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Speakon Vs. 1/4" Pros & Cons

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namuxtree

namuxtree

Jun 25, 2009
985
222
Orange County, CA
#1
I recently got a Genz Benz ShuttleMax and for those of you that know, GB only uses speakons in that series of amplifiers. Now I've been asking myself. What is the advantage of having speakon over a 1/4" jack? (vice versa) Is it power transfer, tone, durability? What is it that separates the two other than the obvious connectors? Please list some pros and cons of both as well as answering my main question. Thanks and God bless!

P.S. Mods, i didn't know where else to place this so if necessary please move this thread. Thanks in advance!
 
#5
*More contact surface area.

*Can be repaired on the fly or modified for bridged operation.

*Secure interlock, however this may work to a disadvantage. If snagged, I'd rather have a plug pull out from the back of an enclosure rather than have the whole shebang topple over.

*Second choice - banana plugs!

Riis
 
#6
For safety certification, Speakons are now mandatory on any power amplifier that is 300W or more. Many manufacturers including Peavey offer the "combi" type that has a 1/4" jack in the middle. If a company is one that certifies, they have to have the option of Speakons.

1/4" plugs heat up when used with higher power amplifiers because they have more resistance. Speakons handle more current than 1/4" jacks.

It can be dangerous to use 1/4" plugs with some class D amplifiers (not Peavey) that have bridged outputs because the negative side is not ground, it is a DC voltage that can be upwards of 50V, so if you touch the metal case of the 1/4" plug and the chassis at the same time, you get shocked. Since class D is becoming more popular, expect to see more Speakons.

1/4" plugs are responsible for many of the cases where power amplifiers blow because they can slip half way out due to vibration or even air pressure in the case of the speaker side. Most amplifiers have short protection, but that's never going to provide 100% protection.
 
#7
Speakons are also very resistant to conductor degradation due to mechanical damage. Drop a 1/4" on asphalt or some other rough surface and it gets dinged up very quickly, resulting in less surface area and increasing the resistance.
 
#8
Every one of these important reasons, plus it makes it difficult to use instrument cables as speaker cables, you don't have potentially live 1/4" plugs (at the speaker end if Speak-on) that carry live voltage and could possibly short to a ground like a stage frame, lighting rig (truss is always grounded through the lighting instrument mechanical connection) or available to be grabbed by an unsuspecting bare hand.

IMO, it won't be long before the industry becomes Speak-on only.

BbbyBld said:
For safety certification, Speakons are now mandatory on any power amplifier that is 300W or more. Many manufacturers including Peavey offer the "combi" type that has a 1/4" jack in the middle. If a company is one that certifies, they have to have the option of Speakons.

1/4" plugs heat up when used with higher power amplifiers because they have more resistance. Speakons handle more current than 1/4" jacks.

It can be dangerous to use 1/4" plugs with some class D amplifiers (not Peavey) that have bridged outputs because the negative side is not ground, it is a DC voltage that can be upwards of 50V, so if you touch the metal case of the 1/4" plug and the chassis at the same time, you get shocked. Since class D is becoming more popular, expect to see more Speakons.

1/4" plugs are responsible for many of the cases where power amplifiers blow because they can slip half way out due to vibration or even air pressure in the case of the speaker side. Most amplifiers have short protection, but that's never going to provide 100% protection.
Click to expand...
 
#9
agedhorse said:
Every one of these important reasons, plus it makes it difficult to use instrument cables as speaker cables, you don't have potentially live 1/4" plugs (at the speaker end if Speak-on) that carry live voltage and could possibly short to a ground like a stage frame, lighting rig (truss is always grounded through the lighting instrument mechanical connection) or available to be grabbed by an unsuspecting bare hand.

IMO, it won't be long before the industry becomes Speak-on only.
Click to expand...

interesting...but do they really not affect tone at all? I've seen monster SP1000 Speak-ons advertise as cables with great bass response....or is that just a marketing scheme?
 
#10
namuxtree said:
interesting...but do they really not affect tone at all? I've seen monster SP1000 Speak-ons advertise as cables with great bass response....or is that just a marketing scheme?
Click to expand...
monster cable also markets a "bass instrument cable" that apparently has increased low end response. as i now know, that just means "decreased highend response". cables are cables. a cable cannot boost any frequencies.
 
#11
namuxtree said:
interesting...but do they really not affect tone at all? I've seen monster SP1000 Speak-ons advertise as cables with great bass response....or is that just a marketing scheme?
Click to expand...
For the high current signal that powers your speakers, the answer is no. Blind studies have been done in which the speaker cables in hi-fi stereo systems were replaced with coat hangers, the listener could not tell the difference. So yes its a marketing scheme. Speakons just lock into place.
 
#13
Regular 1/4 plugs are a gnat's whisker thinner than Monster Cable plugs which give the Monster Cable a better connection. Speakons ore a much more secure connection between amp and cab. I have both and I swear by both.
Thinking "cables are cables" is like thinking strings are strings or gas is gas.
 
#14
gregwatts2008 said:
Regular 1/4 plugs are a gnat's whisker thinner than Monster Cable plugs which give the Monster Cable a better connection
Click to expand...

If this dimensional factoid is still true (once it was I know) it doesn't improve connections and it's been known to ruin inputs - IT SPREADS JACK CONTACTS so that reputable plugs by Switchcaft and Neutrik with for-decades-established industry standard dimensions have a slightly slack fit.

Stupid and bad.
 
#16
Speakons are better in every respect, higher current capacity, better mechanical connection, much better cable mounting and strain relief, no exposed conductors. can be used for biamp in a single connector
A partially inserted 1/4" plug can be an amp killer. 1/4" plugs are best suited for the telephone switchboards they were originally used with.

Cables have 3 electrical characteristics, L,C and R. All are easily measured, and Monster cable contains no magic apparent to anyone other than person that is trying to justify that they spent too much for a cable. Good quality connectors from Neutrik or Switchcraft make a difference in longeveity and are much better than the fancy looking crap that you get from Monster.
 
#17
It's not a tone thing more than a reliability and safety thing.

IME, good speaker cable is good speaker cable, there's nothing in a speaker cable to increase bass response, and frankly there's nothing in a speaker cable to decrease HF response, it would have to be pretty bad cable to even begin to behave like that and if it were, i t would likely affect stability of the power amp leading to smoke & flames.

namuxtree said:
interesting...but do they really not affect tone at all? I've seen monster SP1000 Speak-ons advertise as cables with great bass response....or is that just a marketing scheme?
Click to expand...
 
#19
The smaller the numerical gauge the larger the wire. Think of it as 1/12", 1/14", 1/16" etc.
 
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