Hey! It's been a while... I think we're going to try to have some new material up soon - it's only been what? A year? No big deal... Anyways, I've had a surprising number of requests for more information regarding the DIY speaker cables for Sony's evil proprietary connectors, so I thought I'd make a new post as a follow up that will hopefully clarify what's involved in the procedure... Shall we?
As I mentioned in the original post, the two things you'll need are some speaker wire and a few 22-18 AWG .110 insulated female quick connect tabs (widely available online and in electronic component stores). Let's start by looking at the quick connects themselves...
One side of the connectors is flat, and the other has two small loops that create a small groove - that's where the pin inside the receiver will sit... you'll see, gimme a chance here...
You'll want to make your cable just as I described in the original post; there's not much to it - but you'll want to make sure of the polarity of the speaker wire - most speaker wires will have a silver streak on the negative side, while positive is usually all copper. Strip the ends of your speaker cable and then insert each end into a quick connect tab and squeeze it shut with a pair of pliers. You should end up with something that looks like this...
So take the first quick connect tab - and connect it around the appropriate pin (+ or - ). Here's a close-up of the first quick connect in place...
If you look closely, you should be able to see that the pin inside the receiver's port fits perfectly inside the groove of the quick connect tab...
Now push the other pin in place... It should look like this...
Both quick connect tabs should now be firmly in place...
et voila!
Now all you have to do is attach the other two ends of the speaker wire into your speaker (again, taking note of polarity).
And that's it! I've had my subwoofer hooked up with my homemade cable for a few years now without any problems... A few readers have also mentioned other Sony receivers cursed with these connections - here are the models (I'm aware of) that have them. If you know of any others, let me know and I'll add 'em to the list:
DAV-C450
DAV-DX155
DAV-DX255
DAV-DX315
DAV-HDX589W
DAV-S400
HCD-DX375
HCD-HDX465
HDX267W
I hope this helps!
Until next time,
(hopefully sooner than a year from now).
M.
How would you go about replacing the speaker wire on the back of the MHCEC909iP mini system's speakers? The thin speaker wire broke off after my daughter knocked a speaker over.
ReplyDeleteOh, and thanks for the post.
Hey David, sorry for not getting around to your question, sooner... I've searched, but haven't been able to find a picture of the wire/speaker connections on the MHCEC909iP... However, I suspect its cable/connection is different from the kind outlined in my original post - I'm pretty sure these connections are only used on Sony's home theatre systems, but I could certainly be wrong... I'll update the post if I find anything out... Thanks for your question!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing! Can I use a 16 AWG or 12 AWG wire or will it be too large?
ReplyDelete12 awg speaker wire is only used in extremely high power amps (>200wpc). 16 awg is sufficient for runs (< 150 wpc) as long as 30 ft!
DeleteHi Giuseppe!
ReplyDeleteAs long as you can connect your wire to the quick connect tabs it shouldn't matter - I think both would work.
Hope this helps!
M.
Thank you so much for posting this! I used the same wire that the connector broke off of and connected the terminals (for which now have 48 left over - I guess I'll be prepared next time). The hardest part was following the wire to make sure which end was positive and negative. Works perfectly!
ReplyDeleteAnyone know if this will work with the DAV-DZ170, or is it a different connection?
ReplyDeleteAwesome !!!! Thanks you saved me so much time.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marcus. Your article helped a lot. I received a Sony DAV-FR10W from my brother and the woofer cable was missing the connectors. It was a four wire cable with ends meant to be slipped into two jacks/plugs.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find an insulated coupler but was able to find the same thing in an all copper design and after crimping the coupler, I wrapped it with some electrical tape for insulation. The connectors now work like a charm.