Speaker wire question

[bassgod76]

When I first bought my Eden setup back in 2000, I first used a 15', 1/4" to banana jack cable to run from to amp to the cab.

Then I thought about, "Would my tone be altered if I shortened the wire down to 15 inches, used a thicker gage, and used a banana to banana connectors?"

I was right. The stupid home made cable gave me way more presence.

11 years later, I plan to add another cab to my setup. The used cab I plan to buy doesn't have banana jacks, but 1/4" and speakon.

Banana jacks are extremely easy to set up. They are no brainers.

If I was to make another home made cable with thick wire, how difficult is it to wire a speakon connector? I was told that speakons have 4 poles. How would I know which poles to fasten the speaker wire to?

 

[jmac]

You can purchase two pole speakons. That's what I use. Here is Neutrik's site: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

If I remember correctly the poles are marked 1+/1-.

 

[bassgod76]

See, I knew somebody would know.

 

[bassgod76]

Is this the right one?
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[bassgod76]

I was using 12G speaker wire. Stuff works great. However, that was 11 years ago. My limited understanding of electronics wonders if wire thinkness and length impact the tone?

Is there any new wire out there? Otherwise, I plan to use the same stuff for my next cable.

 

[berwick63]

Id say use the same stuff. Thicker wire allows more to flow through it with less impedance. I don't know how big of an impact it can have on tone, but cheap wire will definitely steal tone. I also use short speaker cables whenever possible. Instrument cable as well. I have heard that having 15' laying coiled up can alter your tone, due to that coil basically becoming a magnetic field. Not sure how true everything is, but thats what I've been taught/believe.

 

[bassgod76]

Id say use the same stuff. Thicker wire allows more to flow through it with less impedance. I don't know how big of an impact it can have on tone, but cheap wire will definitely steal tone. I also use short speaker cables whenever possible. Instrument cable as well. I have heard that having 15' laying coiled up can alter your tone, due to that coil basically becoming a magnetic field. Not sure how true everything is, but thats what I've been taught/believe.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

I remember when I put my first cable together, I was laughing thinking, "This won't do squat". Boy, I was wrong.

 

[berwick63]

Yea, the guitarist in my band and I make all of our own cable. Stupid to pay 50 bucks for 20 bucks worth of material. He recently redid his pedal board, and took out all the 6'' cheapo cables and made exact fit replacements for a total of 25 bucks. Noticed a huge difference in output volume from the board. All those little 6''ers added up and stole a lot of his signal. Quality cable is definitely the way to go

 

[Jools4001]

Speakons are stupid easy to wire up as well. You can get two pole speakons (which have connectors marked 1+/1-) or four pole speakons (which have connectors marked 1+/1-, 2+/2-). Whatever type they are, you don't even need to solder the connection, just strip the wire back about 1/2" (the latest Neutrik plug I bought even tells you to strip the wire to the same length as the width of the blue collar). Once you've stripped the wire back and twisted the copper cores together, you just stick it into the appropriate pole piece and tighten the screw - done!

On a speaker cab, it's probably a two pole connector that you will wire up 1+/1- cos it's the only option, and even if it's a four pole connector you will still wire it up 1+/1-.

So what are the other poles for on a four pole connector? Well, you might be bi-amping and using a four core cable to send the lows from the amp to the woofer on the 1+/1- and the highs to the tweeter on the 2+/2-. Or you might be running your amp in bridge mode, in which case the 4 pole speakon at the amp end will be wired 1+/2+ and 1+/1- at the cab end.

For a simple banana plug to speakon, just going with 1+/1- should be fine

 

[bassgod76]

Thanks! I ordered the parts. I hope to rock the new cable and cab by next week!

 

[darkstorm]

Useing the heavier gauge and possibly higher qaulity wire created the sound improvement rather then cable length change for the most part imo. A lot of stock instrument amp speaker cables with 1/4 jacks use stupidly thin wire imo.

 

[dhsierra1]

I have heard that having 15' laying coiled up can alter your tone, due to that coil basically becoming a magnetic field. Not sure how true everything is, but thats what I've been taught/believe.

that's true, in that situation you're creating an inductor, which in essence is a resistor that changes value based on frequency. Very helpful thing when applied in the right setting, though, like crossovers and such, but that's another story.

 

[PhiDeck]

Using banana plugs at the cabinet end of a speaker cable is bad practice. When the cable is unplugged at that end, but plugged into the amp, you can inadvertently short the banana plug's terminals (and the amp's output). Suggest you modify your existing cabinet so that it also has speakON connector(s).