closer look at the end, where the outer jacket is stripped back. See the copper and black spirals? The black is the insulator for the center conductor. The copper is the shield. That’s right – the shield is loosely wrapped, not fully covering the center conductor. And what’s there is really thin. Bad, bad, bad.
This particular cable is a balanced mic cable. You can probably get away with a marginal shield with balanced audio signals because it’s a protocol with outstanding noise rejection properties. Not so with the unbalanced signals we typically use for home audio. For us, the shield is what makes or breaks noise rejection properties, so it must be substantial and robust. It may surprise the reader to know that the cheapie cables that came free in the box with your DVD player are actually better from a functional standpoint than the one shown above. At least they have a decent shield, even if their connectors are marginal.
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