Rolling your own speaker cables

[fdeck]

An amusing feature of banana connectors is that they can be mixed up with European mains plugs. They're also quite delicate.

 

[fdeck]

The very latest NL4 series connectors are using a Torx drive screw, I think it is a T8. So far only used two of the new version.

The new NL4FXX series is not bad, the new NL4MP's I feel are a little weaker in some ways.

I'm hoarding all I still have in stock!!!

I think Torx would be a big improvement. I just built a small deck in back of my house, and the new Torx screws are a game changer.

 

[agedhorse]

FYI - Over 2 1/2 decades of use without a "real world......." short circuit catastrophe.
I like the compactness of a Double Banana connector at the back of my cabinets.
IMFE, of course, as always.
Thanks for your time and expertise, agedhorse. (srsly)

Yeah, it happens both ways.

 

[Redbrangus]

Besides their relative fragility, dual banana plugs are all too easy to plug in backwards, i.e., with reversed polarity. IME, anyway.

 

[Stylee Mousse]

I don't think I'd use banana plugs on any cabs I would make but I have used them with my studio power amps and monitors and never found polarity to be hard to manage.

 

[Redbrangus]

I remember some national PA company -- I disremember which -- had binding posts/dual bananas on all their speaker cabs, which could be used as test points when troubleshooting, but they were mostly used to insert shorting plugs into when the cabs were being transported. Critical path for set-up included removing all those shorting plugs, and presumably, keeping up with them so they could be reinserted for transport at the end of the night. (It's been a while, but these cabs MAY have a had a second, dummy set of binding posts to store the shorting plugs when not in use.)

I was extremely happy when power amp manufacturers were required to stop using binding posts for outputs because MDP connectors become intermittent and unreliable after a relatively short service interval in professional use. A year or two of continuous service, which includes a lot of repatching, loading/unloading and bouncing around in trucks, results in the little springy fingers on the male connector posts failing and the connector becoming intermittent. They're cheap and easy to replace, but in a big, portable sound system, I didn't want to depend on the reliability of those connectors for the amp-to-speaker interface. The ease with which they can be inserted with inverted polarity is further argument against using them in situations where they would be plugged and re-plugged with some regularity, not to mention the obvious shorting danger -- especially fraught now that so many amps use bridged output topology. I don't object to their use in home stereo and other situations where things aren't being plugged and unplugged all the time, but they no longer have a role in pro audio, IMO.

 

[Mike Caldwell]

I remember some national PA company -- I disremember which -- had binding posts/dual bananas on all their speaker cabs, which could be used as test points when troubleshooting, but they were mostly used to insert shorting plugs into when the cabs were being transported. Critical path for set-up included removing all those shorting plugs, and presumably, keeping up with them so they could be reinserted for transport at the end of the night. (It's been a while, but these cabs MAY have a had a second, dummy set of binding posts to store the shorting plugs when not in use.)

I was extremely happy when power amp manufacturers were required to stop using binding posts for outputs because MDP connectors become intermittent and unreliable after a relatively short service interval in professional use. A year or two of continuous service, which includes a lot of repatching, loading/unloading and bouncing around in trucks, results in the little springy fingers on the male connector posts failing and the connector becoming intermittent. They're cheap and easy to replace, but in a big, portable sound system, I didn't want to depend on the reliability of those connectors for the amp-to-speaker interface. The ease with which they can be inserted with inverted polarity is further argument against using them in situations where they would be plugged and re-plugged with some regularity, not to mention the obvious shorting danger -- especially fraught now that so many amps use bridged output topology. I don't object to their use in home stereo and other situations where things aren't being plugged and unplugged all the time, but they no longer have a role in pro audio, IMO.

I know back in the day EAW had the test points on the cabinets along with the multi pin EP connectors.

 

[Mike Caldwell]

An amusing feature of banana connectors is that they can be mixed up with European mains plugs. They're also quite delicate.

Yep get your speaker and power cables mixed up and your 4 ohm cabinet will be seeing about 12,000 watts......for a very short time!

 

[fdeck]

When I was in high school, our jazz band warmed up for a top Detroit band who played a concert at our school. When packing up, I noticed that the band's PA system was mostly DIY, with 2 prong household power cords and sockets for the speaker wiring. I mean, the speaker cables were made from 2 prong extension cords with male plugs on both ends.

I asked the guy, isn't that dangerous?

He said: Not if you're careful.

 

[agedhorse]

When I was in high school, our jazz band warmed up for a top Detroit band who played a concert at our school. When packing up, I noticed that the band's PA system was mostly DIY, with 2 prong household power cords and sockets for the speaker wiring. I mean, the speaker cables were made from 2 prong extension cords with male plugs on both ends.

I asked the guy, isn't that dangerous?

He said: Not if you're careful.

Multi-pole twist locks were also common, similar issues when around motor power in flying rigs.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Since I finally managed to solder stuff successfully everything looks like a possibility to make it my self. I made my own instrument cables, patch cables are waiting for a evening alone

Because I did not see it yet in this thread.
DO NOT SOLDER a Speakon Connection.
DO NOT TIN the wires, they need to be bare and crushed by the screw.

 

[Phe]

Because I did not see it yet in this thread.
DO NOT SOLDER a Speakon Connection.
DO NOT TIN the wires, they need to be bare and crushed by the screw.

Well that is good to know

 

[Mike Caldwell]

Because I did not see it yet in this thread.
DO NOT SOLDER a Speakon Connection.
DO NOT TIN the wires, they need to be bare and crushed by the screw.

Actually the heavy duty Speakon STXX series just have solder cups in the connector.

As for the MP connectors, some solder to the tabs others use Faston terminals

 

[agedhorse]

Actually the heavy duty Speakon STXX series just have solder cups in the connector.

As for the MP connectors, some solder to the tabs others use Faston terminals

The solder cup style are hard to work with outside of a production environment.

The jacks that use faston tabs can be soldered, but are also easy to damage and screw up. Too much heat for too long and the insert gets soft, the contact assembly shifts and now you have problems.

Outside of using PCB assembly techniques, crimped fastons using the proper size and thickness AND the proper prep/crimp tool result in very reliable connections.

 

[Mike Caldwell]

The solder cup style are hard to work with outside of a production environment.

You need a fairly hot iron for the STXX solder style, get in, solder and out fast. Too low of heat and your cooking the connection trying to get it to heat up.