Can I use 1/4" jacks for speaker connectors?

[Pano]

Originally posted by pinkmouse
BF, any cable is likely to be mistreated on the road, Speakons are no less vulnerable than EP6s or XLRs. Even Socapex get trashed occasionally.

Ain't it the truth!

Hey, I remember those big, overgrown "XLR for speaker" things. Nice and sturdy, I liked them. Must have been the EAW stuff that had them. Did OAP use them?

So getting back to the original post, what's a good alternative to bananas for home use? Speakon is good, but a little spendy and kinda of bulky.

After nixing 1/4", RCA, DIN, XLR, Edison, etc. - - what have we got left other than Speakon? Molex?

[fizzard]

XLR's were commonly used on low power (< ~500W) speakers. I know EAW, for one, used them; and maybe Yorkville as well. Other than the fact that you could plug a mic cable into your amp output it worked really well. XLR's are really good connectors.

I use banana plugs because I don't move my speakers around much. If you really move your gear around a lot then go with Speakon, but it's a little extra work to mount Speakon's to your amp and speaker cabinets. It's a lot less toying around to use the banana plugs.

[Thunau]

Originally posted by panomaniac



After nixing 1/4", RCA, DIN, XLR, Edison, etc. - - what have we got left other than Speakon? Molex?

How about spade lugs and terminal blocks/barrier strips?
You crimp the spades on your speaker cable and flow a bit of solder over top to prevent oxidation at the contacts- or use gold plated spades. Tighten them with a screwdriver to the barrier strip on the back of speaker. It's pretty much the best non permanent connection you can have.

[fizzard]

I worked with one concert setup that used 240V twist lock connectors for the bass bins. You have no idea how hard it was to restrain myself from plugging one into the AC power.

[AKN]

Hi,

240V......7200W into 8Ohm

[Thunau]

Originally posted by fizzard
I worked with one concert setup that used 240V twist lock connectors for the bass bins. You have no idea how hard it was to restrain myself from plugging one into the AC power.

A good PA subwoofer could take being plugged in directly into 120V AC outlet. If the impedance at 60Hz is in the 8 or more Ohm range, the current would be about 15A and the resulting power 1800W. There are dual 18' subs on the market that are rated this high.
240V would be much tougher to take. You would need to find a subwoofer with impedance above 30 Ohm at 50 or 60 Hz- which is possible if the box is tuned to exactly that frequency.
It would surely be loud!

[troystg]

I once hooked an old 5.25" to a power strip to be able to "safely" run 120 VAC through it.

Surprisingly the driver lasted a good 30 seconds before the coil opened.

It was amazing to see the "unnatural" excursion of the suspension.

[rcavictim]

I use a small two blade with center ground pin, all brass, Hubble twist lock connector for all my speaker cabinet connectors. 15A @ 125 V - 10A @ 250 V. They are about an inch in diameter.

[Pano]

I thought about twist lock, too. But man, how I hate twist lock!

I grew up as a theater lighting guy, son of a theater lighting guy. Back in the 70s the twist lock came in and started to replace the good old stage pin. Oh, the humanity! Oh the hours and curse words and gray hairs lost to the twist lock. Arrrrgh....

Fortunately, we have wised up in North America and are going back to the dear old stage pin. In Europe they were never daft enough to use the twist lock for theater lighting.


Plugging a bass bin straight into the mains. That's an old Peavy trick. They used have a cab that had its impedance peak right at 60Hz. So they would demo how robust it was by plugging it straight into the mains.
Very loud, very impressive, but didn't kill the driver.