Members coolmanchad Posted April 28, 2004 Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 I have a question about rewiring the plugs on speaker cabinets. we currently have 4 cs-70 speakers that we use for mid/highs right now, or two per side. our problem is that they only have a single banana clip plug on them, and that we only use the mid drivers in the one box and the horns in the other box because of running three way. we are considering the possibility of going down to two way, and to also replace the input connector with two speakon connectors in parallel, so that we can use the mid range cones and horns in all the cabinets. how difficult or time consuming of a project would this be to do ourselves, or should we get a speaker shop to do the work for us? we're going to get more subs in the near future, and with them they would out run our mid/highs as the system is set up currently. these speakers are well over 15 years old, and i don't think ever been serviced. should we look into getting that done as well? they sound good as they are now, but i didn't know that maybe age is getting to them some, or maybe the passive crossovers inside the boxes maybe getting flakey? or should we sell them off and get different mid high boxes? if suggested to go that route, what would be a good cabinet to put over 4 jbl m pro 418 subs per side? thankschad:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted April 28, 2004 Members Share Posted April 28, 2004 Thar's an odd way of using the cabinets. Why??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members coolmanchad Posted April 29, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 29, 2004 i agree with you that its an odd way to use them. honestly 2 years ago when we first started using this setup, we didn't know what we were doing, and we dodn't have the cash flow to buy more subs yet. we have tried running our system as a 2 way rig, but the low end just can't keep up at all. we are working on coming up with some more cash to double the number of subs we have, from 2 per side to 4 per side and another amp to run them, and will then go to a 2 way rig. would it be too difficult to possibly bypass the passive crossover and rewire the cabinets to run the system triamped? anyone have any suggestions on what we should do? Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted April 29, 2004 CMS Author Share Posted April 29, 2004 If you're getting more subs, why not just run the mid/highs as they were designed once you get the subs? Crossovers pretty much either work or they don't, so if they work and the sound is ok, leave them alone. You can always experiment with running it as a 3-way if you've got a decent active crossover, but this usually takes a bit of experimentation and caution to not overpower and damage a driver. The wiring for this is simple...add a panel or if the existing jackplate is large enough, use it to mount whatever jack(s) you intend to use. A Speakon type with 4 contacts will allow you to get mids and highs in one cable. Just run one pair of wires from jack to the driver. This input would usually be fed via 4-wire cable from a custom connection panel on your amp rack, to separate the mid, lows and highs into their respective amps. Fairly simple work if you can drill holes, file, and solder with marginal skill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scodiddly Posted April 29, 2004 Members Share Posted April 29, 2004 If you've already got the active crossover and the amps, rewiring the speakers is a no-brainer. One of the simplest wiring jobs there is, even easier than wiring a Stratocaster. Check out Parts Express, they've got a ton of parts for PA speakers including jacks and jackplates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted April 29, 2004 Members Share Posted April 29, 2004 I also don't understand why just because you were triamping,you didn't think you could use all the drivers in the cabs? Can you explain your reasoning for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted April 29, 2004 CMS Author Share Posted April 29, 2004 Originally posted by tlbonehead I also don't understand why just because you were triamping,you didn't think you could use all the drivers in the cabs? Can you explain your reasoning for that? I think his problem was that two mid-highs per side were overpowering two subs per side. What I don't understand is why he didn't just use one complete mid-high per side....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted April 29, 2004 CMS Author Share Posted April 29, 2004 Oh wait....now I get it.....the cabs only had one jack, and, not knowing if or how he could add a second, he wired one cab's mid to it's one jack, and the other cab's HF to that cab's one jack. I think we've solved this mystery........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted April 29, 2004 Members Share Posted April 29, 2004 Originally posted by Craigv Oh wait....now I get it.....the cabs only had one jack, and, not knowing if or how he could add a second, he wired one cab's mid to it's one jack, and the other cab's HF to that cab's one jack. I think we've solved this mystery........ You know,I had thought of that,but I really hope that isn't the reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members coolmanchad Posted April 30, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 30, 2004 no, we didn't do that. we have an active crossover, and run the high outs to the top cab, the mid outs to the middle cab, and the low outs to the subs. we did this because our subs just aren't enough to keep up with the mid highs if we just ran it in a 2 way configuration. if we would have used one mid/high box per side, they would have put the horns about waist level.... that wouldn't do... now they're about 6' up. craigv, you'll think it'll be easy enough to wire up the cabs to use speakon 4 pin connectors and use our active crossover instead of the passive on in the boxes? and thanks guys for all the help... even if it is confusing out our rig is set up currently. Chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted April 30, 2004 Members Share Posted April 30, 2004 Originally posted by coolmanchad no, we didn't do that. we have an active crossover, and run the high outs to the top cab, the mid outs to the middle cab, and the low outs to the subs. we did this because our subs just aren't enough to keep up with the mid highs if we just ran it in a 2 way configuration.if we would have used one mid/high box per side, they would have put the horns about waist level.... that wouldn't do... now they're about 6' up. craigv, you'll think it'll be easy enough to wire up the cabs to use speakon 4 pin connectors and use our active crossover instead of the passive on in the boxes? and thanks guys for all the help... even if it is confusing out our rig is set up currently.Chad But you can always balance them out at the crossover. And why didn't you just use the middle cab as a spacer. That way your mids would have been above the crowd too. Mainly,I don't understand why you don't just run all the speakers and just balance things out. As for 2 vs 3 way active,I don't think you gain that much in a small setup by triamping unless you really know what you are doing. A passive crossover at that high of a frequency crossover really doesn't cost you much power-wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted April 30, 2004 Members Share Posted April 30, 2004 You still have the passive x-overs wired inside the cabs??? Just run the tops passive 2 way and turn the x-over output down a bit to match your subs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members coolmanchad Posted April 30, 2004 Author Members Share Posted April 30, 2004 thanks for the advice guys. its all been much appreciated. and yes the passive crossovers in the boxes are still wired up. when we get some time, we'll try running the system 2 way n get it balanced with the crossover. you guys are full of wisdom and insight... maybe someday i'll have a good portion of the wisdom you all have. thanks,chad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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