Speaker cabinet cable

Steel guitar amplifiers, effects, etc.

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Jack Hanson
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Joined: 19 Jun 2012 3:42 pm
Location: San Luis Valley, USA

Post by Jack Hanson »

George Biner wrote:Zip cord will work but it doesn't look very cool and it doesn't "lay" well.
In all honesty, in my half-century of playing, I have yet to have anyone check behind my amp/cab and say "man, what a butt-ugly speaker cable!"
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Jerry Overstreet
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Joined: 11 Jul 2000 12:01 am
Location: Louisville Ky

Post by Jerry Overstreet »

A friend of mine's band was having trouble with speaker cables for the PA. He built all new cables with new plugs from zip cord and supplied them to the system. A fair amount of work and expense on him.

When he got to the very next gig, the band had pulled all the newly built cables and wired in the old ones for exactly the reasons George stated.

It just seems people are not used to seeing flat twin stranded speaker cables in pro audio systems like they are in home hi fi rigs.

The downside of black jacketed round speaker cables is that they look just like guitar cables. In my own systems, I use colored tape on the speaker cables for identification. Otherwise if I'm not sure, I'll unscrew one of the barrels and look at the type of wire in the cable. Speaker wire is equal sized pairs while guitar cable has a tiny hot wire, and usually a braided or larger ground wire and shielded.
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George Biner
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Location: Los Angeles, CA

Post by George Biner »

Yeah, my comment was more about using zip cord for PA cables -- they are basically a trip hazard -- in the back of an amp you don't have that issue
Guacamole Mafia - California Country Rock band
Electrical engineer / amp tech in West Los Angeles
Mullen RP SD10 E9 / Fender Deluxe Reverb, Princeton, Princeton Reverb
"Now there is a snappy sounding instrument. That f****r really sings." - Jerry Garcia
Bobby D. Jones
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Joined: 17 May 2010 9:27 am
Location: West Virginia, USA

Post by Bobby D. Jones »

We need another commandment printed, For people who self claim themselves the Sound Tech for a band.

2nd COMMANDMENT
"THOUGH SHALL NOT PULL THE PLUG OUT OF THE SPEAKER
CABINET, WHILE THE AMPLIFIER IS ("ON.")"

If the Cable Connector is pulled out of the speaker, The connector will short out and can fry the amp.
ken collins
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Joined: 5 Jan 1999 1:01 am
Location: Oklahoma City, OK.

Speaker cables

Post by ken collins »

Any way to check cable to make sure its uninsulated if you can't expose inside terminals to see?
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