slbenz
07-05-2006, 09:18 PM
you may have seen my postings at AA with my ongoing issues of repairing my IIIas where one speaker had a failed midrange panel. Ordered the repair kit from Magnepan but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the solder to stick to the aluminum wire Magnepan supplied in the kit. More flux, hotter soldering iron, aluminum solder, none seemed to work. I tried over two dozen times to no avail. The midrange would always go out within one or two days of the repair. Spoke to a relative who suggested I try using screw terminals to connect the wires. Went to my local Home Depot, purchased the smallest screw terminal posts they have (six) and cut to size. Screwed on the aluminum wire to one post and decided to upgrade the internal wires to 14 gauge wiring. No solder needed for the screw terminals. Just some silicon to cover the wires and protect from oxidation. Hot melted the screw terminal posts to the speaker and it has been running fine throughout the holiday weekend. Thought I'd share this tip with all of you if soldering the aluminum wire didn't work for you. Also, the repaired IIIa speaker's midrange seems a bit more forward than the matching stock IIIa. Probably due to the larger wire I used to replace the stock internal wiring. I think I will do this to all my IIIa speakers since I have so much extra 14 gauge wire to play with. Hope my frustrated experience with soldering the aluminum wire and using screw terminals as a solution could be of some help to you all.
Slbenz
Slbenz