What are the advantages to using speakon versus typical speaker cable?

[Deleted member 165050]

Speakon's are your typical speaker cable these days.

I'll just leave this here... it's a speaker cable having an identity crisis...

 

[seamonkey]

Now onto powercon. Powercon for big power. Maybe not so important for normal amps with locking iea connectors now available.

 

[agedhorse]

Now onto powercon. Powercon for big power. Maybe not so important for normal amps with locking iea connectors now available.

I always thought it was CamLock for big power...

 

[bassfacer22]

Just got this and posted in another thread but though it be fun here too..

My new Tiny tiny $100 speaker cable! I actually paid $100 for this .. I don't think it will even reach my Speaker!

 

[agedhorse]

$100???

 

[bassfacer22]

$100???

tax etc brings it up to that.

 

[Gumps]

I simply use Neutrik because I don't want anybody to use an instrument cable where I'm connecting my head to a speaker cab. I use a dedicated cable of 12 gauge OFC wire terminated in Neutrik ends. Instrument cable can easily find its way into a cabinet and that is not good for sound or amp performance.

 

[Gumps]

I actually do carry an "identity crisis" wire as above in case I have to switch an amp head though. That's a nice cable above!

 

[beans-on-toast]

I usually buy my cables but I recently I needed a bunch of custom length XLR to TRS ¼" patch cables and decided to build them. The cost of paying someone to do the work was nuts.

I used Neutrik gold connectors and Mogami W2820 console cable. The cable has four twisted conductors and an outside shield. This helps to reduce noise. The shield is the ground, the signal cable twisted pairs required that two wires had to be soldered into each cup on the connector. Despite using a jig, it was a lot of fine detail work, especially the TRS ¼" plugs.

I wish that I could have bought the lenghts that I needed off the shelf. But as you do the work, it quickly becomes evident why these type of cables cost a lot more than the sum of the parts. A lot of work goes into building them.

 

[TomB]

Isn't that guage of cable a bit of overkill for anything that properly uses 1/4" connectors? Personally, I carry a 1/4" cable and an $8 adaptor just in case. ...and it's gotten used a fair bit out there!

 

[agedhorse]

tax etc brings it up to that.

View attachment 1081865

Good marketing I suppose... ugh!

 

[agedhorse]

I usually buy my cables but I recently I needed a bunch of custom length XLR to TRS ¼" patch cables and decided to build them. The cost of paying someone to do the work was nuts.

I used Neutrik gold connectors and Mogami W2820 console cable. The cable has four twisted conductors and an outside shield. This helps to reduce noise. The shield is the ground, the signal cable twisted pairs required that two wires had to be soldered into each cup on the connector. Despite using a jig, it was a lot of fine detail work, especially the TRS ¼" plugs.

I wish that I could have bought the lenghts that I needed off the shelf. But as you do the work, it quickly becomes evident why these type of cables cost a lot more than the sum of the parts. A lot of work goes into building them.

Over many years of testing, I have found and measured zero difference using quad cable for anything except very long distances. There is a significant drawback of difficult assembly and reduced mechanical integrity of the connection unless built up perfectly.

 

[bassfacer22]

So this is a standard guitar cable from planet waves..and will these connectors start to ruin or push open my jacks on my basses or amps by using them?

Remember that monster cable episode awile ago that caused some people to replace the jacks on guitars because it was pushing the metal further out and when you used a regular cable after that it didn't connect properly..

 

[beans-on-toast]

Over many years of testing, I have found and measured zero difference using quad cable for anything except very long distances. There is a significant drawback of difficult assembly and reduced mechanical integrity of the connection unless built up perfectly.

I wondered about that so I did some tests with common noise sources such as a mic preamps power supplies, a computer, a cell phone charger, some digital outboard equipment and ran it through a spectrum analyzer and a listening amp. I came across the video below and wanted to see if I could reproduce their claim. You have to take these sort of demos with a grain of salt. Based on my tests, it turned out that the quad cable did make a difference.

Now if you overwhelm any cable, noise is going to get in. But the noise was much lower with the quad cable; the spectrum analyzer allowed me to see the difference. In use, the cable was dead quiet. Are cables in close proximity to this type of noise in everyday use? No. Perhaps a reason why you found that they don't make a difference with shorter properly laid out runs.

Although the patch cables are in close proximity to power supplies in a rack. This is unavoidable and layouts can get messy. The added insurance of the quad only costed an extra $0.30 per foot. When I run cables, I normally don't even let them touch each other to avoid the possibility of interaction.

Another thing that I wondered about, the outside shield of the Mogami is a pretty thick fine stranded wrap, not a tight braid. Not sure how the wrap vs the braid will perform long term when subjected to normal flexing. I'm always careful to wrap cables over under to avoid twisting. That precaution helps.

Your point about mechanical integrity is very true. I twisted the exposed cable pairs, then the stripped ends were twisted and soldered together before soldering the stubs in the cups. It took more time to ensure that I got it right which slowed down the work quite a bit. The Neutrik connectors maintain a firm grasp on the outer jacket and offer good strain relief. The cable is locked in position, much more so than with other makes, it appeared that there was no strain on the solder joints.

 

[beans-on-toast]

So this is a standard guitar cable from planet waves..and will these connectors start to ruin or push open my jacks on my basses or amps by using them?

Remember that monster cable episode awile ago that caused some people to replace the jacks on guitars because it was pushing the metal further out and when you used a regular cable after that it didn't connect properly..

View attachment 1082220 View attachment 1082221 View attachment 1082217 View attachment 1082218

I also bought one of those cables to check them out. The tip is a different design, their claim is that they snap in and hold a better contact. I haven't noticed any ill effects over the last couple of years of use. I remember the problems that some monster cables caused.

If you look at studio bantom patch bay cables, they also have a design that is very different from that of a standard ¼" plug. The bantom plugs have been around for a long time. The planet waves plugs look similar in the tip design.

 

[bassfacer22]

I also bought one of those cables to check them out. The tip is a different design, their claim is that they snap in and hold a better contact. I haven't noticed any ill effects over the last couple of years of use. I remember the problems that some monster cables caused.

If you look at studio bantom patch bay cables, they also have a design that is very different from that of a standard ¼" plug. The bantom plugs have been around for a long time. The planet waves plugs look similar in the tip design.

ok thanks.. then I'll use that for my guitar cable..