using shielded y cable for cabinets?

[jjhardy]

i have a head that can do 2 ohms (and has 2 speaker outputs), and am currently using a pair of 8 ohms cabs with it. i had thought to myself that i'd love something that could let me plug those cabs into one output so that i could have the space to plug in a large 4 ohm cab into the other one, if i ever felt like using the head to it's max potential. i asked about this at a local music store, and was told that a Hosa shielded Y cable could do this. I haven't had the chance to try this myself, and when I asked a guy i know about this recently, he said that i should never use something like that with powered speaker cables. is this the case? and if it is, what can i use to do what i want to do?

 

[Trevorus]

Don't use it. It's wires are not built to handle the power of an amplifier! Doesn't one of your cabs have 2 1/4" jacks on it? Just daisy chain them.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Never use shielded cables for speakers. Buy or make a speaker Y cable.

 

[wallybill]

From everything that I have read including my amplifier user manuals, shielded cable should not be used for a speaker cable. It can damage the amp.
You can build a little box that has one input and two outputs wired in parallel, to use on one amp output and then plug the large four ohm cab into the other output. If the large cab has two inputs, then you can just use one of those to daisy chain into another cabinet.

 

[jjhardy]

i've been told that daisy chaining cabinets results in a higher ohm rating, so i'd be running the head at 16 ohms that way.

 

[wallybill]

i've been told that daisy chaining cabinets results in a higher ohm rating, so i'd be running the head at 16 ohms that way.

It would have to be wired in series to result in a higher ohm rating and I have personally never seen a cabinet wired that way. I suppose it is possible and could be useful, but wouldn't the other speaker cabinet always have to be plugged in?

 

[Trevorus]

i've been told that daisy chaining cabinets results in a higher ohm rating, so i'd be running the head at 16 ohms that way.

You've been told wrong. I also have NEVER seen a cabinet wired that way.

 

[jtc_hunter]

daisy chaining the 2-8ohm cabs will give you 4 ohms on that side, then plug in your 4 ohm on the other side. Done deal.

 

[RickenBoogie]

daisy chaining the 2-8ohm cabs will give you 4 ohms on that side, then plug in your 4 ohm on the other side. Done deal.

+1 No need to buy anything, just make sure you're using speaker cable.

 

[Tim1]

There is a time when it is beneficial to wire cabs in series. I do it with my two 4 ohm Goliath Junior 210 cabinets when running them together with my Markbass amp. The MB will not go below 4 ohms so I wire the cabs in series for an 8 ohm load.

 

[wallybill]

There is a time when it is beneficial to wire cabs in series. I do it with my two 4 ohm Goliath Junior 210 cabinets when running them together with my Markbass amp. The MB will not go below 4 ohms so I wire the cabs in series for an 8 ohm load.

Cool. So then, do you have to have both cabinets hooked up all the time? I'm wondering if pulling one cabinet out would break the circuit. Did you change the way the plug was wired on one of the cabinets?