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Second Skin Audio

Custom High current, low resistance terminals


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I decided to share an idea I use, when I build boxes for customers paying a few extra $$$ Its a really simple idea, but looks great when done right, and will outlive any terminal on the market for about $1.50-$3.  I usually use a size 10 BRASS bolt, (depending on power, bolt size would vary with the size of speaker wire) with matching brass nutts, and washers. Brass is the lowest resistance metal around, so that means it will make excellent electrical connectors, wich alot of computers, tools, and just about anything you will find brass in it, when it comes to power supply. A great example is power drill batteries... Brass connectors, inside, and out. Okay anyways, here is a simple graph, and some pics.

size 8 bolt/nut    16-14g wire

size 10 bolt          14 gauge

1/4-20                12-10gauge

5/16 bolt/nut        10-8gauge

each bolt will use 2 washers, and about 3 nuts

Bolts should be about twice as long, and the wood is thick. I usually recess the terminal, by useing a simple wood block, about 3/4" of mdf, glue&nail  to inside of box,  paint it, after cutting a nice 3-4" terminal cup hole, and painting it black (rhino liner), drill the holes, mount the bolts, nuts, and ring terminals, and your ready to rock with some unbreakable, very low resistance , very high current custom terminals, and people love the look, and quality, and assume you took that extra step to make thier box better than the other guys box.

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sundown.jpg
I have a ritual called "terminator". I crouch in the shower in the "naked terminator" pose. With eyes closed I crouch for a minute and visualize either Arnie or the guy from the 2nd movie. I then start to hum the T2 theme. Slowly I rise to a standing position and open my eyes. It helps me get through my day. The only problem is if the shower curtain sticks to my terminator leg. It sorta ruins the fantasy.
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sundown.jpg
I have a ritual called "terminator". I crouch in the shower in the "naked terminator" pose. With eyes closed I crouch for a minute and visualize either Arnie or the guy from the 2nd movie. I then start to hum the T2 theme. Slowly I rise to a standing position and open my eyes. It helps me get through my day. The only problem is if the shower curtain sticks to my terminator leg. It sorta ruins the fantasy.
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AWSOME!!! thanks for sharing that idea. i have a quick question, what do you recommend using to fasten some high powered subs, such as a btl, mt, solo x, etc... I used some drywall screws on my box, but i heard that if you ever try to switch out the subs the drywall screws will easily strip the mdf... do you recommend some kind of heavy duty threaded t-nut, or what???

once again thanks for sharing that idea!!! :^

Nobody makes me bleed my own blood, NOBODY!!!

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http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/forums/in...828.0;topicseen

thats also where steve said he used just a steel bolt with ZERO resistance. brass isnt also the lowest resistance metal around. take a look at the terminals on amps, caps, battery terminals. they all use silver, gold, platinum, lead and other things. just my 2 cents.

that is true, i see your point, but are there gold or silver bolts available??? i know that in a hardware store like homedepot they don't sell them, but who knows, they might have them in some kind of specialty store... plus you could always take it to a jewler and see if they could plate some bolts..

Nobody makes me bleed my own blood, NOBODY!!!

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Honestly, gold by itself is a horrible conductor, but if gold is how you want to go, try gold plating copper, thats just about the best conducter you can make. Only reason terminals, ext are gold plated, is  for corrosion resistance, and the copper for the actualy cunduction. Platinum is great, and chrome isnt great, but it works. Reason why I use brass, is because we used bras only bolts for a really highend subwoofer manufacturer I built for in the past, and when you have a $10,000-22,000 for just 1-12" sub and 1000wrms amp, and that company prefered brass over every other material for connecting points from the amp, to the sub, and silver enriched speaker, and sihnal wires, you gotta think of brass pretty highly, but go ahead, grab a volt meter, 3 matching bolts, try small ones, to get a better metering, like 3" long size 6 bolts, test with brass, stainless steel, and standard steel bolts. The brass will hold the lowest resistance. And a size 6 bolt, even that small will still be able to hold 440v, or 10,000 watts across it, before a circuit breaker pops, or amp frys

And yeah, T-nuts is the way to go, epoxy those bad boys in place, and even wax the threads on the bolts, for a frame like a 18"  Id go with 1/4-20 tnuts, or 5/16" before the back side of the t-nut starts gets in the way of mounting the woofer.

sundown.jpg
I have a ritual called "terminator". I crouch in the shower in the "naked terminator" pose. With eyes closed I crouch for a minute and visualize either Arnie or the guy from the 2nd movie. I then start to hum the T2 theme. Slowly I rise to a standing position and open my eyes. It helps me get through my day. The only problem is if the shower curtain sticks to my terminator leg. It sorta ruins the fantasy.
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