How to Wire an RCA Jack to a Speaker

Most speakers are not wired to RCA jacks. Instead, they typically are connected to speaker terminals, and the connections to the speaker are made via this connection. However, there are certainly applications where it may be desirable for you to have your speakers connected to RCA jacks. In particular, if you need for a dependable, quick, easy-to-connect link between your amplifier and speaker, you could do much worse than using RCA jacks.
RCA connectors, both male and female, are easy to purchase and easy to work with. We'll look at how you can connect a speaker to a female RCA jack. This will allow you to connect the speaker easily to any output you've adapted to use male RCA jacks.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Female RCA jack
• Conductor wire (insulated, 16 gauge.)
• Soldering iron
• Rosin core solder

1. Cut a length of wire. The actual length of the wire will depend upon how you'll be using the speaker. Typically, a length of 6 to 9 inches will make it easy to connect the RCA jack to the wire and leave sufficient wire length to work with.

2. Strip the insulation off both ends of the wire so that each lead has 3/8 to 1/2 inch of bare wire exposed.

3. Attach one end of the wire to the terminals of the speaker itself. Note which lead is attached to the positive terminal of the speaker and which lead is attached to the negative terminal of the speaker.

4. 
    
   Female RCA jack (illustration by NL)

   Solder the positive lead of the wire to the positive tab of the female RCA jack. This will be the inside tab of the two (see the illustration).

5. 
    
   Female RCA jack (illustration by NL)

   Solder the negative lead of the wire to the negative tab of the female RCA jack. This will be the outside tab of the two (see the illustration).