You have to understand that the 1/4" was used originally for telephone switchboards and they are trying to give you something more solid and reliable.
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Do Speakon cables make a noticeable difference??
- Thread starter bcolins
- Start date
The cable weight caused damage to it's connector & you replaced it with the same brand?!?!?
So, I have ordered speakon cable ends and am going to make my own cables using a new 12 gauge Speaker cable I have.
Are there any rules I need to follow other than making sure I make both cables the same polarity wise??
Standard mono cab is +1 and -1 with either the NL2FC or NL4FC. Make sure that the amp uses this same pinout.
in non-technical language please.
I noticed that all the connectors on eBay were "4 connector" style. This appears to be the standard for audio/speaker cable style speakons..............Since the actual cable/wire is only a 2 wire style,.....will I need to look at my Carvin B800's Speakon output jack and my Avatar B212 Neo's input jack and somehow determine where the wires will need to be attached?.
I have looked at the Speakon output jack on my Carvin head and dont see any "Pins"......Looks more like an inner probe and an outer circle will determine polarity........haven't received my Speakon Connectors yet, so not sure What I will see inside.
Brian in Austin
- Feb 12, 2006
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- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Note that if you have NL-2 connectors installed on your amp or cabinet, you MUST use NL-2 cable connectors. NL-4 panel connectors will accept either NL-2 or NL-4 cable connectors but not the other way around.
Speak-ons are required in many European (and other) countries due to the high voltages present on high powered amps, and should always be used on higher powered installations where bridged amps are used because the shell of a 1/4" plug will not be at ground and on higher powered applications can reach over 100 volts causing potential for injury.
There is no sound quality difference at any "reasonable" power level (say under 600-700 watts) and for a short run (say 6') anything from 16 gauge and larger is also not going to affect sound.
Research the actual wiring pin-out from each manufacturer to determine which contacts of the NL-4 is used. We use the Neutrik standard of 1+/1- on all of our products, and identify this on the backs of the amp, but there are some manufacturers who have indeed gotten creative. It has caused us some issues that we have troubleshot for customers who had unknowingly bought the wrong cable for their application or had a cabinet that was incorrectly wired in a connector conversion.
Speak-ons are required in many European (and other) countries due to the high voltages present on high powered amps, and should always be used on higher powered installations where bridged amps are used because the shell of a 1/4" plug will not be at ground and on higher powered applications can reach over 100 volts causing potential for injury.
There is no sound quality difference at any "reasonable" power level (say under 600-700 watts) and for a short run (say 6') anything from 16 gauge and larger is also not going to affect sound.
Research the actual wiring pin-out from each manufacturer to determine which contacts of the NL-4 is used. We use the Neutrik standard of 1+/1- on all of our products, and identify this on the backs of the amp, but there are some manufacturers who have indeed gotten creative. It has caused us some issues that we have troubleshot for customers who had unknowingly bought the wrong cable for their application or had a cabinet that was incorrectly wired in a connector conversion.
Bob Lee (QSC)
In case you missed it, I work for QSC Audio!
- Jul 3, 2001
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- Disclosures
- Former Technical Communications Developer, QSC Audio
Speakons are not cables, just the connectors on the ends. The Speakon connectors will ensure a good, shock-proof, locking connection; you may or may not notice that difference.
The wire in between must then be adequate to the task (regardless of the connectors used). You'll want larger-gauge wire for longer cables and for those feeding lower-impedance loudspeaker loads.
The wire in between must then be adequate to the task (regardless of the connectors used). You'll want larger-gauge wire for longer cables and for those feeding lower-impedance loudspeaker loads.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 60,986
- 5
- 220,768
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Check with each of the manufacturers of the products you intend to use. Some mark the pinouts on the back of the chassis or connector plate and some don't.
It can't get much more simple than that. You ask a technical question, expect a technical answer.
Let me try to dumb it down for you. Typically, your amp has two conductors (wires, pins, etc.) per output channel; a positive and a negative. Your cab has two conductors as well at the jack; a positive and a negative. You need to make sure your cable is going to hook up the positive to the positive and negative to the negative. Like Ghost Busters "don't cross the streams". Pretty simple right?
This gets more complicated when your dealing with amps that have a bi-amp output. Take a GK 1001RB-II for instance. It has a four conductor bi-amp Speakon output and a full range two conductor output. The bi-amp output has two conductors for the high frequencies and two for the low frequencies. If you have a cab that is wired take a bi-amp signal (typically bypassing any internal cab crossover) it will have a four conductor connection (or two two conductor connections). Now you need to make sure your four conductor Speakon cable is wired so that it correctly sends the high frequencies in the amp to the tweeter in the cab (positive to the positive and negative to the negative) and the low frequencies from your amp to the woofer in your cab (positive to the positive and negative to the negative).
Hope that helps.
RTFM. Google is your friend.
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