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!"George Biner wrote:Zip cord will work but it doesn't look very cool and it doesn't "lay" well.
Speaker cabinet cable
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Jack Hanson
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Jerry Overstreet
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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.
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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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
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Electrical engineer / amp tech in West Los Angeles -- I fix Peaveys
"Now there is a snappy sounding instrument. That f****r really sings." - Jerry Garcia
Electrical engineer / amp tech in West Los Angeles -- I fix Peaveys
"Now there is a snappy sounding instrument. That f****r really sings." - Jerry Garcia
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Bobby D. Jones
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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.
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.
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ken collins
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Speaker cables
Any way to check cable to make sure its uninsulated if you can't expose inside terminals to see?