speakon cable quality

There's no reason to get a "high-performance" speaker cable--the Pro-co one is fine. The thing to watch for is counterfeit Speakon connectors; the real ones are made by Neutrik. I don't think Sweetwater or ProCo either one would knowingly sell a product with a counterfeit connector, but there ARE some predatory retailers out there.

For those who didn't bother to look, the Mogami Gold speaker cable is $88 for a 3-foot cable. The ProCo is $33 for a 10'. Among the other assertions, the Mogami cable claims to be 'ultra-low noise'. I'm kinda saddened to see Sweetwater flogging this sort of thing, but hey...if idiots are determined to spend money of this kind of hogwash, I guess I can't blame a retailer for catering to them--that's what makes capitalism great, I suppose.

 

ProCo

 

buy real Neutrik SpeakON connectors & SJOOW wire from Home Depot, then build your own
The only special tool required is a PoziDriv #1 bit for your nut driver:

Southwire 150 ft. 14/2 300-Volt CU Black Flexible Portable Power SJOOW Cord-55812146 - The Home Depot

IOW, there is NO soldering with SpeakON

 

Nothing wrong with the ProCo cable, that's a genuine Neutrik connector.

It looks like the ProCo cable uses NL-2 connectors with 2 conductor cable while the Mogami uses NL-4 connectors and 4 wire cable. In this application there is no benefit to the extra 2 conductors as they are not used in 99.99% of all bass applications. NL-2 plugs mate with either NL-2 or NL-4 jacks so that's not an issue either.

 

I have and A/B'd Pro Co Power Plus 12-2 (aprox. 20€ 1m) and Evidence Audio The Siren (80€ 1m), and didn't found an audible difference to me through my rig. I had a deal with a 1m bulk Evidence, and built the cable with 2 Neutrik connectors (NL-4 as NL-2 weren't available on the shop). One thing it's for sure, both are good quality of materials and construction to my eyes and experience.
LifeLines 1/4"-1/4" - Pro Co Sound
The Siren Speaker Cable

 

Either cable will meet your needs. Whichever you buy, get it just long enough to meet your needs. You don’t want coils in your runs. Cables should lie straight and flat or snake back and forth over the floor if you have to.

I buy mogami in bulk to make shielded studio microphone and patch cables. The cable quality is excellent and you pay for that. Their cables are more flexible than others, in part due to the rubber but also they use a fine stranded spiralled wrap vs a braid like other brands use for the ground shield. I find that this provides better shielding which is good for noisy environments like when near computer and monitor power supplies.

When coiling a cable, look up the “over under” method. It helps preserve the cable by not stressing it and helps when unwinding.

NOTE just to be clear: Speaker wires do not use shielded cables like a mic or patch cable would. Buy a cable intended for speaker use when connecting an amp to a speaker cabinet.

 

A friend of mine who is sound engineer/recording studio guru once told me there are only two types of cables:

Cables that work, and cables that don’t work.

 

What about when used for PA applications, 2 or 4 wire cable ?

 

Note to others reading this, never used shielded cable for speaker interconnects.

 

When biamping, 4 wire and NL-4 are necessary. Otherwise 2 wire and NL-2 or NL-4 are fine.

 

How do you tell if the proCo is legit?

 

ProCo is a legit enough company--they're big and they've been around a long time, and while they're not exactly known for making boutique-grade, 'high-end' cabling, they wouldn't survive that long if they ripped off their customers--MI-types and music merchandisers--with bogus connectors. Not to mention that Neutrik themselves wouldn't sell to them if they were ever caught using the counterfeits, and Neutrik supplies the industry a whole lot more connectors than just the SpeakOn line. I think the biggest concern about counterfeits should be when buying loose connectors for making your own cabling; you HAVE to buy from a known source like Parts Express, Mouser, etc. People known to actually sell Neutrik connectors...if you just buy from some unknown source on Amazon, I think you're running some risk of getting fraudulent connectors. At least, so I'm told...I've never encountered a fake NL4 my own self, but I've heard or read plenty of accounts from people whose opinions I trust.

And while I trust that Sweetwater wouldn't carry a product that has a bogus Neutrik connector, I must admit that my faith in them as an online marketer has been somewhat diminished by reading their glowing recommendation of the superior sonic properties of that $88 speaker cable.

 

See the cashier on the way out

 

Because it's a legit company that's been building cables for over 40 years.

 

I would question that a spiral wound shield is superior to a braided shield, against electrostatic noise. I've always been impressed with Mogami's offerings though.

For speaker cable, the short lengths used between a bass amp and cabinet, almost anything will work. For ruggedness, I would choose a #14 or #16 stranded conductors with a good overall neoprene jacket. The jacket is important as the speakon requires a substantial jacket for the collet clamp to tighten against. Anything less, and the strain relief will be compromised.
I've used SJOOW, but lately I've been using # 14 trailer cable; it has a thick thermoplastic outer jacket that remains flexible, even at low temperatures, and it's relatively cheap. It comes in with all sorts of different conductor counts, so it's perfect for biamping and even small speaker snakes for PA use.

 

I meant how do you tell by physically looking at them, I ask because I have proCos

 

I’m sorry my bad, my cables are procraft..

 

That's a tougher question. Knock-offs and non-branded SpeakOns are easy to identify, true counterfeit parts can be tough. I haven't seen any instances of ProCo using counterfeit parts.