Hello all, so I’ve got my live setup which is a gk 1001rb ii into a epifani 210 and a swr Goliath 2 410 cab. We were setting up for a little show the other day and I noticed the cans have an input and output Speakon outs. I run both into the gk and it sounds amazing, BUT. My brain started to work on how to wire it up. Do I go a Speakon from the amp to both cabs or do I “daisy chain” the two cabs into the gk? If this is dumb please let me know it just got me thinking.
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Potentially stupid question
- Thread starter 6ornone
- Start date
It’s not dumb, just immaterial. If I follow your question, your amp will deliver the same power in the same way to both cabs whether hooked up separately or daisy-chained. What matters is that the combined cabs don’t present lower resistance than the amp is designed to handle (4 ohms). If those are both 8 ohm cabs you should be fine.
The connectors on each cab are almost always wired in parallel, as are the output connectors on the amp - so electrically, daisy chaining and home-running each cab end up exactly the same.
From a reliability point of view, if daisy chained and there were to be a fault with the amp's output connector, the first speaker cable, or the input socket of the first cab then you'd lose the full output of the rig, till you fixed it.
If you home-run each cab direct, then at least one cab might continue working in that scenario, so that's a slight argument in favour of home-running each one to the amp.
From a reliability point of view, if daisy chained and there were to be a fault with the amp's output connector, the first speaker cable, or the input socket of the first cab then you'd lose the full output of the rig, till you fixed it.
If you home-run each cab direct, then at least one cab might continue working in that scenario, so that's a slight argument in favour of home-running each one to the amp.
They are equivalent. With two cables going to two cabs, you have redundancy which is good. If one cab or cable fails, the amp will still deliver sound to the remaining cab.
Ok thank you guys, I was almost sure it would be alright but my brain started workin overtime. But it’s input from cab to output of amp right? You would think I would know all of this by now after playing bass for so long but I never paid attention case I knew the ohms matched up
Output of amp to either connector on cab should work equally well, but it might be easier to keep things straight in your head if you stick to the connector labelled "input" assuming that's how the cab manufacturer has described them.
Good question as any number of amps only sport a SINGLE Speakon output…you’re forced to daisy-chain the enclosures.
Riis
There is a difference in how much power each individual driver has to work with.
IDK the power rating of the 2x10, but the 2x10 receives half of the power the amp is putting out. The 410 as well has half of the output power. I doubt you're pushing the amp to full power so I agree you're (most likely) just fine. But it is worth pointing out that if the 2x10 is rated for less than half of the amp's (4 ohm) power understand it is a weak link in the system.
IDK the power rating of the 2x10, but the 2x10 receives half of the power the amp is putting out. The 410 as well has half of the output power. I doubt you're pushing the amp to full power so I agree you're (most likely) just fine. But it is worth pointing out that if the 2x10 is rated for less than half of the amp's (4 ohm) power understand it is a weak link in the system.
Loads don't care what wire feeds them. If you have an 8ohm 210 and an 8ohm 410 the 410 is most likely wired series-parallel internally (32ohm driver are rare). In essence you have two groups of 2-10" speakers and two separate 10s each dividing the power. Power distribution depends on each load group (wired parallel each is a load) not the box they are in.
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The only stupid questions are the ones left unasked. 
I have a question about a speakon cable I bought from Sweetwater. It has the speakon connection on one end and a 1/4" in. input for the cab connection. It seems to be defective in that I can't get the 1/4" input jack into the cab. I bought 2 of these (proco) and the other one is fine, fits into the 1/4" input of the cab just fine.
So can I just remove the 1/4" jack and replace it or is a special type of jack? It looks like an easy fix with the soldering iron to me. Thoughts out there?
So can I just remove the 1/4" jack and replace it or is a special type of jack? It looks like an easy fix with the soldering iron to me. Thoughts out there?
First clear up some confusion. The 1/4" PLUG is the "male" part that is usually attached to a cable and the JACK is the "female" part you insert the plug into (like on a cab or amp head).
If you have a new cable with a plug that won't go into a jack it is defective (oversized) possibly a sign of poor quality. "Monster Cable" used non-standard oversized plugs in the past and damaged a lot of input jacks when a customer forced the plugs in. An industry standard plug fits correctly. Return the cable for replacement or replace that one end with a quality plug if you don't/can't return it. SpeakOns come in several configurations the most common NL2 (2 conductor) and NL4 (4 conductor), unless you have an extension cable with a combo SpeakOn/1/4" jack at one end, the cable should have 2 plugs and no jacks.
