Male or Female Speakon???

Female to Female. Panel jacks are always male AFAIK. Cable ends that are female are available but somewhat rare. And yes, it's hard to tell just looking at them unlike other connectors .

 

just get speakon cables; you won't find the wrong ends on a cable from any music store, that's a thoroughly exotic part.

technically, the cable ends are "male", the jacks on cabs and amps "female".

(ask for "male" or "female" speakon cables and you'll likely get a blank look from the salesguy.)

what matters is the pinout and number of conductors; the 4-way ends ("NL4") with +1,-1 connected is the usual standard.

 

Really now .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakon_connector

 

a yep.

 

actually, further googling is showing a bit of confusion on the point.

that's why you wouldn't ask for "male" or "female" speakons; it's just "cables" or "jacks".

 

They are idiots.

 

FYI if you go look the panel jacks commonly end in "MP" = "male panel" and the connectors end in "FC" = "female connector". Unfortunately even Neutrik (who invented them) adds to the confusion by rarely referring to the sex in their literature .
Some get it right:
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/297822.html
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/297820.html

 

Speakons are just the opposite, though you can't tell by the look of them.

 

Get a 1/4" to speakon adapter and you'll be ready for it all. Although I suppose it defeats some of the advantage of speakon to speakon, if you have some 1/4" jack cabs, the disadvantage is there anyway.

 

these guys, too?

 

yep, i see that it's indeed a mess, with neutrik themselves not saying, but mostly it's the opposite of what i thought; "female" ends are on the cables.

this all confirms my original point though; the OP shouldn't be asking for anything besides "speakon cables".

 

Plug them in, wait 9 months, and see where the baby speakons come out - then you'll know which end is female.

 

Hi.

WOW.

I guess You learn something every day.

I've always considered the cable connector to be "male" since it has something to sink into something, and the panel connector to be female since ... You know what I mean .

The "male" and "female" designations are used only on STX Speakons by Neutrik though.
The older ones and Powercon's are just "chassis" and "cable" connectors. And AFAIK there hasn't been a "chassis" style cable connector or vice versa in the market for a loooong time. If ever.

Regards
Sam

 

no, i saw a bunch of examples online of cables with the opposite connector on them, that would take a normal speakon cable end.

i've never seen one in the flesh though, it's an odd duck.

 

Yes, that will work 99.9% of the time . Now, we could also get into the interoperability of the 2 pole and 4 pole connectors to really confuse everybody . Fortunately the 2 or 4 pole cable connectors will both work with the most common panel mount connectors (4 pole) .

 

Actually the latest series now has the reverse sex panel and cable connectors (I just looked):
http://www.neutrik.us/en-us/?q=speakon+stx
The older series never had a panel mount female but did have the cable male (not easy to find). I believe powercons always had both sexes panel and cable mount and equally used.

 

so Speakons just kind of self-reproduce? I remember learning in biology class about things like this.