WHY ARE WE STILL USING 1/4" JACKS!

[awilkie84]

That's a DI. 1/4" is great for instruments, they work, they're cheap and they're easy to replace. Locking jacks are a pretty bad idea, because instead of unplugging, they'll just damage your instrument instead. Put the cable through your strap and you'll have no problems.

1/4" for cabs on the other hand, sucks ass. We should all be using speakons by now.

If you were to open up your speaker cab & look at the speak-on jack, it's only using the same number of wires as the 1/4" jack. No benefit other than it locks in place & will tug on your cab if the cord gets pulled. Safer to just have the cord come out, IMO.

 

[Flad]

I was told ( I don't know how reliable this is) that speakons were invented to keep the cable from being blown out of the jack in cabinets with no ports. I have a small stage monitor that isn't ported whatsoever and you can feel air push out the unused jack hole when it's really thumping. I doubt the thing will ever have enough power to push the plug out of the jack but in a high power situation I could see it happening.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

If you were to open up your speaker cab & look at the speak-on jack, it's only using the same number of wires as the 1/4" jack. No benefit other than it locks in place & will tug on your cab if the cord gets pulled. Safer to just have the cord come out, IMO.

Not necessarily. Speakon is capable of much higher power handling so those NL4 conductors are supposed to have 4 wires running to them to accommodate bi-amping. IOn most cases, manufacturers save money just running two wires to a NL4 jack since %99 of players will never even think about bi-amping.

It is not safer to have the cord come out in my opinion, particularly if it is a tube amp. Somebody else might accidentally pull your cord out and not say anything, next thing you know your SVT has fried itself. A cable would have to get reefed on pretty hard to move a head off of a cab.

To each their own. I am not as invested in the subject as the OP seems to be.

 

[khutch]

I once played with a guy who replaced all his 1/4" with BNC connectors. He did work for NASA...

BNC's are crap, I use properly torqued SMA's, much better high frequency response.

 

[iunno]

If you were to open up your speaker cab & look at the speak-on jack, it's only using the same number of wires as the 1/4" jack. No benefit other than it locks in place & will tug on your cab if the cord gets pulled. Safer to just have the cord come out, IMO.

Why on Earth would that cable get pulled? 1/4" jacks can get worn out and the plug can come loose while playing. Speakons are also higher quality connectors, there are no downsides at all in using them for what they're made for.

 

[awilkie84]

Why on Earth would that cable get pulled? 1/4" jacks can get worn out and the plug can come loose while playing. Speakons are also higher quality connectors, there are no downsides at all in using them for what they're made for.

Do you know how easy it is to fix a loose 1/4" jack? It takes like 2 minutes. If you keep up on your gear, you're never going to have that problem. It's when you become complacent & ill-informed with your gear.

 

[JustForSport]

...and I thought it was 'cause Fender started it, and no one wants to change

 

[NinetyFive]

"They suck! I know it! You know it!"

Wrong. They work fine. Change for the sake of change is childish. what is your idea of an alternative? What are the benefits?

 

[JimmyM]

I still use 1/4" speaker cables. Why? I don't like speakons. Used to use them but they're big and clunky and 1/4" cables fit in my bag neater. So even when I have the choice to use something better, I don't. I want functional and practical. If I were wiring up a PA or monitor system, I'd use speakons since there's more risk of them pulling out. But for my bass rig? Nah. I'll stick with caveman technology.

 

[lowfreq33]

Speakons for amp->cab. If for some reason the speaker cable gets yanked with a 1/4" it causes a bad DC pop that can blow the voice coil in high power circumstances. That's my preference anyway.

For instruments I prefer 1/4". I'd rather the cable pull out than get pulled out taking the entire jack assembly with it.


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[JimmyM]

Only time I ever had a 1/4" pop out is when I was trying to move my rig during a soundcheck a couple years ago and forgot to unplug the two 210av's I had daisy chained and vertically stacked. But that wasn't the plug's fault. Otherwise, in a 35 year career, I've never had it happen.

 

[miiitch]

I was told ( I don't know how reliable this is) that speakons were invented to keep the cable from being blown out of the jack in cabinets with no ports. I have a small stage monitor that isn't ported whatsoever and you can feel air push out the unused jack hole when it's really thumping.

what on earth ... be it a cheapo monitor or not, they are supposed to be closed, airtight.

 

[Major Softie]

I was told ( I don't know how reliable this is) that speakons were invented to keep the cable from being blown out of the jack in cabinets with no ports. I have a small stage monitor that isn't ported whatsoever and you can feel air push out the unused jack hole when it's really thumping. I doubt the thing will ever have enough power to push the plug out of the jack but in a high power situation I could see it happening.

You need to find new people to listen to.

 

[guy n. cognito]

If you were to open up your speaker cab & look at the speak-on jack, it's only using the same number of wires as the 1/4" jack. No benefit other than it locks in place & will tug on your cab if the cord gets pulled. Safer to just have the cord come out, IMO.

Until someone pulls the cord out of a high wattage head and shocks themselves, which is, of course, a significantly bigger risk than someone accidentially pulling a cord and knocking over your head.

 

[guy n. cognito]

Do you know how easy it is to fix a loose 1/4" jack? It takes like 2 minutes. If you keep up on your gear, you're never going to have that problem. It's when you become complacent & ill-informed with your gear.

What's more practical....learning how to fix old technology or adopting new ones that render the old obsolete??

 

[awilkie84]

What's more practical....learning how to fix old technology or adopting new ones that render the old obsolete??

But, that's the thing. It doesn't render anything obsolete. It's just different. I'm also not worried about someone pulling over my head. I'm more concerned about the cab falling or jack being pulled, or the cable breaking because of the strain put on it by the pull. Accidents happen. I'd rather have the failsafe that it's just going to pull out.

Also, I'm a firm believer that I should know as much as possible about the technologies I use. That way I'm less reliant on other people and I'm not ignorant.

 

[Handyman]

If you were to open up your speaker cab & look at the speak-on jack, it's only using the same number of wires as the 1/4" jack. No benefit other than it locks in place & will tug on your cab if the cord gets pulled. Safer to just have the cord come out, IMO.

1/4" jacks aren't so awful for old school power power applications, but they have a number of drawbacks when used with modern amps, especially high powered ones.

1/4" jacks short the two connectors together during insertion and removal. Not a good thing, especially with high powered amplifiers. Their maximum current capacity is fairly low too - not so great if you're hooking up something like a 2000W power amp.

The worst property, though, is that the plug is usually electrically connected to the sleeve terminal. This is just plain dangerous to your equipment when using bridged power amps, like some modern micro-bass heads. Accidentally touch the sleeve of the jack to your chassis, or anything else that's grounded, and you can let out the magic smoke.

Speakon connectors solve lots of real problems with 1/4" jacks, though most of those problems are only really an issue if you're using modern high powered solid state amps.

 

[BruceWane]

Picture a 1/4" jack/plug connection; the round barrel of the plug contacts the flat plate of the jack. Additionally, both of the jack contacts are bent into a V shape, and only the peak of the V contacts the barrel of the plug. The actual area of contact is very small, probably less than the average pinhead.

Instrument level signals are tiny, so this is not a problem.

Speakon connectors have a lot more contact area than 1/4" jacks, so they're often preferred for high wattage connections (1000+ watts). Most often used in medium to large PA systems.

If you think about it, what's the use of using 12 gauge wire with end connection points that are no bigger than a pinhead? In applications where larger gauge cable is recommended (higher wattage + longer runs), speakons make sense.

And a big ALSO to keep in mind - speakon connectors do not use solder connections, so they're very easy to service; all you need is a screwdriver. And they can be configured several different ways to accomodate biamping, series connections etc., so a couple of extra speakons in the toolbox covers any possible configuration or repair needs you may have out on a gig. This is why I use them - they're a lot easier to deal with when you're squeezing in behind a stage rig, holding a flashlight in your mouth, trying to fix a problem.

 

[guy n. cognito]

But, that's the thing. It doesn't render anything obsolete. It's just different. I'm also not worried about someone pulling over my head. I'm more concerned about the cab falling or jack being pulled, or the cable breaking because of the strain put on it by the pull. Accidents happen. I'd rather have the failsafe that it's just going to pull out.

Also, I'm a firm believer that I should know as much as possible about the technologies I use. That way I'm less reliant on other people and I'm not ignorant.

Sure they are. And, honestly, you're concerned about the JACK if the cabinet falls over?????

 

[JimmyM]

Speakon connectors solve lots of real problems with 1/4" jacks, though most of those problems are only really an issue if you're using modern high powered solid state amps.

800w is the highest power amp I have.