Ampeg PF800 parallel only?

You can connect amp—>cab1–>cab2. It is called daisy chaining and perfectly alright to do. It is the same as amp—>cab1 and amp—>cab2.

 

Either connection will work, as the connectors on the amp output and on the cabinets are wired in parallel.
Keep in mind that speaker loads in parallel lower the overall load. You can use two 8 ohms cabinets with a resulting total load of 4 ohms, which is the minimum for your PF800. Don’t go lower.

 

Daisy chaining is parallel.
It will be the same as one cable/cab per output connector. Output power will be the same as well. Daisy chain will still be 4 ohms with two 8 ohm cabs.

 

Oh yeah, since it's still kinda new to you; for the most part there are so VERY FEW factory connections on amps and cabs that AREN'T parallel it is basically a non-issue that a larger company's offerings could be series. Just RTFM or post questions here as they arise.

Back up to your OP, when using parallel connections (basically any factory amp/cab wiring) the impedance ALWAYS drops when adding more. With your amp, 4 ohms is minimum. Were you to connect a 4 ohm cab, no more cabs should be added to the rig.

 

There's no difference between using two cables (one to each cabinet) and a cable from the amp to one cabinet and another cable from the first cabinet to the second cabinet.

 

Since you are new to this, let me add the following that may save you from potential grief and wasting money...

When you shop for SpeakOn cables, be sure that you choose cables that use genuine Neutrik plugs. There are an awful lot of knock-offs and counterfeits, the quality of many are simply terrible. They are responsible for about 50% of all complaints of intermittent or "defective" power amplifiers that we troubleshoot. Yes, it's that big of a problem and is a major time consumer of our product support folks.

If you need help finding products with genuine Neutrik connectors, PM me and I will point you in some known good directions.

 

The SpeakOn connection is superior in every regard.

 

I am surprised that a 1/4 phone jack is even an option on an 800 watt amp.
There it is.

 

Make sure the phone plug is shrink wrapped and not bare metal. There is a shock hazard with unwrapped phone plugs.

Also do not use them adapters. They are ok in a pinch but not daily use.

 

Can the non-Neutrik plugs sometimes get permanently stuck in the jacks, or am I just imagining that I've read about that?

 

This is true, I have serviced several amps sent it with the plug permanently stuck. The removal process is difficult and almost always requires the replacement of the mating jack due to catastrophic damage.

 

There are. I use one for my...PF800 and PF cabs, of all things.

IMO, all Speak-On connectors should have little push-button LED flashlights built in. Lots of fumbling in the dark every gig to work those damned things.

 

All amp connections, and cab connections, are wired in parallel. You need special home made cables to run cabs in series.

 

Yeah, it works fine. You would think that they'd at least do combi Jacks, but ampeg must just not trust them because I haven't even seen those on any of their amps.