Warning! Do Not Buy Cheap Speakon Cables

[aprod]

Agedhorse warned of this years ago.

 

[Paulabass]

Sage advice here.
Even I, a seasoned veteran in the p.a. business falls prey to the too good to be true internet pricing. At my house gig I bought an 8 channel subsnake for the drum riser. I thought I'd need some more short mic cables now. I found a deal for an 8 pack of cables that came down to like $10 each. WAY TOO CHEAP!
They lasted 2 gigs each AND kept getting stuck in other brand name connectors.

 

[brianrost]

I bought some of those cheap Speakon cables a few years back and had no issues with them to date, but after reading so many warnings I bought some real Neutrik plugs to replace the original knockoffs which went into the trash.

 

[bhendrix]

Count yourself as very lucky. The same sort of thing happens in the 1/4” world with spinner rivets, oversized sleeves and weirdly shaped tips.

Absolutely - and I've many a bad cable over the years. But have had nothing but perfect cables from these guys...

Speaker Cables

Highly recommended!

 

[agedhorse]

Sage advice here.
Even I, a seasoned veteran in the p.a. business falls prey to the too good to be true internet pricing. At my house gig I bought an 8 channel subsnake for the drum riser. I thought I'd need some more short mic cables now. I found a deal for an 8 pack of cables that came down to like $10 each. WAY TOO CHEAP!
They lasted 2 gigs each AND kept getting stuck in other brand name connectors.

If you need mic cables, I am retiring about 500 pounds of Belden/Switchcraft mic cables at the moment as well as about the same weight of SpeakOn cables (mostly 4 wire but some 2 wire). PM me if you still need some.

 

[Paulabass]

If you need mic cables, I am retiring about 500 pounds of Belden/Switchcraft mic cables at the moment as well as about the same weight of SpeakOn cables (mostly 4 wire but some 2 wire). PM me if you still need some.

Darn, I was hoping you'd buy a few thousand feet of speakon dinosaurs, umm, cables.
Thanks, but I'm set for cables.

 

[agedhorse]

Darn, I was hoping you'd buy a few thousand feet of speakon dinosaurs, umm, cables.
Thanks, but I'm set for cables.

I'm more than set, I made the decision to retire from live audio production after 42 mostly great years.

If anybody needs mostly pro audio type cables, I suppose you can PM either me or Paulabass. Sounds like together we have enough surplus cabling for several Talkbass lifetimes

 

[telecopy]

I see myself as a cagey veteran, not a guy who makes rookie mistakes. But sometimes my inner cheapskate prevails and I impulse-buy something whose use is not gonna end well, is gonna blow up in my face and make me feel ashamed. I do something that, as my mom used to say, "I should know better."

I get these emails, "Stupid Deal of the Day" type things, from various places I've done business with. There is a large company who carved out their space in the marketplace selling computer cables for cheap. They lasso'd the enterprise market and became a giant company. They have broadened their product line to all kinds of electronic-related products, including musical instrument amps and cables and now just about every kind of consumer electronics.

Their sale item that bit me was; Two 3' Speakon Cables for $9.99 shipped. "Spares," I thought. "I can use some spares."

When they arrived, I thought, "Lemme try 'em out, make sure they're OK." So I unplug the Speakon between my Acoustic Image amp and my EA Wizzy cab and insert the speakon into both, reaching around the back in both cases, doing it by feel. Power it up, no sound. Hmmmm. Try the other one; same thing, no sound. Weird.

So I think, "Let me try them in my Mesa Subway 800+ into my Fearful 112 cab." So I plug one in, fire up the amp; Bingo! Sound. "Lemme try the other one," I think. I unplug the cable from the cab. When I try to unplug it from the back of the amp; it won't budge. It'll only turn 1/8th of a turn, not 1/4 like it's supposed to. I try -- gently but firmly -- for a few minutes and get nowhere.

"Lemme call my tech," I think, so I do. His shop's closed. Hmmm, Google is my friend.

Uh-oh. Lots threads about Speakons getting stuck. Cheap Speakons getting stuck. And no happy endings about removing them. I see TB's beloved @Killed_by_Death warning folks not to buy cheap Speakons. Too late for me.

I have a brainstorm. PM our sage TBer @agedhorse, who designed my amp. Surely he's gonna know about this issue, what to do.

So I PM him. And he responds very quickly. With his permission, here's his reply, only slightly abridged;

What has probably happened is that the internal contact assembly on the plug came loose or was bent or improperly formed during manufacturing and has become intertwined with the mating contact assembly. I posted a picture of what the damage to the amp’s connector looks like.

Removing the connector is difficult without damaging the amp’s sheet metal, and the now damaged amp’s connector(s) must be replaced.

I have built some special tooling to do this without damaging the amp. It’s called the "Xonoxoxo (insert the manufacturer of MY cable here) plug removal tool" and it’s seen more use than I wish.

He tells me to send him the amp, which I do. He fixes it very, very quickly and now it's on it's way back across the country to me.

@agedhorse (Andy) saved my butt. Now I'm trying to save yours:

Warning! Do Not Buy Cheap Speakon Cables

I hope Andy will chime in with the appropriate clarity, which I lack. but in the meantime;

Warning! Do Not Buy Cheap Speakon Cables

Hello. I've seen Hosa cables with Rean brand connectors. Says its by Neutrik on package. Any experience with these? Are they crap?

 

[ardgedee]

I'm more than set, I made the decision to retire from live audio production after 42 mostly great years.

If anybody needs mostly pro audio type cables, I suppose you can PM either me or Paulabass. Sounds like together we have enough surplus cabling for several Talkbass lifetimes

You're already marked as a commercial user, see if you can set up a storefront here? (I'm not even sure how serious I am in saying that )

 

[agedhorse]

You're already marked as a commercial user, see if you can set up a storefront here? (I'm not even sure how serious I am in saying that )

Naaah, I don’t really sell stuff other than surplus. Most folks at my age who are/were seriously into pro audio are probably in the same situation

 

[2tonic]

This is a company which builds a quality product using the best available materials. They offer many unique variations, as well as custom designs, to solve any interconnectivity problems.
I've known both the owners for over 35 years, and their products have never let me down.

Conquest Sound

 

[rapidfirerob]

When I was using GK gear, the supplied 4 conductor cables went straight in the trash. They were not Neutrik connectors. I wasn’t going to risk it. You just know they will fail, and at the worst possible time.

I used the GK supplied cables for a short while until I bought proper cables with Neutrik connectors.
The GK connectors are indeed junk. It's sad they supply these with their excellent cabinets.
Better to not supply any cable at all.

 

[moon-bass]

I needed cables in a hurry and got some of the cheap ones off of Amazon. Two of the 1/4 inch cable tips broke off in pedals (I had to throw away a tuner because I broke it trying to get the lodged tip out). I had two speaking cables doa, and a third worked for a bit but then just stopped, shorted out a tube amp and caused a lot of issues. Never again will I buy cheap cables.

 

[CryingBass]

If you need mic cables, I am retiring about 500 pounds of Belden/Switchcraft mic cables at the moment as well as about the same weight of SpeakOn cables (mostly 4 wire but some 2 wire). PM me if you still need some.

Again - have a recycler pick that stuff up and then move to the exotic island of your choice!

 

[Obese Chess]

Also... huh. Today I learned about pozidriv screws. Neat

 

[sears]

I have used GLS plugs from Amazon but I think I'll replace them.

 

[arbiterusa]

When I try to unplug it from the back of the amp; it won't budge. It'll only turn 1/8th of a turn, not 1/4 like it's supposed to. I try -- gently but firmly -- for a few minutes and get nowhere.

Damn. I am sorry, but at least you didn’t make the most rookie mistake of all and try to force it out.

 

[brianrost]

Count yourself as very lucky. The same sort of thing happens in the 1/4” world with spinner rivets, oversized sleeves and weirdly shaped tips.

Never saw this before in 50 years of using 1/4" plugs (this particular plug is right angle). The very first gig I used this cable on, first I had intermittent signal and then no signal at all. I emailed this photo to my Sweetwater sales engineer and a new cable arrived a couple of days later.

 

[agedhorse]

I needed cables in a hurry and got some of the cheap ones off of Amazon. Two of the 1/4 inch cable tips broke off in pedals (I had to throw away a tuner because I broke it trying to get the lodged tip out). I had two speaking cables doa, and a third worked for a bit but then just stopped, shorted out a tube amp and caused a lot of issues. Never again will I buy cheap cables.

Yes, this is the 1/4" world equivalent of the SpeakOn losing it's guts with a similar results. They can be very hard to impossible to remove depending on where it breaks and how much tip gets left behind.

 

[Mingo Sanders]

Let me step in here for a minute...

I'm solidly in the anti sticky party, but should this be at least added to an existing sticky? Or is it "stickie?"