[NoahH]

Hey all,
Does anyone have some close-up photos of their wiring for Oticas or Xtremes? Also, did you solder the drivers after screwing them in or before?

I am really nervous about my ability to solder these once they are screwed in...

[subsonic1050]

Hi Noah, look at RockBall's wiring diagram. It's much easier to understand than the one GR provides. I soldered mine once they were screwed in - I don't really think you  have much of a choice on that matter unless you want lots of extra wiring. The good news is that it's actually much easier to do than it first looks. The holes in the bracing make it easy to reach up/down through the brace with one hand to hold the wire while the other hand comes through from the back with the soldering iron. I do lock picking as a hobby and I used a "pinning tweezers" to hold the wire in place while I soldered. I did not add solder while attaching the wire - I tinned the speaker terminals with a healthy amount of solder (before installing the drivers) as well as the end of each wire. Then I also added some solder to the tip of the iron just before making the connection. Then all that was necessary was to hold the wire in place, touch the soldering iron to the wire/terminal until it melted together, remove the soldering iron and wait a few seconds before letting go of the wire. It actually went very smoothly.

I did it with the speakers standing up and used a stool to reach the upper drivers. One one of my final connections of an upper speaker I was having a little trouble so I laid the speaker down with the drivers facing the floor. I put some books underneath the top edge of the speaker so that it had no chance of resting on any of the drivers. In hindsight that may have been even easier to wire the whole thing up that way, then just stand it back up. Either way it went pretty smoothly.

[NoahH]

Hi Noah, look at RockBall's wiring diagram. It's much easier to understand than the one GR provides. I soldered mine once they were screwed in - I don't really think you  have much of a choice on that matter unless you want lots of extra wiring. The good news is that it's actually much easier to do than it first looks. The holes in the bracing make it easy to reach up/down through the brace with one hand to hold the wire while the other hand comes through from the back with the soldering iron. I do lock picking as a hobby and I used a "pinning tweezers" to hold the wire in place while I soldered. I did not add solder while attaching the wire - I tinned the speaker terminals with a healthy amount of solder (before installing the drivers) as well as the end of each wire. Then I also added some solder to the tip of the iron just before making the connection. Then all that was necessary was to hold the wire in place, touch the soldering iron to the wire/terminal until it melted together, remove the soldering iron and wait a few seconds before letting go of the wire. It actually went very smoothly.

I did it with the speakers standing up and used a stool to reach the upper drivers. One one of my final connections of an upper speaker I was having a little trouble so I laid the speaker down with the drivers facing the floor. I put some books underneath the top edge of the speaker so that it had no chance of resting on any of the drivers. In hindsight that may have been even easier to wire the whole thing up that way, then just stand it back up. Either way it went pretty smoothly.

That is great advice. I did look at rock balls diagrams, and some of his build photos. Your details on soldering really, really help too.

Part of what I am hoping for is more photos of the actual wiring. Ex. Rock ball did the terminals on the no-opening side and I see how he ran wires. I am curious to see others and have a sense of consensus or options around that.

His 'joined wires with a hook' style for instance was really info, but used stranded wires, whereas I have solid for everything. Getting a sense of those details.

[subsonic1050]

It is very difficult to get close up pictures of the wiring all the way back in the cabinet. I'll tell you how I routed the wires - maybe that's what you're looking for? In each brace there are 2 wire routing holes in the back corner. I ran the woofer wiring and the midrange wiring up the side that has the solid wing. I ran the tweeter wiring up the side with the open cutout. 4 wires pass fairly easily through the holes so you have enough clearance to run them that way.

As far as more detail on the actual attachment - for connections where the wire ends at the terminal it's easy - just lay the stripped and tinned wire right on top of the terminal. For connections where the wire continues on to another driver I did NOT cut the wire - I simply stripped away a roughly 1/2" section of the insulation and soldered that onto the terminal so that the wire remained unbroken to any additional connections. What I did was to run the wire through the holes, sort of bend it into place where I wanted it to lay. Then I marked the locations on the wire with a sharpie where I was going to make the connections. I pulled the wire back out, stripped those little 1/2" sections of insulation, tinned the wire, then put it back in the speaker and soldered the connections.

I'm going to attach the pictures I have to hopefully explain better - but as I said it's tough to get good pictures of this.

[subsonic1050]

Hopefully these help. AC really brings the resolution of the pictures down. If you want I can send you the files directly if you think it will help. Shoot me a PM with your email and I'll send them direct if the resolution is too low.

[NoahH]

These are all super helpful. The resolution was enough to see.

Thank you both!

[subsonic1050]

These are all super helpful. The resolution was enough to see.

Thank you both!

It's just me - but you're welcome! Let me know if you have any issues. You're going to love those speakers.

[NoahH]

Sorry - that was indeed weird. I was think of Rock Ball as those were the other photos I kept looking at.

Huge thanks to you, Subsonic. I have one all wired using your technique and everything is working!

Now one more to go!

[subsonic1050]

Fantastic! Can't wait to hear your listening impressions.

[Rock Ball]

If you go to my gallery, you can view my wiring diagrams in a larger format than in my build thread.  They are much easier to read that way.
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;image=208145;size=huge

It's a very long story, but I ordered more wire because I used the original solid core wire on my triple 12" OB servo sub build and didn't have enough to complete the NX-Tremes.  Danny sent me the larger stranded wire which was more difficult to work with instead of the original solid core wire.  I am glad to hear that everyone is getting the solid core wire with their kits.  It sounds like subsonic1050's technique is a good way to do it.

[NoahH]

Rock Ball - your wiring diagrams are great. I used those for the actual runs, and it helped. But I also just looked at yours and realized that the woofer polarity was reversed on mine because of how the GR diagrams show it. Yours clarified and I fixed it.

I had suspected this might be off and was going to check a bunch of things one I had the second wired up, but thank you for the better diagram. That saved a lot of work.

Well - this sure sounds better now...

Fun aside: while doing this setup, I just pigtailed the crossover and driver wires and covered with a wing twist cover like you use in AC electrical work. That has been a great trick during config. And saved a lot of pain on this part...

[subsonic1050]

No doubt that Rock Ball's wiring diagrams are awesome. I'm sure that every single NX-TREME owner uses that diagram. Really, GR should just include that diagram with their printouts. It's much easier to read and understand.