Members solomaniac17 Posted January 24, 2007 Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 I have been using the Behringer first model of the 1800x 18 inch 400 wat contineous powered subs in my 3 way Dj and live sound system for over a year now. howevr I am quite limited with their use due to their Nuetrik Speakon inputs.. They only have speakon inputs, and they are wired quit strangley.. instead of the norm -1 +1 configuration I find on most inputs with speakon connectors, these subs are wired +2 -2. I actually had to re configure 2 of my 50 ft speakon cables to make it compatible with these subs I have. does anyone know why Behringer did this? Alex, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BillESC Posted January 24, 2007 Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 Perhaps they had to make something about the sub their own intellectual property. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members solomaniac17 Posted January 24, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 well i cant find any speakon cables wired -2 +2. I thought maybe it had sumthing to do with the voltage in Europe. I know their voltage is a bit different setup. thanx! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted January 24, 2007 Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 Has nothing to do with the voltage. Some companies do use 2+/2- for the sub to allow their (and other) passive tops to utilize the more standard 1+/1-. The JBL crossovers have a switch to change this around. Most pro companies use the 1+/- for the lower frequency and 2+/- for the higher frequency. We would change the cabinets to adhere to this protocol IF we were to utilize a single run and had passive tops, but we also biamp the tops so 1+/- on the tops is the low and 2+/- is the horn. I would then have a seperate connector for the subs wired 1+/- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members solomaniac17 Posted January 24, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 ok so is their cables out their wired for the this configuration.. -2+2 or do u have to by the specific amps. or processors which work with them ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Unalaska Posted January 24, 2007 Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 I first read this and thought: troll. But I'm begining to think this is a real question. OK, here's the deal: a majority of MI grade cabs are wired 1 +/- which with 4 pole speakon panel mounts could ALSO be wired 2 +/-. I've encountered older JBL subs wired this way. You can either wire your cabs 2+/- or one end of a cable 2+/- and the other 1+/-. Why not consider wiring ALL cabs 1+/- and using only 2 conductor speaker cable (like you're using now). What was the reason to use behringer stuff anyway?p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members solomaniac17 Posted January 24, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 thats what I intend to do. configure them 1+/- but their is a digital processor chip in the subs, and I don't wanna by pass it., or mess around with it "if its not broke don't fix" im not that great with soldering. What i have done is use { like u said 2 conductor speaker cable" wired one end, 2+/- and the other end 1+/-. but now i have to make my own, so if a cable fails on me one night. ill have to wire sumthing on the spot. I bought the pair for $400 canadian brand new. to good of a deal to pass up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnw Posted January 24, 2007 Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 There is no digital chip in the Behringer sub. What you may be talking about is a passive crossover. I have changed a few speakers out in the Behringer sub for some friends after the speaker crapped out. I don't remember any crossover in the sub, but I may be mistaken. It has been a while since I've done that. If there is one, I would remove it and use an active crossover. Passive crossovers are known for robbing power from the speaker. As to the wiring of the speakon, 1+/- seems to be the norm for most companys for lows. However, nothing is set in stone. There are no standards for the industry that I know of. Take Care,John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted January 24, 2007 CMS Author Share Posted January 24, 2007 Speakon are perhaps the easiest form of connection to work with. Unscrew the barrel, loosen the two wire clamps, move the wires, and reverse the procedure to reassemble. Even under duress of a gig, shouldn't take more than a few minutes to do. And well-made cables should last many years. The last thing I worry about is a failure of one of my speakon cables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boomerweps Posted January 24, 2007 Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 I had a pair of those for a few years. The speakon connections ARE set up for +1,-1 because they expected normal use to be via their passive crossover. Selected via switch "passive" position, then the 2+,2- are a straight pass through and the +1,-1 out are a 9dB high pass filter at 175Hz. If the switch is moved to "Bi-amp" position (I'd have called it DIRECT), the +1,-1 are pass through (paralleled) and the +2,-2 are connected directly to the woofer in the sub and also the 2 speakons, in & out, are paralleled. Yup, to use the subs with seperate cables from their own amp, you need the speaker end of the speakon connected to the "2"s terminals while the amp end uses the "1"s terminals. MARK those cables well. I used bananas on the amp end initially and only for the subs. The I got into using 4 wire speakon cables, wired up an I/O panel with the amps supplying the desired terminals, and sent the sub singnal on the 2s and the tops signal on the 1s. Then a short 2 wire jumper from the subs routed the signal to the tops. My Yorkville LS808s have a switch to choose which speakon terminals send the signal to the woofer and which are pass through. I still use the 2s for the subs so no wiring changes are needed for subless SOS gigs. The reason "1" terminals are the semi-standard for woofers/LF in bi or tri amped cabs is so that any accidental 2 wire connections direct from a power amp (since most amops use the 1 terminals for output) to the speaker cab will put that power to the higher power handling component, the large woofer. Once you start talking multiple cabinets for the frequency spectrum, the standards become whatever the sound company desires and to match a given manufacturer's standard for cross rental compatability. Hence NL8 wiring is pretty standard, while NL4 wiring is more variable. Boomerweps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members solomaniac17 Posted January 24, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 24, 2007 Ok thanks everyone for your advice.. after review i feel im gonna keep the configuration the same, and just make some extra cables wired for compatibility, just incase th ones i has are misplaced or do break eventually. I do realize their is a passive crossover in the sub, but for the time being I will leave it in until I feel more comfortable with wireing the subs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 I still think Bill's answer had the most merit!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boomerweps Posted January 25, 2007 Members Share Posted January 25, 2007 Something I didn't mention is that since the B1800X internal passive crossover is so darn high, you could still go through it using the "1"s contacts in the NL4. You just can't parallel out the "1"s output speakon because it is after the crossover past the high pass/low cut. I used about 100-105Hz for a crossover point when I used these subs. Boomerweps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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