Soldered VS ...everything else


Re-ending my speaker wires. Considering banana plugs. Solder or not? Has anyone blind tested for audio differences? Let's assume gold plated plugs and sufficiently sized copper wire.
shalmaneser
Crimped hard and soldered with enough heat to make the solder suck into the joint. No problems doing it this way for almost 50 years. Set screws have no place on my banana plugs. I use one of those big irons that have enough mass to pretty much instantly heat the plug to the point it needs to be. I've had some bad outcomes with plugs that can't be soldered. It takes a while, but eventually it seems to happen, so I do the right thing and don't have to worry about it.
If I am following here, you are suggesting "tinning/soldering" a section of wire, and then putting that soldered section into a screw terminal and then screwing it down? That appears to be what you are suggesting?

If this is what you are suggesting, then please, No One Do This. This is about the worst thing you can do. Solder is soft, and not only compresses, but flows under pressure. It is virtually a given that you connection will loosen. This is why you never tin wires before putting them into screw terminals, (or why those terminals often seem to loosen for some people).

teo_audio1,249 posts11-22-2018 10:50am
..... If your wire is inexpensive per foot, clean off about 2 inches or so of bare wire strands, then twist them so they are tightly packed and contacting each other, tie one end down and stretch out the other, solder soak that section that has wire to wire strand contact, then cut the excess end off, and have this stretch bit of solder and self-contacted strands (no wider than the original strands/set)....then insert the bulk soldered bit into the connector and screw that down. Just another way of doing it.