speakers through 100' snake ??

Bill Myrick · From: Pea Ridge, Ar. (deceased)

Could I run two speaker connections through my 100' snake on two of the 1/4 inch jack lines without losing a great amount of volume and performance ? It would be for a church function in a small area with 75% talking, 25% music. Or should I just count on running speaker lines besides the snake ? Thanks, Bill Myrick

Blake Hawkins · From: Florida

Bill, the down side is that most snakes use wire that is too small for the power to a loud speaker.
Depending on the snake it may be #22 or #24 guage.

The other problem is that if you are also running
microphones, instruments or other low level devices
in the snake, you will get crosstalk.
If the crosstalk is bad enough, you will get a feedback screech.

It is better to run separate speaker lines. Also,
if you can keep them at least a foot away from the snake on a long run so much the better.

Blake

Brad Sarno · From: St. Louis, MO USA

Simply based on the fact that the snake conductors are a very small gauge of wire, it's a very bad idea. That's signal wire in the snake. You need speaker cable that is designed to handle "power".

Brad

Bill Terry · From: Bastrop, TX

oops.
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Bill Terry · From: Bastrop, TX

I saw some snakes with integrated speaker wires, i.e. heavier gauge somewhere, but I never liked the idea much..
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Donny Hinson · From: Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.

I'd say definitely not. Those (1/4" plug) lines are probably shielded mike cable, and it's a very bad idea to use that for speakers.

Bill Myrick · From: Pea Ridge, Ar. (deceased)

Thanks, guys--I'll play it safe and run seperate speaker wires.- Smile

Greg Cutshaw · From: Corry, PA, USA

The complete circuit actually contains 200 feet of wire! 100' out and 100' back on the ground. Doublt bad!

Greg

Chuck Snider R.I.P. · From: West Virginia, USA - Morgantown, WV

If you move the amp to the stage end of the snake, and feed the amp from the mixer thru the snake to the amp(s), and then go from the amp to the speaker you'll be ok. In other words move the amp to the stage end of the snake, and feed the amp from the mixer via the snake, then go from the amp to the speakers. Hopefully that makes sense.

-Chuck Snider
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Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

A signal wire of that length might have a resistance greater than that of the speaker. In that case, most of the amp's power would be wasted (turned to heat in the cable.)

Mike Brown · From: Meridian, Mississippi USA

It's perfectly OK to use a powered snake with a powered mixer. A powered snake has speaker wire and mic line signal wire. Peavey offers two versions, ie; a sixteen channel and a twelve channel. We have experienced no problems with these configurations.

You may check them out at www.peavey.com

Mike Brown
Peavey USA

Wayne Franco · From: silverdale, WA. USA

Never tried to hook my speakers up to him though. Whoa!

ajm · From: Los Angeles

Let's stop for a second.

What type of snake do you have?
What type of PA set up are you running? Mixer and amp all in one? Mixer and amp in two separate pieces?

Without knowing this no one can give you a definitive answer. However, some of the answers have been correct, but only for specific circumstances.

In the case of a mixing board and amp in a single package, if you are trying to run speakers using signal wire, good luck. First, AWG22-24 gauge wire is too small for any length of speaker wire, let alone 50-100 feet. If the wire doesn't burn up, the resistance will be so high that a sunstantial amount of power will be used up by the wire and never make it to the speakers. In that case, I'd go get some two wire electrical cord/speaker wire and make your own speaker cables. Radio Shack probably sells it in 50/100 foot rolls. I'd get at least 16AWG, 14 would be better, 12 would be better still.
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Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

Here is some nice straightforward info about speaker wire:
http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm
Looks like you should use at least 10 or 12 gauge for you 100 foot run.
You can measure the DC resistance of the cable in your snake. I wouldn't use it for speaker wire unless it is well under 1 ohm.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Doug, I was going to mention the same thing based on your previous post, but it looks like you researched it and found the info...beat me to it.

I ran sound support at some major venues back in the 70's and early 80's and 100-foot speaker cables are common. You use 10 (in a pinch, 12...but no smaller) wire and Neautrik Speakon or banana-plug type connectors. I recall Gentle Giant carried a 300' speaker cable that ran (hidden) to the back of each venue for some funny violin parts - they'd switch it in from time-o-time and the speakers were actually under seats! Scared the crap out of some folks...I loved it.

Back to snakes, though - MOST snakes do not have speaker wires - and NEVER EVER use a guitar cable as a speaker wire. The different sizes.types of wire in a guitar cable can severely damage your amplifier. IF you have speaker cables with 1/4" plugs, be SURE to color-code the plugs and several spots on the cable to avoid mistakes.
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