Not a hi-fi question - but an AV one. Setting up new AV system and late on decided to move control kit to next room, which means that all cables are now going through the wall - which subsequently means that some loudspeaker cables are a bit too short…
Now, this is not hifi sounds it’s for movies, and it’;s also the effects channels (Atmos rears, left and right, mostly).
Is there a decent recommended way to extend the cables? Would you use female banana plug connectors and new short leads, would you strip cables and twist and solder, or what? Would you choose to terminate them in an AV patch panel and then create another set of patch leads? Or does it make no difference?
If they aren’t too expensive, the best solution would be to sell the short runs and buy new ones.
Assuming you don’t want to do that:
Solder female plugs onto extenders made of the same cable.
If flexibility is needed, a wall mounted banana plug relay box, while less than ideal, does give maximum flexibility. If the hifi stays put but the speaker layout changed, you only change the leads you need. Similar if the speakers stay put and hifi changes. Just make sure cables on the speaker and hifi sides are the same. Also get a relay box with enough sockets to future proof your cinema. It might be 5.1 today but 11.2 tomorrow or whatever.
It may depend on where the join will be in the room.
Personally I’d probably splay the conductor strands into a fan (assuming stranded), overlap part of the two fanned ends then twist together as tightly as possible keeping the joint in-line, then solder. Following that wrap the individual conductors with insulating tape, overlapping onto the insulation. Depending on the style and size of the cable I’d finish if possible with a length of heatshrink insulation the same colour as the cable, though that would mean threading on the cable when before first splaying strands (or having to feed the rest of the new cable section through it), otherwise finish with a neat wrap of insulating tape the same colour as the canle.
the runs are through walls and it’s pretty hard (now) to redo, especially as these are at the extremities… I will look in my access points to see if there’s enough slack.
Otherwise I think @Innocent_Bystander 's approach is simplest & cheapest. Whilst a box is an option it’s a chunk I don’t need to spend, and I’d have to do it for all the cables else it would be odd, so it’s a longer job too…
If you can’t pull a new pair of cables through the wall, I would just solder the extension straight onto the stripped ends of the current cables. Slide some heatshrink over one end before soldering so that you can use it to cover the joint.