DIY speakON cables

[Bredian]

Building my bass cabinet(s) and looking for cables. SpeakONs are the new standard it appears. Most recommend 4 conductor connectors, but do I really need 4 conductor cable? Probably need some short pieces for me, maybe a couple for my kid (ampeg to 810)

I'm thinking of buying a 50' cable or piece of, and breaking it down from there, using the remainders for PA cables.

Answers or direct me to previous discussions please?

 

[Zooberwerx]

Building my bass cabinet(s) and looking for cables. SpeakONs are the new standard it appears. Most recommend 4 conductor connectors, but do I really need 4 conductor cable? Probably need some short pieces for me, maybe a couple for my kid (ampeg to 810)

I'm thinking of buying a 50' cable or piece of, and breaking it down from there, using the remainders for PA cables.

Answers or direct me to previous discussions please?

Probably not. 4 conductor is handy if fabricating bi-amp cables but that's about it.

Riis

 

[Dave W]

You only need 2 conductor for most applications of speaker cable.

 

[BucketOfFish]

I went to home depot and bought the 14-2 direct burial cable by the foot. Stripped and lightly tinned the ends and used Neutrix two conductor connectors. (Why direct burial? underground music!) It just had what looked like a good protective outer jacket and it was somewhat flexible. I used it for my bass rig and my pa mains which are fairly short runs and lower wattage.
Neutrix has a "how to" on their site worth a read and I give them kudos for being innovative with even the ubiquitous 1/4" jack. iirc, the recommendation is that up to 500w the 1/4" phone jack is ok but 500w and up the twist lock connector is to be used (and of course it can be used for lower wattage too)

 

[Zooberwerx]

I went to home depot and bought the 14-2 direct burial cable by the foot. Stripped and lightly tinned the ends and used Neutrix two conductor connectors. (Why direct burial? underground music!) It just had what looked like a good protective outer jacket and it was somewhat flexible. I used it for my bass rig and my pa mains which are fairly short runs and lower wattage.
Neutrix has a "how to" on their site worth a read and I give them kudos for being innovative with even the ubiquitous 1/4" jack. iirc, the recommendation is that up to 500w the 1/4" phone jack is ok but 500w and up the twist lock connector is to be used (and of course it can be used for lower wattage too)

Not necessary and may negate the benefits of the Speakon's clamping terminal post design. They're designed to accept bare stranded wire and, when tightened, are intended to clamp / crush / splay the wire ends. BTW, the terminal screws accept the Pozi tip driver. PH will work but not nearly as well.

Riis

 

[nervous]

Not necessary and may negate the benefits of the Speakon's clamping terminal post design. They're designed to accept bare stranded wire and, when tightened, are intended to clamp / crush / splay the wire ends. BTW, the terminal screws accept the Pozi tip driver. PH will work but not nearly as well.

Riis

Great point. I started by tinning all my ends until I realized this. It's sometimes a PITA to get them neatly twisted, inserted and tightened down but you d a few and it gets easier. 2 conductor Speakon on everything that I have.

 

[scowboy]

I much prefer the 4 conductor connector, the NL4. The wire is much easier to insert into the holes and the locking mechanism is ore robust. Agree on the tinning, the connector is made to accept bare wire and assembly is more difficult with tinned wire.

I've built all my gigging cables for years. I will only use Neutrik connectors, especially for 1/4" as they are much easier to assemble even for someone who's done lots of 1/4" cables. Plus IMHO, Neutrik has the best strain relief system.

 

[INTP]

Speakon cables are very easy to put together yourself. I used Neutrix NL4FX connectors and bought some 2 conductor 12GA stranded speaker cable by the foot (5 feet is plenty for going from amp to cabinet). All you need is wire strippers and a screwdriver.

You could get away with 14GA conductors, but 12GA is more robust. Home centers may have 'SO' cable which will work fine, but will almost certainly have 3 (or 4) conductors. If you need longer cables (e.g. for PA mains), electrical supply retailers will probably have 2 conductor stranded SO cable for cheaper than you can get "speaker cable".

 

[4Mal]

For a short run 14 gauge is fine. I like the 13 gauge EWI cable from Audiopile.net. I have quite a few of their speaker cables in my FOH. I run their 4 pair wire in an 8-way speakon for my mains. For 8 way wire it rolls very nicely... The 2 way stuff rolls like buttah. It's worth a few extra buck for that...

For the most part the cheap SJO or SJOW at home Depot will pass signal but is not fine stranded - less surface area, more resistance. It also winds like crap...

 

[seamonkey]

It doesn't matter much this time of year, but I found some low temperature extension cords that stay flexible even in the cold drive to the gig.
They just pull out and lay flat. They work the same in hot weather. Three wire cable, but I just wire green ground and neutral white to one terminal, then hot black to the other.
twisted tight, and no tinning and they fit fine

 

[Zooberwerx]

For a short run 14 gauge is fine. I like the 13 gauge EWI cable from Audiopile.net. I have quite a few of their speaker cables in my FOH. I run their 4 pair wire in an 8-way speakon for my mains. For 8 way wire it rolls very nicely... The 2 way stuff rolls like buttah. It's worth a few extra buck for that...

www.partsexpress.com also offers the 13 g in both 2 and 4 conductor. I agree with the reviews: this is the largest gauge conductor that I can comfortably jam into a Speakon without having to buy it dinner and/or jewelry beforehand. The 4 conductor is perfect for bi-amp applications. Thanks for the tip, Mal.

Riis

 

[4Mal]

That is the i/o for stereo and triamped... Unseen is the Minidrive in the lower rack - I have to get rid of that monster shock rack and get another normal rack on wheels ... Damned rack weighs 70lb by itself...

The i/o panels are the Middle Atlantic UCP system. With fan it's about $150 per rack. I could have done it cheaper but it's a very nicely thought out and constructed system. My splurge...

The XLR and single speakon is i/o for the spare amp channel in each rack. The speakon by itself is slaved to the subs. Normally my tops are on poles over the subs. I jump to the sub with a 2 wire speakon from the top. The separate sub output is for when I can group subs in another location like under center stage. Then I just run a dedicated line from each rack to the sub cluster.

Nice thing with this setup is that you can't plug the speakers in wrong. The single point of failure is getting the mains input and subs input backwards and even then there is a super steep feely filter on the tops. So I bring up the subs first and if I hear thump, I'm good to go. Stereo... Actually I run mono aux fed subs and while top tops are theoretically stereo, its really parallel mono. I just like the ability to audition each side independently of the other.

This is as clean a cable system as I have been able to come up with. It means that once the stacks are placed, I can spin the cabling out to someone else and concentrate on the snake... Which in and of itself presents 20x8 points of failure...

Riis, you really should give the Audiopile.net folks a go. Trust me, for the products they sell, you won't go back to parts express... Cables, Bulk Cable, connectors, racks, rack parts, snakes... They are small and give great service with sharp pricing.

 

[INTP]

FWIW, I got 12GA at GC for $1/ft, cut from a spool.