Live Sound & Production

[Grayson73]

Hi,

Our Samson Mixer has Speakon or 1/4" output, and the Peavey PR12 has only 1/4" input.  We are planning on using 100ft cables.

Is there any audio difference between:

1.  100ft 1/4" to 1/4" cable

2.  100ft Speakon to 1/4" cable

2.  100ft Speakon to Speakon cable, then Speakon to 1/4" adapter into the Peavey speaker

[twostone]

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Grayson73 wrote:

Hi,

Our Samson Mixer has Speakon or 1/4" output, and the Peavey PR12 has only 1/4" input.  We are planning on using 100ft cables.

Is there any audio difference between:

1.  100ft 1/4" to 1/4" cable

2.  100ft Speakon to 1/4" cable

2.  100ft Speakon to Speakon cable, then Speakon to 1/4" adapter into the Peavey speaker

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No only thing that matters is the speaker gauge size being that's pretty long speaker run and highly recommed  going here http://www.audiopile.net/products/Speaker_Cables/NL-2-13/NL-2-13_update_cutsheet.shtml

and let Mark or Liz know you need Speakon to 1/4 and they'll hook you up.

[RoadRanger]

I'd use Speakon to 1/4" cable just because.

[agedhorse]

No practical difference. For your application, 14 gauge is plenty big, even for 100'

[Grayson73]

Thanks for all of the responses!

[Audiopile]

I'll suggest that if you're concerned about "the sound", then seriously consider changing out the speaker cabinet's 1/4" jacks to Speakon... because:  Speakers and amplifiers that function generally sound better than speakers and amplifiers that stop functioning.

[lonotes]

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Audiopile wrote: Speakers and amplifiers that function generally sound better than speakers and amplifiers that stop functioning.

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I've certainly heard some that sounded better once they were nonfunctional.

[Marko]

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agedhorse wrote:
No practical difference. For your application, 14 gauge is plenty big, even for 100'

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Yep... People so often overestimate the wire size needed for their application. 

Reminds me of when the previous band I was in first started, I was hooking up the PA, and the guitard/band-leader walks over and insists that I use one of his 16-guage speaker cables going from the snake box return to the power amp. 

24 guage from his ax to his amp, 25’ more from amp mic to snake box, 50’ to mixer, 50’ back to box, and he thought this 3’ 16-guage speaker cable would make a difference.

Didn’t help that it was a poorly-soldered cable that started shorting the amp and the whole PA would pop in and out.  I was on stage playing bass, but he was so loud I couldn’t hear my bass amp let alone the PA, and his hack-ass fader-rider side-kick was clueless as to what to do…

Sorry ‘bout going into a rant… but God i'm glad I don't gig with this guy anymore, haha.   

[Jeff Cardinal]

For the last few years I've been providing sound for our towns' airshow. I have a carvin 750watt PA amp. I made up eight 14 Ga x100 feet long speaker cables. My amp is good for 2 ohms per side (2 speaker outs normally one for mains, & one for monitors) so I daisy chain four up one end of the runway (400 feet) and the other 400 feet the other direction. I works just fine. you can hear the announcer and the military style background music just fine. Very little distortion. My friend, who lives about 2 miles from the airport can hear the announcer from his house. Don't believe everything you hear about speaker cables.  Jeff

[oldschooler]

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Jeff Cardinal wrote:

For the last few years I've been providing sound for our towns' airshow. I have a carvin 750watt PA amp. I made up eight 14 Ga x100 feet long speaker cables. My amp is good for 2 ohms per side (2 speaker outs normally one for mains, & one for monitors) so I daisy chain four up one end of the runway (400 feet) and the other 400 feet the other direction. I works just fine. you can hear the announcer and the military style background music just fine. Very little distortion. My friend, who lives about 2 miles from the airport can hear the announcer from his house. Don't believe everything you hear about speaker cables.  Jeff

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Any reason why not just running one speaker cable then using short jumpers to the other speakers?

[agedhorse]

But understand the how's and why's that it may be fine or may not be. It depend.

[rishabhsachan]

how to present in stage at the time of live performance

[RoadRanger]

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oldschooler wrote:

Any reason why not just running one speaker cable then using short jumpers to the other speakers?

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How can you connect speakers that are 100 feet apart with short jumpers?

[oldschooler]

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RoadRanger wrote:

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oldschooler wrote:

Any reason why not just running one speaker cable then using short jumpers to the other speakers?

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How can you connect speakers that are 100 feet apart with short jumpers?

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My intentions were, instead of running 4 100ft cables to each side, why not run 1 100ft cable then use jumpers to connect to the other speakers.

[RoadRanger]

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oldschooler wrote:

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RoadRanger wrote:

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oldschooler wrote:

Any reason why not just running one speaker cable then using short jumpers to the other speakers?

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How can you connect speakers that are 100 feet apart with short jumpers?

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My intentions were, instead of running 4 100ft cables to each side, why not run 1 100ft cable then use jumpers to connect to the other speakers.

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Maybe because each speaker is 100 feet away from the next? :

S - 100' - S - 100' - S - 100' - S - 100' - AMP - 100' - S - 100' - S - 100' - S - 100' - S

Total string length 800 feet