DIY Full Range Speakers: Mounting the Speakers and Terminals

After all of the work so far, the actual putting-in-of-the-speakers is the easiest and fastest part of the whole project.

I have these terminal jack cups I bought from Madisound which will go into the holes in the back (duh) of the speaker boxes.  One of them dropped right in - the other needed a touch of filing on the hole to get a nice fit.  They're pretty snug - that fact combined with the rubber gasket on the back helps ensure a soundwave-tight fit.

The plan is to drill the holes for these and the speakers, then solder up the cable and fire them up and see if they work.

I know if the cups and the speakers themselves aren't square with the boxes I'll go slightly wonky every time I look at them.  So we use our trusty Empire square to line them up.

I made a guide hole/divot with an awl, and then drilled the holes.  Once again you see the blue tape depth gauge. 

Here's a shot of the awl making a guide hole for one of the speakers.  I was real careful not to punch the speaker!

I have some speaker wire around here somewhere, but I went ahead and bought a few meters of 16 gauge oxygen-free cable for this project.  Turns out the cable is made in Sweden.  How cool is that?  I've been to Sweden twice and I really dig it.  My car was made there too and no, it is NOT a Volvo.  Puhleeeze! 

The wire turns out to be really nice to work with - it has lovely silver strands and strips like a dream.  I am wondering, though, how you get the oxygen out of the cable.  I mean, once it hits the atmosphere, doesn't it have oxygen in it?  I'm scratching my head over this one.  I also am not sure it will make any difference in the sound of the speakers, but as I say, it is sure nice to work with.