THE B-SET

“If you have a stereophonic limitation - and if you can find a second, identical set of speakers online - maybe you can connect them via THE B-SET”

Mini-HiFi racks of today usually come with a single pair of way too small speakers, that cannot provide accoustics at the desirable volume to an average sized room. Still, mini-HiFi racks provide far better sound quality than any soundbar on the market and lets be honest: Music is still produced with just two channels - yes, there is no other music available than 2.0 stereo in general! Thus, it is no reason for shame to call yourself the owner of a mini-HiFi rack that is only capable of stereo processing, limitted to just one output line for speakers, even today for a reasonably educated person, for as long as you are willing to improve your situation! 

Two low cost options are at your hands:

A: Sell your small speakers and buy a set of larger ones, that dont start shreaking when operating at higher volume.

B: Because of the many who go for option A, you can instead buy a second set of identical speakers from them and have double the volume without any shreaking, better distributed throughout the room.

As most of the speakers, which come with mini-HiFi racks, can produce good sound up to a certain volume level (depending on the brand etc.) and their racks can easily put out more volume, option B is actually a valid and clever alternative. A shining example for this method would be the mini-Hifi racks of PANASONIC (like the PMX94 and predecessors), of which most different models come with the same speakers, which reduces the task to find a second, identical pair online into a banality.

With the speakers beeing identical, there is no advanced method of signal division between the two sets necessary - a simple electric junction is allready the best solution and to use modern electric clamps therefor is the way to do it with style. The provided models will route the cables into the junction, hide the clamps and when printed in color-coding, make the wiring self explanatory in case you happen to move your household years in the future. (More explanation how to assemble and to wire is provided in the pictures and below)

What else you need:

• 4 WAGO clamps of the type 221-413 (the 13 stands for 3 wires connected to 1 and the 4 stands for compatibility with wires up to 4mm^2)
• Enough length of high quality stereo cables of 2.5mm^2 with an outer diameter (including insulation) of less than 3.5mm. Choose cables made of 100% copper (called OFC) - Dont fall for the cheap quality aluminium-copper-mixture cables (called CCA)!
• 2 weld-in M4 threads and 2 M4x18 (or x20) countersunk bolts

How to print:

You need to print 4 pieces in total, lying on their flat surfaces (two red and two black) for adding 2 more speakers to your rack. PLA with a layer height of 0.2mm pushed through a 0.4mm diameter nozzle is perfect. Choose no less than 3 layers for the floor and 4 for the ceiling as well as 3 lines for the walls. Cubic infill of 20% is fine. Also, choose a relatively high nozzle temperature for good adhesion, as you are going to apply force during the assembly.

How to assemble (for 1 channel each):

1. Weld in the M4 thread in the “RED” called plastic shroud part.
2. Push through the 2 pairs of wires going TO THE SPEAKERS according to their color speciffic entries in the 2 plastic shrouds (one RED, the other one BLACK) like shown in the picture.
3. Dismantle those wires just long enough to fit the WAGO clamps.
4. Push the dismanteled ends of those 4 wires into the 4 outer, opened connections of the 2 clamps. Be sure to position the clamps correctly in relation to the plastic shrouds, so that the wires dont get entangled.
5. Secure those 4 wires by clamping them with the 4 outer levers.
6. Push the WAGO clamps down into their snug fit holes in the shrouds rear-first. Whilst pushing them down, pull at the rear of those wires to pull back any surplus length. You may have to overcome some resistence before the clamps snap in their position. You should get a clear feedback once the position is reached, both tactile and audible. The clamp upper surface must then sit parallel to the plastic shroud surface.
7. Dismantle the 1 pair of wires coming FROM THE AMPLIFIER FROM 1 CHANNEL (either left or right - DONT MIX the channels!). The necessary dismantling length will be a little more than for the other wires, as here the mantle will stop within the plastic shroud channel and not enter the clamp.
8. Push these 2 wires according to their color code through the plastic shrouds directly into the centre connection points of the clamps. Make sure that these are opened (lever standing up)
9. Secure these 2 wires by pushing down the centre clamp levers.
10. Put one shroud on the the other head over heels in the only way the guidance elements will let you do this.
11. Lock the two shrouds together with one M4 bolt.

Repeat steps 1 to 11 for the other channel - This is how the plan comes together.

What to avoid:

• Do not link together speakers that differ in power [Watt] and/or resistance [Ohm].
• Do not mix the wires from different channels.
• Do not mix the polarity (colors) on a channel. Both the connectors on your rack as well as those on the speakers are in standardised color coding and so is this built.
• Do not blame anyone else than yourself if you make errors.