• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Inside cab wire gauge?

#22
Electricblue said:
IMO, you should use the thickest mains cable you could get your hands on. I dont think interference gets into cabs, and at large wattages, it probably wouldnt make a difference when it did get in there.

That may not be fact, but it seems correct to my knowledge
Click to expand...

That's not necessary. The gain in performance is negligibly small and does not outweigh the potential reduction in reliability.
 
#24
Electricblue, it's been mentioned a number of times now: heavy massy wires swing around inside a cab tend to break stuff at the connections. It's way better to use twisted 16-gauge pairs as interior wire for its lower weight, and electrically it's all that is needed. Though sometimes I use 14-gauge because I have a roll of fixed-install twisted wire in that size.
 
#25
greenboy said:
Electricblue, it's been mentioned a number of times now: heavy massy wires swing around inside a cab tend to break stuff at the connections. It's way better to use twisted 16-gauge pairs as interior wire for its lower weight, and electrically it's all that is needed. Though sometimes I use 14-gauge because I have a roll of fixed-install twisted wire in that size.
Click to expand...

Ah, never thought of that. Sorry if I come across as a bit of an a**
 
#26
billfitzmaurice said:
Myth, explained here:
Invalid Link Removed

Worst case, using 100 foot cables and tube power amps, the effects of damping might be barely audible. With the cables used with electric bass cabs it's a total non-issue.
Click to expand...

Seriously Bill, how are we supposed to continue using unfounded, opinion based theories to provide information when all you do is provide scientific facts? Buzzkill. :hiding:
 
#27
#30
greenboy said:
Electricblue, it's been mentioned a number of times now: heavy massy wires swing around inside a cab tend to break stuff at the connections. It's way better to use twisted 16-gauge pairs as interior wire for its lower weight, and electrically it's all that is needed. Though sometimes I use 14-gauge because I have a roll of fixed-install twisted wire in that size.
Click to expand...

In my late teens I rewired some PA cabs (Voice of the Theatre copies that belonged to some friends) with much heavier wire thinking it would be an awesome improvement. I didn't know much back then, but I should've taken note that when I was reassembling them the wires were so stiff that they tended to actually push the driver up out of the hole and away from the cabinet until I got it screwed down. Within a couple months some of the terminals on the drivers had snapped off from the stress the stiff, heavy wires placed on them. One of the broken terminals didn't leave much to solder to. That was embarassing for me. It's a good thing they didn't short out against each other, because PA amps didn't have good short circuit protection back then.

More than twenty years later I was setting up to play at a church fair with some friends, a band we'd put together just for this occasion, and the guitar player brought a big cab to serve as the drummer's monitor. We got all set up, got ready to do a quick sound check, and that cab was dead. Totally silent. The guitarist said, "Well it always worked before!" I unscrewed the input jack plate, and it came off really easily because nothing was attached to it. The two wires had broken off at the circuit board. The broken ends of the wires just lay there in the cabinet. Turns out, a friend of the guitarist had rewired it a couple years earlier with "better wire" than it originally had. Yeah, same mistake I once made. I had no time to fix the thing, so we made do without the monitor. Good thing it didn't happen in the mains.
 
#36
I have onced used a cable that had really tinny wire and the connections were poor.The result was that after one week of use the junctions of the cable and connectors burned and it shorted my amp.My amp is 700 watts, it was way too much energy for what the cabble could handle.It figures that since I've changed to a thicker gauge I never had problems again.
gnjpowell said:
Use the largest and best cable that is practical and affordable for you and with high-quality connections. It really does matter because large current and voltage swings are required for bass speaker damping. Damping is how the amp controls any potential over-travel of the driver. Pro and higher-quality amps will often list an additional parameter: damping factor, this is a measure of the amp's ability to control the driver, higher is better. If you use small and/or low-quality cable you reduce the damping factor of the amp-speaker system, and they are a system and must work well together. This is one of the advantages of powered-speakers, they can be designed and implemented as a system when done well.
Click to expand...
 
#37

Attachments

  • BrilliantPins.jpg
    BrilliantPins.jpg
    114.3 KB · Views: 46
  • BrillPins (Copy).JPG
    BrillPins (Copy).JPG
    91.1 KB · Views: 46

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back