Neutrik Speakon Rant-on

[Geri O]

I sincerely hope that the "new" connectors are better than the "old". I heeded all warnings and used all Neutrik-brand Speakons on my bass amp and on our PA system. They have given me fits ! - having had several of the wiring connections come loose. It was so bad that I have gone back to 1/4" connectors for our PA. Not a fan !

Apparently, the forum software wanted to ensure that your point got across…..

I don’t buy it at all for a second, but I get it…

 

[Zooberwerx]

‘Tis pronounced NOY-trik in German, which is the official language of Liechtenstein (a nice German word), where the products are made.

Yeah, but how do you pronounce Liechtenstein...is it "Lick" or "Like"?

Riis

 

[Mike Caldwell]

Ok this again!!

I have been using Speakon connectors since the day they came out and have have had maybe four issues with them, a couple broken blue plastic locking rings on the originals and a couple of the release tabs pop out on the third gen NL4FC's. On an average band show I could be using 30 Speakons on more corporate events maybe double that...or more.

Aside from the latest issue with the new brown Speakons mating with the combo connectors they are rock solid. If your having other issues either they were not assembled correctly or there are some knock off parts in play, yes there are knock off MP chassis as well.

That said I'm not a big fan of both the MP and FC new series for various reasons.
The fair number of both the new green and brown Speakons I have used have been trouble free, but they are not used with any combo jacks.

You do not need the special tool to assemble or disassemble the new ones, an open end wrench will work on the end chuck collar, a little snug is all you need, if your doing a lot of them use a rubber grip glove to hold the body of the connector.

 

[five7]

The original blue ones are the best. The new brown one can have issues with combo jacks.

 

[Mike Caldwell]

Fellas, et. al...
Please understand that I'm not interested in a BassBrawl - I am merely continuing our conversation out of my own curiosity and my respect for the advice, opinions and experiences of the participants.
So, I found my oldest Neutrik speaker cord, (DIY, tinned) from easily 20+ years ago, that I still use with my SWR SM 400. It has functioned perfectly on many hundreds of BG gigs. When I opened it up, the 2 screws were still very tight and there was no noticeable "crush down", or slack of any kind.
Here is a photo: note the lack of any Phillips, Torx, or Posidrive! Just good ol' Slotted Head, from the caveguy days. (I must be Older Than I Thought!)
Again, just adding my particular experience to a valuable pool of knowledge.
Please NO Flaming. We're all friends here. IMFO, of course.
Thanks one and all.
View attachment 7424586

The slotted screw era was fairly short lived, I never used many of that style NL2.

 

[Mike Caldwell]

Oh, yeah, that’s old! I remember those from 30 years back. And there may be a few cables with those connectors still in use that I made that long ago. At the time, I bought a 100-pack of that tiny hex key as they were easy to lose.

Those had the blue so-called lockring that kinda did. The sliding lock key was a big improvement. Until the key was knocked off by mis-handling by non-observant stagehands.

The Speakons of that day and time served us well. And there have been improvements in the design as years went by.

I’ve never had to buy any special tools to assemble any Speakon connector. And at this point in my pro audio career, I’ve assembled a few thousand Speakon connections easily. Including over a hundred of the new-style green NL4s with the #8 Torx screws in a new JBL VTX rig I assembled last summer. I did buy a few dozen #8 Torx driver bits as they seem to grow tiny legs from time to time.

Of all the failures of the Speakons I’ve seen, every failure has been due to mishandling or careless handling.

I never tin the wires. Several years back, I had to remake a lot of PowerCon connectors on some Asian lighting fixtures because those cables were assembled with tinned wire. They all failed after several months. Now, when new fixtures are bought, we check those PowerCon cables and remake them if necessary.

I wrote all of this to make the point that Speakons are reliable and dependable. It doesn’t take rocket science or tools from, say, NASA to assemble them. I feel like going so far as to say that if a Neanderthal like me can run a PA house with the success rate of Speakons that we have, anyone should be able to assemble and use them with little to no trouble…..

Not quite up to your Speakon assembly numbers, I'm maybe hitting a thousand ish!

 

[BWB]

Ah, yes, the Speakon. A solution to a problem that didn't exist. Still hate those damn things.

 

[Aloe]

Yeah, but how do you pronounce Liechtenstein...is it "Lick" or "Like"?

leech-ten-shtine

it's more a soft kh than a hard k. ever heard a German pronounce 'ich'? it's the same soft 'ch'.

 

[fourstringburn]

new trick
?

It's a German name and the eu spelling sound makes it pronounced as,

" Noy Trick"

Same as Deutch, it's not "Dootch" but pronounced "Doych"..

 

[WayneP]

Ah, yes, the Speakon. A solution to a problem that didn't exist. Still hate those damn things.

Well, it did eliminate the problem with uninformed people using guitar cables for speaker connections, and speaker cables as guitar cables.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

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[2saddleslab]

Been using Neutrik-brand Speakons since buying a GK1001RBII back in the early 2000's & have never ever had a problem w/ them.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Ah, yes, the Speakon. A solution to a problem that didn't exist. Still hate those damn things.

Until higher 500+ wattage amps passed the safety ratting of a phone plug and Class D came out with even more power and the bridged outputs making the sleeve of a phone plug HOT.

The 800 watt Class D amps can put 30 Amps through that plug. The phone plug is now a shock hazard and if it makes contact with anything else or is pulled out slightly, your amp is shorted to ground and dead.

Speakon solved problems you were not aware of.

 

[Geri O]

Not quite up to your Speakon assembly numbers, I'm maybe hitting a thousand ish!

You’ll get there!….

 

[Geri O]

Ah, yes, the Speakon. A solution to a problem that didn't exist. Still hate those damn things.

You could the same thing about cars. We walked just fine for years.

Hate all you want. More for me….

 

[agedhorse]

Ah, yes, the Speakon. A solution to a problem that didn't exist. Still hate those damn things.

Or the problem YOU didn’t know about…

 

[Geri O]

Ok this again!!

Easy! I'm still catching he$$ for such a reaction to an active/passive post. Just one lousy post!....

 

[Relsom]

There's nothing worse than a worn out 10 or 20 year old phillips (or posidriv)screwdriver when trying to tighten down a fastener without it slipping, stripping, or otherwise. I think going to torx is a good thing. Now I can go back to using my phillips (or posidriv) tools as center punches, awls, and reamers as they were intended.

 

[Don Kasper]

Some would call this "throwing gasoline on a fire". Not me.
Have you all seen this?:

Yikes.

 

[Lo-E]

This thread is the proof that you can’t teach an old dog Neutriks.

 

[Don Kasper]

This thread is the proof that you can’t teach an old dog Neutriks.

No more calls - We have a WINNER!
Nicely done.