Difference betwee 'input' and 'link' terminals/plugs on a cab

[kumimajava]

I've looked for an answer to this question using 'search' over here, but came up empty - so apologies if this is an obvious/redundant question. Most of my time I've played on headphones, and only acquired a cab recently - so this is part of tech is new to me.

Some cabs have two inputs on the back - one labelled as "input" and the other as "link" (example from an EBS cab below). Is there a difference between these two terminals?

I thought that these two are usually just wired in parallel, so it shouldn't matter which one gets used... am I wrong? could a cab get damaged if it accidentally gets connected to the "link" rather than "input" sockets?

 

[mmbongo]

Yes there is no difference. Use either one.

 

[agedhorse]

Good question. Generally, there's no difference and they are just wired in parallel, BUT there are a few cabinets that I have encountered that do have an input and output. This is usually related to internal switching for things like splitting a large multi-driver cabinet into 2 separate sets of drivers (like some Ampeg SVT cabinets).

 

[Wasnex]

In most instances all jacks are parallel, so it makes no difference.

Some cabs have switching jacks. For example, modern Ampeg 810s have four jacks that are parallel and one switching jack.

Jacks 2 and 3 are always in parallel.

Jack 1 is switching.

Normally the cab functions as a 4 ohm 810. But if you insert a plug into jack 1 it breaks the cab into two 8 ohm 410s.

 

[kumimajava]

Thank you for the quick responses - very helpful.

The cab that I have is the Phil Jones 47 (4x7), and I can't think of a reason why it would be switching