speakon connector for AMPEG SVT3-PRO

[Brazilian_bass]

Hi guys

Does anybody know how to connect SVT3-PRO head to 1x SVT-15EN + 1 x SVT-410HEN AMPEG cabinets using speakon connector?
Both cabinets are 8ohms, so I'll probably have 4 ohms and full output power. The problem is: Just one output in the head for two cabinets.

Please advise also with better cable(brand) to use and better speakon(probably Neutrik....) ?

thanks;

 

[mdogs]

I don't think you are going to get much advice. If you don't understand basics like this, you are only asking for trouble and possible injury...

 

[Brazilian_bass]

Sorry mdogs, but I think I was not clear im my request or you understood nothing.........What I need is audio cable specification(better brand) and I will do my stuff......according guys experience (this brand is better, that brand)...... I don't wanna tons of money in ready cables like Monter, MOGANI,etc....... since buy cables from buck is so simple........

P.S. Cables are very basic for a Master of Science in Power Energy like me..... Don't you think ????

 

[CL400Peavey]

I think the bigger issue is that you are trying to use a 410 and a 115 together to get more power out of your head. This is a bad idea for a lot of reasons, most importantly power handling.

You are asking a single 15" driver to do what four 10" drivers are doing. If each cab is getting 400 watts of power for example, that 15" driver gets all that power, where each 10" driver gets 100 watts. When you are pushing the 410 at a comfortable level, your 115 will be on the verge of mechanical failure.

Now I dont care what your cabs are rated at. Its rubbish THERMAL ratings, not excursion ratings. The 115 may only be able to handle 200 or so watts before it reaches the physical limitations of the driver. The voice coil may be rated higher (which is the point at which it will melt) but having the voice coil intact doesnt mean much if the rest is breaking apart. The 410 you are thinking of pairing more than likely has a higher excursion limit. So you can push those four drivers much harder before the cab reaches the physical limits.

Where all these issues cross is when you cant even hear the 115 starting to fail because the 410 is so much louder. The 115 will be damaged and you wont know it.

 

[JimWasHere]

P.S. Cables are very basic for a Master of Science in Power Energy like me..... Don't you think ????

Well, you're the guy asking

For an indepth answer, I suggest the faq sticky at the top of this forum. It's cool. There's also a lot of threads around about why you probably want to just use the 4x10... Also, the simple answer to your question. Speakon out of the amp to either speakon on the first cab.... Speakon out on the first cab to speakon in on the second cab. almost any cable with speakons on it will work.

 

[Lo-E]

Instead of everybody being snarky, somebody could just answer the OPs question. Crazy thought, huh?

If one of your cabinets has two speakon connectors on it, plug the head into that cabinet and then daisy-chain from that cabinet to the second cabinet.

As far as one brand being better than another, it doesn't matter. Make sure it's fairly heavy cable (12 GA in the US - I'm not sure what that equates to in Brazil) and off you go. You can make the cables yourself if need be.

 

[JimWasHere]

Uhh... I did answer it. Crazy thought, huh?

 

[bassman314]

You are asking a single 15" driver to do what four 10" drivers are doing. If each cab is getting 400 watts of power for example, that 15" driver gets all that power, where each 10" driver gets 100 watts. When you are pushing the 410 at a comfortable level, your 115 will be on the verge of mechanical failure.

If input is 400 watts, then the impedence of the overall cab (8 ohms) will mean that 200 of those fat, chunky watts will power each of the cabs. Voltage = (Watts x Ohms)^1/2, and Voltage is constant thtoughout a parallel system, so Watts and Ohms have to be proportional.

At 400 Watts and 4 Ohms, Voltage = 40 Volts.
Therefore, each of the 8 Ohm cabs see 200 Watts.

The only issue I see is that the output of the SVT3Pro is actually 450 Watts RMS at 4 Ohms. This means that each speaker sees 225 watts. The 115 is rated at 200 Watts RMS, and the 410 is rated to 500 Watts RMS.

While you may be right that the 115 is overpowered by a slight margin, however your reasoning is dead wrong.

As for OP's question, Lo-E and JimWasHere hit it on the head. If there are 2 Speak-On jacks on one of the cabs, you can do it, otherwise you have to use 1/4".

If you want to build your own cables, I'd stick with Neutrik Jacks (Speak-on is their trademark), and a good-quality, heavy-gauage 4-conductor cable, like Canare.

 

[Lo-E]

My apologies JimWasHere. I didn't fully read your post. My bad....

 

[Bass_Pounder]

You are asking a single 15" driver to do what four 10" drivers are doing. If each cab is getting 400 watts of power for example, that 15" driver gets all that power, where each 10" driver gets 100 watts. When you are pushing the 410 at a comfortable level, your 115 will be on the verge of mechanical failure.
QUOTE]

If input is 400 watts, then the impedence of the overall cab (8 ohms) will mean that 200 of those fat, chunky watts will power each of the cabs. Votlage = (Watts x Ohms)^2, and Voltage is constant thtoughout a parallel system, so Watts and Ohms have to be proportional.

At 400 Watts and 4 Ohms, Voltage = 40 Volts.
Therefore, each of the 8 Ohm cabs see 200 Watts.

The only issue I see is that the output of the SVT3Pro is actually 450 Watts RMS at 4 Ohms. This means that each speaker sees 225 watts. The 115 is rated at 200 Watts RMS, and the 410 is rated to 500 Watts RMS.

While you may be right that the 115 is overpowered by a slight margin, however your reasoning is dead wrong.

Nope...........does not take a scientist to see that a single cone (1X15) cab being sent the same power as a multi-cone cab (4X10) is going to be a problem.

A single 15 only has the displacement on par with a 2X10. When compared to a 4X10, it is going to run out of gas long before the 4X10.

Additionally, the 200 watt rating of the 1X15 means nothing. As stated before, the speaker will become displacement limited at around 100 watts (depending on use of low end EQ).

 

[bassman314]

Additionally, the 200 watt rating of the 1X15 means nothing. As stated before, the speaker will become displacement limited at around 100 watts (depending on use of low end EQ).

I'll admit that I am not an expert in speaker design, however I find it hard to believe that this is true, since every 115 I've sever seen was rated much much higher than 100 Watts.

Such as the 115 I use all the time. Rated to 350 Watts RMS, and subjected to 275 Watts RMS. I've owned it for about 8 years, and have had no issues with the 115 driver having any mechanical failure.

 

[CL400Peavey]

I was using a hypothetical power output of 800 watts total.

That said. You have some total output voltage, You have two cabs rated at 8 Ohms. They will both get the same amount of power distributed to them. Now in that 410 cab there are FOUR speakers, regardless of series or parallel wiring in the cab, as long as its consistent they will each get 1/4th of the power going into that cab. Much easier for a 410 to handle 400 watts (each 10" speaker gets 100 watts) than for a single 15" speaker to handle that same amount.

Now combine the fact that the 410 has a greater displacement than a 115 and you see that it will be louder. So while the 410 sounds fine it will cover up the sounds of distress that the 115 cab will make at the same applied voltage.

If input is 400 watts, then the impedence of the overall cab (8 ohms) will mean that 200 of those fat, chunky watts will power each of the cabs. Voltage = (Watts x Ohms)^1/2, and Voltage is constant thtoughout a parallel system, so Watts and Ohms have to be proportional.

At 400 Watts and 4 Ohms, Voltage = 40 Volts.
Therefore, each of the 8 Ohm cabs see 200 Watts.

The only issue I see is that the output of the SVT3Pro is actually 450 Watts RMS at 4 Ohms. This means that each speaker sees 225 watts. The 115 is rated at 200 Watts RMS, and the 410 is rated to 500 Watts RMS.

 

[bassman314]

I was using a hypothetical wattage output of 800 watts total.

That said. You have some total output voltage, You have two cabs rated at 8 Ohms. They will both get the same amount of power distributed to them. Now in that 410 cab there are FOUR speakers, regardless of series or parallel wiring in the cab, as long as its consistent they will each get 1/4th of the power going into that cab. Much easier for a 410 to handle 400 watts (each 10" speaker gets 100 watts) than for a single 15" speaker to handle that same amount.

Now combine the fact that the 410 has a greater displacement than a 115 and you see that it will be louder. So while the 410 sounds fine it will cover up the sounds of distress that the 115 cab will make at the same applied voltage.

I don't doubt that the 410 is louder. I doubt that the 115, while working well within the range the manufacturer has indicated as appropriate, is suffering mechanical failure.

If the single 15 driver has been rated to handle 200 watts, or a thousand watts, or whatever is seeing less than this amount, then under normal working conditions, the driver should be able to handle this.

 

[BassmanPaul]

If input is 400 watts, then the impedence of the overall cab (8 ohms) will mean that 200 of those fat, chunky watts will power each of the cabs. Voltage = (Watts x Ohms)^1/2, and Voltage is constant thtoughout a parallel system, so Watts and Ohms have to be proportional.

At 400 Watts and 4 Ohms, Voltage = 40 Volts.
Therefore, each of the 8 Ohm cabs see 200 Watts.

The only issue I see is that the output of the SVT3Pro is actually 450 Watts RMS at 4 Ohms. This means that each speaker sees 225 watts. The 115 is rated at 200 Watts RMS, and the 410 is rated to 500 Watts RMS.

While you may be right that the 115 is overpowered by a slight margin, however your reasoning is dead wrong.

Actually he is correct. He DID say "if EACH cabinet is getting 400W for example".

Mixing ANY single driver cabinet with a 4x10 is a recipe for disaster.

 

[CL400Peavey]

As I have said, that RMS rating is more than likely a THERMAL rating. It is marketing BS, that is pass off as tech specs. What really matters is EXCURSION rating. Most drivers reach that physical limitation before the thermal limits.

You are not really subjecting that 115 to as much power as you believe.

I'll admit that I am not an expert in speaker design, however I find it hard to believe that this is true, since every 115 I've sever seen was rated much much higher than 100 Watts.

Such as the 115 I use all the time. Rated to 350 Watts RMS, and subjected to 275 Watts RMS. I've owned it for about 8 years, and have had no issues with the 115 driver having any mechanical failure.

 

[Bass_Pounder]

I'll admit that I am not an expert in speaker design, however I find it hard to believe that this is true, since every 115 I've sever seen was rated much much higher than 100 Watts.

Such as the 115 I use all the time. Rated to 350 Watts RMS, and subjected to 275 Watts RMS. I've owned it for about 8 years, and have had no issues with the 115 driver having any mechanical failure.

So............you have measured your output, and know it to be fact that you are feeding it 275 watts ?

Or is it that you are feeding that speaker with an amp that has the POTENTIAL to send it 275 watts ?

More than likely, it is the second scenario.

As far as the OP's 1X15 - you yourself said it is rated at 200 watts RMS. Ask any speaker designer that frequents the forums, *MOST* commercially available speakers are displacement limited at around 1/2 their thermal rating.

 

[projectMalamute]

If input is 400 watts, then the impedence of the overall cab (8 ohms) will mean that 200 of those fat, chunky watts will power each of the cabs. Voltage = (Watts x Ohms)^1/2, and Voltage is constant thtoughout a parallel system, so Watts and Ohms have to be proportional.

At 400 Watts and 4 Ohms, Voltage = 40 Volts.
Therefore, each of the 8 Ohm cabs see 200 Watts.

The only issue I see is that the output of the SVT3Pro is actually 450 Watts RMS at 4 Ohms. This means that each speaker sees 225 watts. The 115 is rated at 200 Watts RMS, and the 410 is rated to 500 Watts RMS.

While you may be right that the 115 is overpowered by a slight margin, however your reasoning is dead wrong.

As for OP's question, Lo-E and JimWasHere hit it on the head. If there are 2 Speak-On jacks on one of the cabs, you can do it, otherwise you have to use 1/4".

If you want to build your own cables, I'd stick with Neutrik Jacks (Speak-on is their trademark), and a good-quality, heavy-gauage 4-conductor cable, like Canare.

You've got the math all messed up here.

 

[bassman314]

wait... so there's a mechanical raitng separate from the power handling?

Awesome...

 

[CL400Peavey]

wait... so there's a mechanical raitng separate from the power handling?

Awesome...

yep there are actually quite a few physical specs that come into play, and the vast majority of manufacturers dont ever publish any of the ones that matter.

 

[bassman314]

yep there are actually quite a few physical specs that come into play, and the vast majority of manufacturers dont ever publish any of the ones that matter.

That's good to know! Sorry about coming of as a pretentious git!