Speakon to 1/4" adapter

[BassmanPaul]

If you look at the back panel you will see a small symbol indicating how the speakon is wired. I can't make it out from the manual, it's too small, but it looks like both channels are brought out to the speakon which is what I expected. It's the only scheme that makes logical sense.

To bridge you'll need a cable wired +1 +2 at the amp end and +1 -1 at the speaker. The wiring I first suggested should work just fine.

Paul

 

[HATe410]

hate to get OT but ever since ive been using speakon "locking" conectionsive often wondered if someone tangled themelves in my cables wouldnt they pull my rack offthe top of my cab...somties id rather it just unplugged itself....

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

So you're suggesting creating a custom cable that will connect my two cabinets in series to the bridged output of the amp? I don't really understand.

 

[Bassman316]

I just got a Hartke LH1000 with the Hydrive 410 cab. No problem at all- Speakon out of the amp into the Speakon in the back of the cab, running in bridge mode. Cab gets 750 gnarly watts. It kicks.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Custom cable yes, series connecting the cabinets no.

Your amp's speakcon is wired channel one hot to +1, channel two hot to +2. Both -1 and -2 are ground. If you wire a two core cable to +1 and -1 and take that to a speaker you are connecting to channel one. Similarly a second cable wired to +2 and -2 will connect to channel two. You do not switch to bridge. Essentially you are connecting in parallel with the phone jack outputs with a better connector.

Paul

 

[interstatejoe]

hate to get OT but ever since ive been using speakon "locking" conectionsive often wondered if someone tangled themelves in my cables wouldnt they pull my rack offthe top of my cab...somties id rather it just unplugged itself....

Never been an issue for me as I use either a speakon to 1/4" (for stereo) or banana plug to 1/4" (for bridged) cables which would unplug the 1/4" side from the cab...I also have my speaker cables coiled up and zip tied (with reusable/releasable zip ties) so that they are the correct length to reach from the head to the cab with just a little slack...gets nowhere near the floor and sits nice and tight up against the back of my cab which makes it pretty hard for anyone to tangle up in it.

 

[251]

In bridge the tip and the sleeve of a phone plug are both electrically hot from ground connected to a different channels outputs. One channel is 180 degrees out of phase with the other. As an example if the amp is pushing 100W per channel each is putting out close to 30V AC. Because they are out of phase that voltage is essentially doubled. That's 60V and the amps barely idling. I'll let you do the math for what the amp will be putting out at its maximum. This is potentially dangerous to you personally and also to the amp. Speakons are the only way to go.

Paul

Exactly why I wrote a word of caution, here, about the Speakon to 1/4" adapter I bought. The ungrounded sleeve circuit of the 1/4" jack appears on the uninsulated ring of the plug. A poorly chosen $12 adapter can fry a rather expensive amplifier.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Indeed! You should be aware of any ramifications before you connect anything to the outputs of an amplifier. Phone plugs were originally designed to work on 48V telephone switchboards. The are totally unsuitable for use on hundreds of volts at tens of amps.

Paul

 

[interstatejoe]

Indeed! You should be aware of any ramifications before you connect anything to the outputs of an amplifier. Phone plugs were originally designed to work on 48V telephone switchboards. The are totally unsuitable for use on hundreds of volts at tens of amps.

Paul

May cab only has 1/4" inputs, my power amp only has speakon and binding post outputs, I have Speakon (+1 -1) to 1/4" cable for running stereo and a banana to 1/4" cable for running bridged, so I don't mix them up.

 

[grovest]

Cool, this thread inspired me to perform a search where I learned that Neutrik makes such an adapter after all! Didn't realize that.

For some time I've been carrying a 10' Neutrik Speakon to 1/4" cable for a situation when I'd want to use my amp with a cab that didn't have Speakon. That situation has yet to arise. But I think I'd much rather just carry the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] adapter (smaller and lighter) and assume that if I'm borrowing a house cab with 1/4" inputs, there will be a 1/4" speaker cable not too far away. Small assumption in trade for small weight savings, but it feels right.

 

[Lazarus.Bird]

Here is the one I was originally talking about. It's LiveWire, so most likely good quality.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[jnewmark]

Indeed! You should be aware of any ramifications before you connect anything to the outputs of an amplifier. Phone plugs were originally designed to work on 48V telephone switchboards. The are totally unsuitable for use on hundreds of volts at tens of amps.

Paul

What about the combo speakon outputs/inputs, are they just as dangerous when bridging ?

 

[Dark Barn]

If you are using each channel separately to two cabs then you only get the regular individual power level. If you do this switched to bridge one cabinet will be out of phase with the other leading to severe cancellations.

Paul

Using bridged mode into 2 cabinets (by means of the speaker out on the back of the first cabinet) doesn't mean they will be out of phase with eachother. Or so goes my understanding of how this works. That is to say unless they are wired out of phase with eachother to begin with, in which case operation in either stereo or bridged mono will give you phase issues.

 

[BassmanPaul]

Using bridged mode into 2 cabinets (by means of the speaker out on the back of the first cabinet) doesn't mean they will be out of phase with eachother. Or so goes my understanding of how this works. That is to say unless they are wired out of phase with eachother to begin with, in which case operation in either stereo or bridged mono will give you phase issues.

you don't understand correctly. In parallel mode one input signal drive both power amps and each speaker out will rise and fall at the same time. Identical cabinets will reproduce the same sound.

In bridge the input signal, normally channel one will drive power amp one's input. Channel two however has the signal flipped by 180 degrees. Thus as channel one's output rises, channel two falls by the same amount. Connecting a cabinet between the hots of both channels gives it twice the voltage to work with and increasing the power the cabinet receives. Running separate cabinets from the individual outputs means that the one on channel one will reproduce the normal signal. The cabinet on channel two will reproduce a signal 180 degrees out of phase with channel one.

Paul

 

[BassmanPaul]

I can see that I misread you. Yes daisy chaining cab to cab will not cause phase issues BUT you are only using one channel. This is not what I posted.

Paul