Speakon 4 wire versus 2 wire

[Stevem627]

I just purchased a 4 wire speakon to speakon cable to attach my Behringer EP 2500 power amp to my Avatar B210 and B115 cab combo and it doesn't work right. When I use a speakon to 1/4 cable all is well. Do I need a 2 wire speakon to speakon cable? I thought 4 wire was ok, but maybe Avatar uses something in their setup that makes this not work since they have 2 1/4 jack and a speakon.

Any help for a newbie here would be greatly appreciated.

[Groundloop]

I believe that 4 conductor Speakons are only used in biamp rigs such as Gallien-Krueger. You should be fine with 2 conductor Speakons, since that's the more common setup.

[fookgub]

Yeah, my G-K has the 4-wire setup, and it was a pain. The only way to bi-amp with those is to use the speakon, so I had to install one on my cab (Avatar 210). It's real convient and all, but I'm always worried that it'll fail at the wrong time. Right now, I plug into the 210 with the Speakon and daisy chain to the 115 with a 1/4" jack. I left two 1/4" jacks for the woofer and one for the tweeter in my cab, just in case I ever need to use a different head.

So, to answer your question, I don't know. I just rewired my whole cab (I put in a Selenium horn while I was at it, too).

[Diggler]

The last thing I'd worry about is a speakon failing. I've switched our entire PA system to speakon connectors; they don't get pulled out at the worst time. My old GK cabinets, however, still have 1/4" phono plugs, and my Hartke amp does as well so there's no sense in changing it over.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by Stevem627

I just purchased a 4 wire speakon to speakon cable to attach my Behringer EP 2500 power amp to my Avatar B210 and B115 cab combo and it doesn't work right. When I use a speakon to 1/4 cable all is well. Do I need a 2 wire speakon to speakon cable? I thought 4 wire was ok, but maybe Avatar uses something in their setup that makes this not work since they have 2 1/4 jack and a speakon.

Any help for a newbie here would be greatly appreciated.

Are you bridging? A properly wired 4 conductor cable should be fine whether or not you're doing that, and you can easily rewire the cable yourself if you need to.

I believe that 4 conductor Speakons are only used in biamp rigs such as Gallien-Krueger.

Nope, they're pretty common for stereo and bridged mono applications too.

[repoman]

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