How hot is hot enough?


I am going to reterminate some speaker speaker cables and make some of my own.

I am assuming silver solder was used on the existing terminations. I will be touching up and resoldering the existing with silver solder and my new terminations will use silver solder as well.

I know part of this depends on what other metals (tin, lead...etc) are present and what the composition is. If I am using a solder from say....Audioquest, Cardas etc. How hot do I need to get? Can I use a high temp soldering iron or do I need to go to a butane torch similar to what Rat Shak sells. If I can use a soldering iron what temp and how many watts do I need to get to.

If this is successful, I may try to buy a "DIY" post, "Why so many For Sale" post or a "Which is better" post and provide my results. I will, of course, get plenty of consultation from the "experts" before posting one of these.

Thanks
doug28450
Generally speaking, if the solder joint remains shiny and smooth after it cools, you have gotten it hot enough. If it is rough and dull, it may be a "cold" joint.
Go to KESTER.COM see faq: alloy temperature page. (Sn: tin, Pb: lead, Ag: silver)
I use a soldering station with an adjustable setting & usually set around 750. I like using Cardas solder as it flows nicely but those are just my personal preferences.

I would suggest experimenting with different solder types on various wire/termination configurations using a variety of heat ranges and take notes to see which works best for you.

You can go to the Tweaker's Asylum on AA & do a search for soldering. Here's some basic info too:
http://home.att.net/~joemacjr/diyproject/soldering.html
Please beware that Audioquest welded the connectors to their cables in most cases. Re-terminating with solders may degrade the quality of the connections.