What kind of 4-conductor wire do you guys use w/ NL4 plugs and jacks?
I'm using NL4 plugs and jacks, and need to buy the wire ASAP. They seem to want round wire, and not a very large diameter. I brought home some 12/4 with a thick rubber jacket and little or no fiber or cloth or cardboard filler, and it didn't really fit into the strain-relief sleeve.
What guage stranded wire can I tin up and clamp with those weird set-screws?
Each cabinet has 4 12" drivers, and two NL4 jacks and 2 T-S 1/4" jacks. I can wire an NL4 plug to make the two 1/4" jacks each drive two drivers in series or parallel, depending on how I wire the NL4.
But I'd really like to use the NL4 jacks. But all I have is flat #10 wire similar to Monster, like huge clear twin-lead. So I'm looking at round wire to buy. I found some round wire actually meant for audio, meant to be installed inside walls for home theater. The 12/4 might even fit into the NL4 strain-relief sleeve because the vinyl jacket seems much thinner than the heavy rubber jacket on the too-thick wire from Home Depot.
The truth is I wish I'd gotten the bigger Neutrik plugs and jacks, but don't really need them. I look at it this way: 4 #14 wires are approx. equivalent to 2 #11. So that's pretty good. And I'm running 8 wires to each cabinet, so each does not really need to carry much current.
I'm using NL4 plugs and jacks, and need to buy the wire ASAP. They seem to want round wire, and not a very large diameter. I brought home some 12/4 with a thick rubber jacket and little or no fiber or cloth or cardboard filler, and it didn't really fit into the strain-relief sleeve.
What guage stranded wire can I tin up and clamp with those weird set-screws?
Each cabinet has 4 12" drivers, and two NL4 jacks and 2 T-S 1/4" jacks. I can wire an NL4 plug to make the two 1/4" jacks each drive two drivers in series or parallel, depending on how I wire the NL4.
But I'd really like to use the NL4 jacks. But all I have is flat #10 wire similar to Monster, like huge clear twin-lead. So I'm looking at round wire to buy. I found some round wire actually meant for audio, meant to be installed inside walls for home theater. The 12/4 might even fit into the NL4 strain-relief sleeve because the vinyl jacket seems much thinner than the heavy rubber jacket on the too-thick wire from Home Depot.
The truth is I wish I'd gotten the bigger Neutrik plugs and jacks, but don't really need them. I look at it this way: 4 #14 wires are approx. equivalent to 2 #11. So that's pretty good. And I'm running 8 wires to each cabinet, so each does not really need to carry much current.
I see some people use SJ rubber-covered power cord in #14/4-conductor. But I see pre-made commercial cables using #12 with oxygen-free wire. I find other #12/4 speaker wire with oxygen-free copper but they're for in-wall installation and have easy-strip jacket, not durable.
12/4 from Home Depot does not fit into the Neutrik NL4 larger strain relief sleeve. At least not easily...
And I would like better conductors if possible.
And I would like better conductors if possible.
The best buy is definitely pre-made cables w/ 4-conductor speakon, but they don't call then 'neutrik' so the plugs are compatible clones and not the real thing.
Well, that's what I did. I bought pre-made cables for less than the wire costs me, and I got real Neutrik connectors on them.
this is where i purchased my wire. very good stuff. they have an ebay store also. i've seen differences in the price.
12 Gauge 4 Conductor Speaker Wire
12 Gauge 4 Conductor Speaker Wire
My pre-made 12-guage turned out to be 2-conductor and useless to me. I'll look into that MyStarSound
thanks.
thanks.
I have some questions on the topic.
Why do I need 4 wires?
Won't 2 of them suffice? I mean the speaker should have only 2 poles.
Can someone give me a standard wiring schematics for those 4-poles Neutrik stuff?
And finally, what the fuss with the oxigen free ? Does someone have solid technical arguments to support the use of such wire , especially in PA?
I would think that a good 2.5 mm^2 general purpose electrical wire would do the job. I would put more attention on the insuulation, i.e. having more robust and heat /water /oil resistant PTFE or silicon jackets than normal PVC.
Why do I need 4 wires?
Won't 2 of them suffice? I mean the speaker should have only 2 poles.
Can someone give me a standard wiring schematics for those 4-poles Neutrik stuff?
And finally, what the fuss with the oxigen free ? Does someone have solid technical arguments to support the use of such wire , especially in PA?
I would think that a good 2.5 mm^2 general purpose electrical wire would do the job. I would put more attention on the insuulation, i.e. having more robust and heat /water /oil resistant PTFE or silicon jackets than normal PVC.
If you use actively crossed over speakers run by two or more amplifiers you need more poles.
Low on +/- 1, High on +/- 2. That reduces the chance of a high range driver accidentally being connected to a source that may damage it.
It's just marketing. Most high quality copper used for making cable is intrinsically oxygen free.
Yup, it will, and robust jackets is what differentiates the tour grade speaker cables from home hi-fi stuff.
If you use actively crossed over speakers run by two or more amplifiers you need more poles.
I see, thank you. But then you would need to split them on the amplifier side.That looks unpractical to me. Won't be better then to have 2 separate female Neutriks on the speaker, differently wired for bass and high?
Nevertheless the idea to have the cable always with all four wires connected seems good this way.
BTW I suspected that the whole oxigen free stuff was marketing.
I never heard about that in my EE studies ( a while ago, ok...). If you speak about copper oxide / sulfites contamination, then I agree, but that goes down to electrical wire copper purity that should not be an issue for a Brand cable.
I would add that for tour grade stuff I would probably look for a high number of strands wire in relation to section, that gives improved flexibility. Neoprene and moreso silicon jackets are probably the best for this use, PTFE tends to be quite stiff and more suitable for permanent installations.
I see, thank you. But then you would need to split them on the amplifier side.That looks unpractical to me. Won't be better then to have 2 separate female Neutriks on the speaker, differently wired for bass and high?
Nevertheless the idea to have the cable always with all four wires connected seems good this way.
BTW I suspected that the whole oxigen free stuff was marketing.
I never heard about that in my EE studies ( a while ago, ok...). If you speak about copper oxide / sulfites contamination, then I agree, but that goes down to electrical wire copper purity that should not be an issue for a Brand cable.
I would add that for tour grade stuff I would probably look for a high number of strands wire in relation to section, that gives improved flexibility. Neoprene and moreso silicon jackets are probably the best for this use, PTFE tends to be quite stiff and more suitable for permanent installations.
In a home installation, you just make a Y split, but in a touring rig, all cables will be connected to an amp rack patchbay that handles all the input/output routing. The user never sees the back of an amp, (unless something goes wrong! 😉 )
As for your idea of two cables with different wiring, that adds cost, time during rig and derig, and the opportunity for misconnection or damage. Not good.
You misunderstood me, it must be my poor English. I fully agree that ONE type of cable is better.
Only was not aware of the patchbay stuff.
Thanks you.
You only need 4 conductors when you biamp your cabinets.
I always use NL4 connectors with 2 conductor cable. Just hook up the 1+ and 1- to the white and black cables.
12/2 SJOOW and SOOW from Home Depot is excellent and cost effective for speaker cables, but you should avoid connectors other than from Neutrik or Switchcraft.
I always use NL4 connectors with 2 conductor cable. Just hook up the 1+ and 1- to the white and black cables.
12/2 SJOOW and SOOW from Home Depot is excellent and cost effective for speaker cables, but you should avoid connectors other than from Neutrik or Switchcraft.
Yeah, I suspected so, while I would be more in favor of bridging the two channels inside the cabinet, in case, so to keep the cable "standard".
Also a 4 wire round cable is more efficient section wise than a 2 wires one. I mean 2 wires inside a round jacket waste a lot of space. Ideally 3 or 5 would be the best but...
Wasted space inside the cable is the least of my worries. Wasted money is much more of a concern. 2 conductor cable is always going to be less expensive than 4 conductor cable with the same cross section.
4 conductors of #12 is equivalent in cross-sectional area to 2 conductors of #9. Can't put that in the Neutrik wire-screws. I admit on some speakers I could have put the drivers in series and bridged the amp to save half the wire cost, but I don't like the way individual driver anomalies and impedance differences are exaggerates in series.
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