We went from coaching to educational tours and everything was entrusted to five of our friends by Sir. One time the box broke and I was able to fix it by watching your videos and everyone thanked me.
thank you so much brod bruno for this tutorial... actually, i bought 2 speakon connectors some few months back for my karaoke speakers but i stop installing them when i got a headache determining which terminals to use (the plus 1's or 2's or the minus 1's or 2's)... your tutorial answered it all and so i can now install my speakons confidently without worrying about wrong connections... thanx again, brod bruno...
Thank you so very much Sir! Your instruction was 2nd to None. I was in a panic, one of my speaker cables didn't work, so i took the other one apart to see the wiring and it fell apart. Tomorrow is Saturday and i don't have time to drive 40 minutes to a Music store or the money to purchase 2 new cables. But thanks to your outstanding tutorial i fixed both cables myself, and i'm ready for Sunday...God bless you. PASTOR BRUNDIDGE
I will be making these cables for the first time. I am assigned to make them . Your video cleared all doubts and gave enough idea about SpeakOn connector and how to use them. I hope I'll do it right way. I have all the tools needed except Lockon. but thats Ok I guess. I'll post in few days how it went. thanks for the video.
Thank you!!! Edit- Had a 50' cable given to me but I only needed about 3 feet. After watching your instructional and completing the modification; The weight difference after is so significant my own back made me come here and thank you, again.
hi bruno! G.LB.🖐🙏🖐.. I want to thank you very much, because you posted these videos, which helped me and are still helping me a lot!👏👏 And I'm sure it still helped a lot of people.. very well explained and very professional !👌👏👏
Bruno you safe me with your video. This past friday 3-20-19 i was doing a church event and all my 4 speakers was setup and someone put one of them at little big to the front and broke one of the cable. But thank to you I fixed back.
Thanks a lot for this video. I had just to look up the right terminals but your tutorial was very thorough and informative. Damn good work. And yes, always get the real deal. I can't tell you the pain you have, when someone cheaped out on those connectors. As I worked as a roadie, we aquired a used sound system for a extremly good price. We knew some of the connectors were wonky but were forced to use it, before we could check it rigorously. That gig was a nightmare as speakers went dead, the amps shut down into protection mode and so on. At any time we had only two thirds of it running. The next week we were all busy to test all cables, exhange every connector and jack of every speaker. They really cheaped out on those and had even replicas in use, which let us believe in the first place it's only some wonky jacks and connectors and not the complete system. The wiring in those speakers can only be described as "the spaghetti incident". Which was to some degree our fault, as we ripped in our need those faulty jacks out, snipped the connector and connected the bare wires directly to the cables in the box with luster terminals. It was a 1:1 what you should never with a sound system.
You're welcome Cid, and thanks for the story - do you recall what make/model of system it was? Sounds like one of those older component system with separate low, mid and high speakers.
@@GLBProductions Most of the amps were crowns if I remember correctly which were weighing a ton. The active splitters were something from Omnitronic. All the speaker cabinets were self build, which looked roadworn but sounded really nice. The bass horns were insanely effective but huge and a pain to carry. They used some Eminence speakers. The selfbuild line array worked damn well and was loaded with some Monacor speakers. There were some high fills and kick basses too, but I have no idea what was inside of those. The components for themself were not that bad. On the mixing desk they cheaped out again and used something from Behringer but it still did the job.
Thanks a lot sir for your very clear instruction I've got new knowledge about the wiring of speakon connector, and I will do my wiring in my new buy sounds to using speakon speaker outlet, thank you.
Hi ! First of all I would like to thank you so much for uploading this video. I went to electronics parts market. Got to see some variants of this connectors. Price would also vary drastically. I chose MX brand available here, rather then Nutrik as you have used. I saw that also. But there was price difference of over the times and as this was my first time with this connectors I choose MX. Almost similar but I know Nutrik is much better. Next time I'll use that only. I got lot of information about connectors through video. Now about making connections, your video made it so simple that it was like piece of cake. I could make it very easily. +1 -1 pair was used. I made two 50 meters cables. Wire used was not that you have shown but my purpose was served very well. This has helped me setting up our door audio system, cascading four speakers. I have attached lugs also in parallel to these connectors so that I can connect it to my amplifier also. Once again I thank you from bottom of my heart. May The God be always with you, helping you.
In future I strongly suggest you use only Neutrik brand connectors. The others are much cheaper but their quality is also MUCH worse! Remember that you can be dealing with quite high voltages here - not a place to skimp on quality.
Great info. I'm going to add this - never tin a wire that is going to be gripped by a screw. It will tighten nicely at first, but over time the soft solder will creep and the connection will loosen. It probably won't go completely open circuit, but it will go high resistance. This will allow corrosion to start, and the performance of the cable will continue to deteriorate.
Thanks for this. I rewired a Speakon, it didn't work, I had no idea there were the +1/-1 and +2/-2 connections (I assumed the two positives were the same. After watching your video, I got out the magnifying glass, and sure enough, I had them in the wrong ports. Much appreciated.
Great video, I am trying to wire a four pole speak on. My colors are red black white and blue. How should I wire it? Thank you for the informative video
Thanks for watching Alfredo. The wiring on 4-pole speakon connectors is specific to their use case - consult the loudspeaker and/or amplifier manufacturer for specific instructions.
Great Tutorial 👌👍 i was working on my speaker connectors too: 1 speaker cuts down in sound sometimes: the reason: i didnot use loctite on the screws in the past (when I was 12 years old or so🙈) My advice: do not solder the cable ends: i did that too in the past and because of high power that is running through the speakon and the terminals soldering can cause burn speakon terminals: the cables can come loose too like this greetings from the Netherlands
Thank you too, for your reply, My tip to everyone: if you have thinner cabling ( I think 1.5mm² or thinner) Step 1: strip the wires, Step 2: twist the cores together and fold the stripped end back (you're doing it right if you fold it onto the insulation of the single wire) Step 3: See if you can insert this into the connection terminal: with the stripped cores away from the screw Step 4: l screw the wire onto the insulation This way you get a strong connection that, together with the loctite on the screws, ensures that it does not (quickly) come loose.
Sorry for the much writing but before I forget: for thicker cabling (from 1.5 mm² or thicker or so I guess): Is it necessary to use those sleeves for around the cable-cores (unfortunately i don't know the exact name,but you know what I mean, i guess?): those can be pinched with special pliers: the best is one that clicks: because it tightens on torque. With thicker cables you're getting the following problem with the "fold-on-insulation" method: the whole "package" (of insulation and stripped cores) becomes too thick to fit into the connection terminal: I used 2x 2.5mm² wire; the double folding method did NOT work, for this reason you will need thinner cabling, you will find out exactly how thin by trying the tips I hope this is useful for everyone, i think it is important and helpful for everyone to share their tips and problems and that we're not laughing at about posts like that, because their always a learn moment for everyone Greetings from the Netherlands
I just bought some JBL speakers that require the speakon connections and finding the cables can be a challenge or even good information sources explaining which cables to use. Your video has been the best yet at explaining the process. so i need the cable to go from the speaker to the mixer. will this wire set up work the same way?
You can't connect the loudspeaker directly to the mixer, unless it is a powered mixer with speakon outputs; you need to connect the mixer to amplifier first 🙂
Sir, how to connect the output of one 1- mixer to 24-power amplifiers without compromising or degrading the audio signal coming out from Mixer. Any way, thank very much for sharing your knowledge, your the best teacher...!
Yeah the big issue with banana plugs is that they can be inserted in two directions so polarity reversal issues were very common in older systems. The exposed contacts were also vulnerable to damage if they got stepped on. Otherwise they're good connectors - lots of contact area and relatively difficult to pull out. Much better than guitar jacks!
You're absolutely correct. Now that you mention it they were color-coded (red/black- both dark LOL) and there is nothing to stop someone from flipping them over in a dark club, etc. - disaster. Before the banana plugs we just tinned the ends of all the speaker cables and stuck them in the screw terminals! There's a recipe for phase-reversal problems de-luxe LOL. BTW - I wanted to chime in on "tinning" the ends of conductors. What we've found (over 40+ yrs of dealing with cables - I'm old....) - it does keep the stray strands together - but there's a very bad downside - it also creates a weak point right at the base of the "tin" and the conductor will fail right there - shearing off inside the jack and often just inside the insulation (where you can't see it) and wreaking all manner of havoc. What's worse ... they don't fail all at once - it happens over time (with the speaker vibration itself contributing) and it's intermittent... your cable goes from 12 ga. to 18 ga. to 32 ga... and eventually down to 1-2 strands still intact - enough so you can NOT find the offending cable with a simple continuity check at the show - it'll show up as A-OK with the load from a 9-volt battery ... but nowhere near enough conductor left to carry the signal current from a 1000 watt amp. This can cause amps to overheat...speakers to self-destruct.. etc. This is far worse situation than a bare conductor just pulling out of the jack. So what we do now is strip the wire longer than needed - tin the usual 1/2" or so... then trim it again so there is maybe 1/8" or less of "tinned" end down in the jack. That puts the "tin ball" *ahead of* the set screw inside the jack - it eliminates 'strays' without creating the shear point. Try it! Start doing it this way and (combined with your loc-tite... a VERY good tip BTW) - you'll seldom if ever have to fool with a plug once you build it. It's all about making everything as fail-safe and bulletproof as you humanly can - and the smallest details (like the Loc-Tite or the tinned end) are the difference between a real Pro and an amateur.
Great advice, thanks very much for your contribution! What a lot of people don't realise is that even though there is a stress relief which clamps to the cable jacket it is still possible for the internal strands to move independently as the cable flexes, causing the issues you describe above. And yes I agree that the best possible build quality is the way to go with cables - a little bit of extra time and effort will give you a cable that lasts hundreds of shows rather than a couple dozen ;)
Can you hook up 2 speakers to one SpeakON ? We run 2 subs off of one side of our amp and 2 tops off the other . Very well done video, best I have ever seen. Thank you !
Not to one speakon, but most loudspeakers will have two speakon connectors - one to use as an input and the second as a thru to daisy-chain to subsequent speakers.
@@GLBProductions ours is a crown 6002 , one of their newer models. Currently I’m using banana plugs stacked on each side . This amp only has one set of SpeakON outs . What about some kind of Y cable ? Thanks for your fast response. You have lots of great videos, thanks for them .
Crown XTi 6002? On that amp you can run one speaker off the speakon and a second one off the binding posts - banana plugs or just bare wire. There ARE commercially available speakon Y-cables, or you can just built one yourself 😊
I like this very much; it's very informative. I use the updated versions: NL4FX and the NL2FX. Both of them have the metal release tab on them. As I am in the US, I use Southwire Royal 2C 14 AWG (2.08mm2) SJOOW for runs under 40 feet (approx. 12 metres).
There is a very good reason for that: XLR connectors are not designed for use as speaker connectors and cannot handle the current required for high power applications. Many years ago they were used as speaker connectors by some companies but not today.
Great video! Thank you so much! I am making cable wire for my home audio stereo speakers that will be using a new Crown power amplifier. Very helpful information.
One thing I like to do is paint the copper with Deoxit conditioner and work it into the area where the copper enters the jacket before clamping. This helps seal the jacket from air, inhibiting the formation of oxides between the copper strands. I find it just helps extend the cables service life as even OFC develops oxides over time and that increase impedance so gradually that the drop in sound quality goes unnoticed. In a fixed installation, these connections are often inaccessible and never checked or serviced. Which just leads to auditoriums with really poor clarity and muffled bass. It's quite possibly the most common problem I come across. That and inadequate cable gauge which is really the same impedance issue at the core of it. If I'm dealing with vintage gear that the owner wants to maintain as original, say a 5 way binding post etc, then I platt the cable strands into a spade, pin or other appropriate connector and solder it to keep it's shape. Use heat shrink to colour code and stiffen joint between jacket and wire. This minimises mechanical flex and continuity problems through connectors that you can get with crimps spades, pins, bananas etc. Yes, I work on HiFi as well as PA. Yeah, flashy gold connectors are just useless bling that only serves to increase the number of mechanical connections where problems can develop IMO. However, SpeakONs are so worth it for the convenience and other advantages you mentioned in the video. They are the only connector I'd recommend upgrading too.
When are you required to use a 4 wire connection cable? Does the type of loudspeaker matters on this subject weather you use 2 wire cable or 4 wire cable?
A 4-wire cable would be used when all four terminals are connected at both ends of the cable - typically this would be when connecting a biamplified loudspeaker to a compatible amplifier output, using +1/-1 for the LF and +2/-2 for the HF. So yes the type of loudspeaker is very important.
Thanks, very helpful. I have 2 questions. 1) For outdoor speakers is there a SpeakON connector that is waterproof (eg., filled with silicon) and 2) how to you connect that plug to a speaker? My speakers have standard binding posts. Do I just attach a short run of cable to the binding post and then put the female Neutrik on the other end?
You're welcome Karl! 1) Yes the Neutrik STX series of connectors are weatherproof to IP54 in mated condition. 2) These connectors are only for speakers with the corresponding speakon chassis connectors. If your speaker has binding posts just use those with banana plugs, spade lugs or even bare wire.
Thanks for the clear instruction. I've just bought some SpeakON cables and the connectors and was trying to work out what each terminal was for, so this really helped. The tip about pruning shears to cut the cable is great too, I've never though about that, but it certainly makes life easier and gives a nice clean cut, I'll have to invest in some :)
Assuming the components are of equal quality it should be cheaper to buy them separately as you are providing your own time and labour to assemble them.
I just wired cables for my bass amp with Neutrik SpeakON Connectors. Thank you to Bruno for your incredibly thorough tutorial. I especially appreciated all of the fine details you provided. One helpful tool I purchased is a wire stripper made in Germany (Stahlwille 12967). It makes stripping the outer jacker on cables 4-28 mm in diameter a snap, and is adjustable so the inner conductors are not damaged. It is by far the best wire stripper I have used. No more frustration of nicking the inner conductors. The first cut is made along the axis of the cable, then the hooked end is used to cut the outer jacker away. Make sure to point the hooked end away from the conductors while advancing it circumferentially, cutting just under the outer jacket. In the U.S. it is available at K.C. Tool (kctool.com). They also sell #1 pozidrive screwdrivers. The set I purchased is made by Felo. For the inner conductors, I used standard wire strippers by Klein Tools. Thanks again for the helpful advice!
Yes you can - it doesn't have to be 12-gauge either, the connector will accept a very wide range of wire sizes due to the design of the clamping mechanism.
![NL2 vs NL4 vs NL8 [Neutrik SpeakON Speaker Cable Connectors]](/img/1.gif)
6 years later your video is still helping the sound reinforcement community. And for that I say, Thank You!
You're welcome Mark, thanks for watching :)
yes it just help me now, very nice job.Thank You
Even after 7 years your videos is still making impact. Thank you for sharing....
You're welcome Hastings, thanks for watching!
@@GLBProductions Why no more new videos,Sir?
We went from coaching to educational tours and everything was entrusted to five of our friends by Sir. One time the box broke and I was able to fix it by watching your videos and everyone thanked me.
Glad the videos have been helpful :)
dude, this video looks a bit weird but I like it! you make me understand what your talkin about
You are THE BEST in explaining so pleasant to listen too, for a slow learning for me. Thanks
You're most welcome, I'm a slow learner too :)
thank you so much brod bruno for this tutorial... actually, i bought 2 speakon connectors some few months back for my karaoke speakers but i stop installing them when i got a headache determining which terminals to use (the plus 1's or 2's or the minus 1's or 2's)... your tutorial answered it all and so i can now install my speakons confidently without worrying about wrong connections... thanx again, brod bruno...
Thank you so very much Sir! Your instruction was 2nd to None. I was in a panic, one of my speaker cables didn't work, so i took the other one apart to see the wiring and it fell apart. Tomorrow is Saturday and i don't have time to drive 40 minutes to a Music store or the money to purchase 2 new cables. But thanks to your outstanding tutorial i fixed both cables myself, and i'm ready for Sunday...God bless you. PASTOR BRUNDIDGE
That's great news! Glad to hear that things are all fixed and hope your service tomorrow goes smoothly :)
very nice teaching with good English and not in a rush, in fact you are great, Thanks so much
You're most welcome :)
I will be making these cables for the first time. I am assigned to make them . Your video cleared all doubts and gave enough idea about SpeakOn connector and how to use them. I hope I'll do it right way. I have all the tools needed except Lockon. but thats Ok I guess. I'll post in few days how it went.
thanks for the video.
Thank you. Your calm voice makes it easier to follow.
Thanks Hrvoje!
Thank you!!!
Edit- Had a 50' cable given to me but I only needed about 3 feet. After watching your instructional and completing the modification; The weight difference after is so significant my own back made me come here and thank you, again.
You're welcome :)
Seriously one of the best instructional videos ive ever seen. Thank you
You're welcome, thanks for watching :)
@@GLBProductions Where do you source the 4 conductor cable?
Thankyou for your great channel. In the church setup siund is vital and people like you make youtube so essential.
Thanks for watching!
I am new to your posts,I find them most comprehensive and valuable,I follow and look forward to more similar topics
Welcome to the channel!
I really enjoyed your video. Your explanation is clear and pleasant to look at.
Thank you very much for all these important and useful details 🤗
You're welcome Franz, thank you for watching :)
hi bruno! G.LB.🖐🙏🖐.. I want to thank you very much, because you posted these videos, which helped me and are still helping me a lot!👏👏 And I'm sure it still helped a lot of people.. very well explained and very professional !👌👏👏
You're welcome, thanks for watching :)
You're the best....
your teaching videos are always a blessing..thank you Sir and God bless you more
Thank you and God Bless you too!
Thanks for such a detailed video. I have learnt so many things about professional audio that i cannot thank you enough.
You're most welcome Sameer!
Bruno you safe me with your video. This past friday 3-20-19 i was doing a church event and all my 4 speakers was setup and someone put one of them at little big to the front and broke one of the cable. But thank to you I fixed back.
Great to hear that! Always important to know how to make these quick repairs to our gear...
Such a great video - every moment of the 17 odd minutes is informative and relevant. Thanks so much!
You're most welcome, thanks for watching :)
Thanks a lot for this video. I had just to look up the right terminals but your tutorial was very thorough and informative. Damn good work. And yes, always get the real deal. I can't tell you the pain you have, when someone cheaped out on those connectors. As I worked as a roadie, we aquired a used sound system for a extremly good price. We knew some of the connectors were wonky but were forced to use it, before we could check it rigorously. That gig was a nightmare as speakers went dead, the amps shut down into protection mode and so on. At any time we had only two thirds of it running. The next week we were all busy to test all cables, exhange every connector and jack of every speaker. They really cheaped out on those and had even replicas in use, which let us believe in the first place it's only some wonky jacks and connectors and not the complete system. The wiring in those speakers can only be described as "the spaghetti incident". Which was to some degree our fault, as we ripped in our need those faulty jacks out, snipped the connector and connected the bare wires directly to the cables in the box with luster terminals. It was a 1:1 what you should never with a sound system.
You're welcome Cid, and thanks for the story - do you recall what make/model of system it was? Sounds like one of those older component system with separate low, mid and high speakers.
@@GLBProductions Most of the amps were crowns if I remember correctly which were weighing a ton. The active splitters were something from Omnitronic. All the speaker cabinets were self build, which looked roadworn but sounded really nice. The bass horns were insanely effective but huge and a pain to carry. They used some Eminence speakers. The selfbuild line array worked damn well and was loaded with some Monacor speakers. There were some high fills and kick basses too, but I have no idea what was inside of those. The components for themself were not that bad. On the mixing desk they cheaped out again and used something from Behringer but it still did the job.
>
Thanks a lot sir for your very clear instruction I've got new knowledge about the wiring of speakon connector, and I will do my wiring in my new buy sounds to using speakon speaker outlet, thank you.
Great to hear that, all the best with your music!
Hi ! First of all I would like to thank you so much for uploading this video. I went to electronics parts market. Got to see some variants of this connectors. Price would also vary drastically. I chose MX brand available here, rather then Nutrik as you have used. I saw that also. But there was price difference of over the times and as this was my first time with this connectors I choose MX. Almost similar but I know Nutrik is much better. Next time I'll use that only. I got lot of information about connectors through video.
Now about making connections, your video made it so simple that it was like piece of cake. I could make it very easily. +1 -1 pair was used. I made two 50 meters cables. Wire used was not that you have shown but my purpose was served very well. This has helped me setting up our door audio system, cascading four speakers. I have attached lugs also in parallel to these connectors so that I can connect it to my amplifier also.
Once again I thank you from bottom of my heart. May The God be always with you, helping you.
In future I strongly suggest you use only Neutrik brand connectors. The others are much cheaper but their quality is also MUCH worse! Remember that you can be dealing with quite high voltages here - not a place to skimp on quality.
@@GLBProductions Definately.
Great info. I'm going to add this - never tin a wire that is going to be gripped by a screw. It will tighten nicely at first, but over time the soft solder will creep and the connection will loosen. It probably won't go completely open circuit, but it will go high resistance. This will allow corrosion to start, and the performance of the cable will continue to deteriorate.
was wondering about that
Thanks for this. I rewired a Speakon, it didn't work, I had no idea there were the +1/-1 and +2/-2 connections (I assumed the two positives were the same. After watching your video, I got out the magnifying glass, and sure enough, I had them in the wrong ports. Much appreciated.
Yup, if you look on the packaging the different terminals are clearly labelled but this doesn't help if you are repairing an existing connector.
Super video with a clear and detailed step-by-step walk through the process. Thank you.
You're welcome!
Bruno can teach me anything and I’ll understand.
Thanks Tyson.
Helped me convert my PIG HOG 14 AWG speaker cables to SpeakON on one end and 1/4" mono on the other. Subbed!
Awesome to hear that!
Best connectors in the world 👍
Fantastic! Thank you very much, Bruno! I have never worked with speakon cables before.
You're welcome Krisztián :)
Clear and straightforward instructable. Thanks very much :)
You're welcome, thanks for watching.
Great video, I am trying to wire a four pole speak on. My colors are red black white and blue. How should I wire it? Thank you for the informative video
Thanks for watching Alfredo. The wiring on 4-pole speakon connectors is specific to their use case - consult the loudspeaker and/or amplifier manufacturer for specific instructions.
Informative,elaborated well thanks so much from Kenya
You're welcome Ken.
Excellent tutorial. Thank you. All questions answered.
You're welcome Doug 😊
Thx man, doing these for the first time and succeeding allways gives that warm jeeeej feeling!
That's great news, now you can be confident about wiring your own speaker cables in future.
thank you! your instructions were extremely clear, concise and easy to understand fidsta uk
You're welcome :)
thank you for your tutorial ! very thorough and precisely what I need when I wire up my NEW (OLD STOCK) ALTEC LANSING 15" duplex speakers !
That's great news! Glad the video was helpful.
Tops stuff bro, even a child can understand, appreciate it
Thanks for watching Daniel.
Singapore. Another place I want to visit. As soon as I stop buying music equipment I'll be on the plane.
The most wonderful explanation, brothers
U r amazing sir.. thankyou for your expectation with great patience
You're welcome, Praveen.
Super clear video, nice work, very helpful.
Thanks for watching Pete!
Great Tutorial 👌👍 i was working on my speaker connectors too: 1 speaker cuts down in sound sometimes: the reason: i didnot use loctite on the screws in the past (when I was 12 years old or so🙈)
My advice: do not solder the cable ends: i did that too in the past and because of high power that is running through the speakon and the terminals soldering can cause burn speakon terminals: the cables can come loose too like this
greetings from the Netherlands
Thanks FJ - I no longer tin/solder the cable ends anymore, for the reason you state above :)
Thank you too, for your reply,
My tip to everyone: if you have thinner cabling ( I think 1.5mm² or thinner)
Step 1: strip the wires,
Step 2: twist the cores together and fold the stripped end back (you're doing it right if you fold it onto the insulation of the single wire)
Step 3: See if you can insert this into the connection terminal: with the stripped cores away from the screw
Step 4: l screw the wire onto the insulation
This way you get a strong connection that, together with the loctite on the screws, ensures that it does not (quickly) come loose.
Sorry for the much writing but before I forget: for thicker cabling (from 1.5 mm² or thicker or so I guess): Is it necessary to use those sleeves for around the cable-cores (unfortunately i don't know the exact name,but you know what I mean, i guess?): those can be pinched with special pliers: the best is one that clicks: because it tightens on torque.
With thicker cables you're getting the following problem with the "fold-on-insulation" method: the whole "package" (of insulation and stripped cores) becomes too thick to fit into the connection terminal: I used 2x 2.5mm² wire; the double folding method did NOT work, for this reason you will need thinner cabling, you will find out exactly how thin by trying the tips
I hope this is useful for everyone, i think it is important and helpful for everyone to share their tips and problems and that we're not laughing at about posts like that, because their always a learn moment for everyone
Greetings from the Netherlands
Nice presentation very understandable and i like your screw tools.
Yes good tools are a must when assembling these connectors!
You are such a perfectionist Bra!!!
I just bought some JBL speakers that require the speakon connections and finding the cables can be a challenge or even good information sources explaining which cables to use. Your video has been the best yet at explaining the process. so i need the cable to go from the speaker to the mixer. will this wire set up work the same way?
You can't connect the loudspeaker directly to the mixer, unless it is a powered mixer with speakon outputs; you need to connect the mixer to amplifier first 🙂
Great video!! Clear, informative and professional. Thanks for helping someone new to these connections.
You're welcome Jon, glad the video was helpful!
Excellent concise, factual presentation. Thanks a lot!
You're welcome Gerry, thanks for watching!
It's sooo clear to understand. Thanks bro
You're welcome Jude :)
Sir, how to connect the output of one 1- mixer to 24-power amplifiers without compromising or degrading the audio signal coming out from Mixer.
Any way, thank very much for sharing your knowledge, your the best teacher...!
Hi Manuelito! You have 24 power amps to connect - is this a large installed system?
Back in the day we used banana plugs and 12 GA. Heavy duty stranded zip cable. Cheap and bulletproof.
Yeah the big issue with banana plugs is that they can be inserted in two directions so polarity reversal issues were very common in older systems. The exposed contacts were also vulnerable to damage if they got stepped on. Otherwise they're good connectors - lots of contact area and relatively difficult to pull out. Much better than guitar jacks!
You're absolutely correct. Now that you mention it they were color-coded (red/black- both dark LOL) and there is nothing to stop someone from flipping them over in a dark club, etc. - disaster. Before the banana plugs we just tinned the ends of all the speaker cables and stuck them in the screw terminals! There's a recipe for phase-reversal problems de-luxe LOL.
BTW - I wanted to chime in on "tinning" the ends of conductors. What we've found (over 40+ yrs of dealing with cables - I'm old....) - it does keep the stray strands together - but there's a very bad downside - it also creates a weak point right at the base of the "tin" and the conductor will fail right there - shearing off inside the jack and often just inside the insulation (where you can't see it) and wreaking all manner of havoc. What's worse ... they don't fail all at once - it happens over time (with the speaker vibration itself contributing) and it's intermittent... your cable goes from 12 ga. to 18 ga. to 32 ga... and eventually down to 1-2 strands still intact - enough so you can NOT find the offending cable with a simple continuity check at the show - it'll show up as A-OK with the load from a 9-volt battery ... but nowhere near enough conductor left to carry the signal current from a 1000 watt amp. This can cause amps to overheat...speakers to self-destruct.. etc. This is far worse situation than a bare conductor just pulling out of the jack.
So what we do now is strip the wire longer than needed - tin the usual 1/2" or so... then trim it again so there is maybe 1/8" or less of "tinned" end down in the jack. That puts the "tin ball" *ahead of* the set screw inside the jack - it eliminates 'strays' without creating the shear point. Try it! Start doing it this way and (combined with your loc-tite... a VERY good tip BTW) - you'll seldom if ever have to fool with a plug once you build it. It's all about making everything as fail-safe and bulletproof as you humanly can - and the smallest details (like the Loc-Tite or the tinned end) are the difference between a real Pro and an amateur.
Great advice, thanks very much for your contribution! What a lot of people don't realise is that even though there is a stress relief which clamps to the cable jacket it is still possible for the internal strands to move independently as the cable flexes, causing the issues you describe above. And yes I agree that the best possible build quality is the way to go with cables - a little bit of extra time and effort will give you a cable that lasts hundreds of shows rather than a couple dozen ;)
Thank you, very informative and professionally done.
You're welcome :)
Any link available to the cable used in this tutorial? Very helpful.. thanks!
No, this cable is not currently available on Amazon. However any quality loudspeaker cable can be used with these connectors. Thanks for watching!
Can you hook up 2 speakers to one SpeakON ? We run 2 subs off of one side of our amp and 2 tops off the other . Very well done video, best I have ever seen. Thank you !
Not to one speakon, but most loudspeakers will have two speakon connectors - one to use as an input and the second as a thru to daisy-chain to subsequent speakers.
@@GLBProductions ours is a crown 6002 , one of their newer models. Currently I’m using banana plugs stacked on each side . This amp only has one set of SpeakON outs . What about some kind of Y cable ? Thanks for your fast response. You have lots of great videos, thanks for them .
Crown XTi 6002? On that amp you can run one speaker off the speakon and a second one off the binding posts - banana plugs or just bare wire. There ARE commercially available speakon Y-cables, or you can just built one yourself 😊
Very clear explanation and demo. Thank you very much for knowledge given
You're welcome Jeorge!
GOD BLESS YOU MY SON.YOUR HELP IS A TREASURE.
You're most welcome Andreas!
Thank you for the explanation!! Awesome!
Glad it was helpful Ricardo!
Thank you so much sir…. You posted this years ago but today it has educated me.. thanks again sir.. 🫂
You're welcome, connectors in the pro audio industry do not change very often :)
I like this very much; it's very informative. I use the updated versions: NL4FX and the NL2FX. Both of them have the metal release tab on them. As I am in the US, I use Southwire Royal 2C 14 AWG (2.08mm2) SJOOW for runs under 40 feet (approx. 12 metres).
Yes the FX series are 3-piece construction rather than 4 so are simpler to assemble. Thanks for watching :)
👍 Great vid - calm, clear, cool and informative!
Thanks for watching!
I keep wanting to add a thumbs up, but RUclips limits me to one. Super informative video and a great job as usual, Bruno.
I'll make a mental note of your extra thumbs up :) Thanks for watching!
Thank you from Detroit
You're welcome Johnson!
So nicely explained in detail. Superb
Thanks for watching :)
Awesome explanations and editing to make it more understandable. Thank you.
You're welcome!
Thank u very much....I have 7 passive speaker n was wondering how to make up speakon cables n u hit it on the mark thank u..am your biggest fan..
You're welcome!
Thank you...Your videos are always very well thought out and explained.
Thank you sir idol..bunaallzz from lapulapu city Philippines
Hi Bruno I want to take off a xlr and convert to speakon can you advise me the procedure or maybe make a video as no one has actually made one 👍
There is a very good reason for that: XLR connectors are not designed for use as speaker connectors and cannot handle the current required for high power applications. Many years ago they were used as speaker connectors by some companies but not today.
Bruno, very informative video. I will use these on a solar project. Thank you sir !!!
Neutrik actually make similar connectors specifically for AC power - they are called PowerCon connectors, check them out.
@@GLBProductions plz give avideo on powercon also
Thanks for clearing my confusion.
You're welcome :)
I keep a silver sharpie in my tool kits for stuff like this. Works a charm!
Ah yes, silver be très cool ;)
Silver Sharpie. That's a good tip. Thanks.
NelsonGuise v.
I've never tried it, but it will be good to learn these things
See this video on how to daisy chain speakers: ruclips.net/video/NqTqJ4zOJJU/видео.html
Praise the Lord...very helpful brother. God bless!
Glad it was helpful Kelemedi!
Great video! Thank you so much! I am making cable wire for my home audio stereo speakers that will be using a new Crown power amplifier. Very helpful information.
Thanks Lucky, hope your stereo sounds great!
Glad you're back Bruno!I was a little worried :)
Thanks for your support Chris, hope you're well!
+GLB Productions Yes thanks!hope it's the same for you :)
This video is awesome, thanks man. Gonna go make myself one now!
You're welcome!
as soon as i saw the danley shirt i knew i could trust this man.
Glad you feel that way 😊
GLB Productions which Danley cabs have you worked with?
One thing I like to do is paint the copper with Deoxit conditioner and work it into the area where the copper enters the jacket before clamping. This helps seal the jacket from air, inhibiting the formation of oxides between the copper strands. I find it just helps extend the cables service life as even OFC develops oxides over time and that increase impedance so gradually that the drop in sound quality goes unnoticed. In a fixed installation, these connections are often inaccessible and never checked or serviced. Which just leads to auditoriums with really poor clarity and muffled bass. It's quite possibly the most common problem I come across. That and inadequate cable gauge which is really the same impedance issue at the core of it.
If I'm dealing with vintage gear that the owner wants to maintain as original, say a 5 way binding post etc, then I platt the cable strands into a spade, pin or other appropriate connector and solder it to keep it's shape. Use heat shrink to colour code and stiffen joint between jacket and wire. This minimises mechanical flex and continuity problems through connectors that you can get with crimps spades, pins, bananas etc. Yes, I work on HiFi as well as PA. Yeah, flashy gold connectors are just useless bling that only serves to increase the number of mechanical connections where problems can develop IMO. However, SpeakONs are so worth it for the convenience and other advantages you mentioned in the video. They are the only connector I'd recommend upgrading too.
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M68k
Very informative and straight forward and easy to remember
Excellent Video well done, thank you.
You're welcome Howard :)
Fantastic tutorial. Thank you!
You're welcome Pieter!
Excellent video!! Thanks for taking the time to make!
You're welcome, thanks for taking the time to watch ;)
Great video... clarity 💯👌
Nice video, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Im waiting for my new amp and it doesen't have binding posts
You're welcome, thanks for watching!
thank you for your always detailed and well explained video!
You're welcome!
When are you required to use a 4 wire connection cable? Does the type of loudspeaker matters on this subject weather you use 2 wire cable or 4 wire cable?
A 4-wire cable would be used when all four terminals are connected at both ends of the cable - typically this would be when connecting a biamplified loudspeaker to a compatible amplifier output, using +1/-1 for the LF and +2/-2 for the HF. So yes the type of loudspeaker is very important.
Excellent tutorial as always. Thanks
Thanks Jason.
Thanks, very helpful. I have 2 questions. 1) For outdoor speakers is there a SpeakON connector that is waterproof (eg., filled with silicon) and 2) how to you connect that plug to a speaker? My speakers have standard binding posts. Do I just attach a short run of cable to the binding post and then put the female Neutrik on the other end?
You're welcome Karl! 1) Yes the Neutrik STX series of connectors are weatherproof to IP54 in mated condition. 2) These connectors are only for speakers with the corresponding speakon chassis connectors. If your speaker has binding posts just use those with banana plugs, spade lugs or even bare wire.
Thanks for the great explanation. I have the same, but it looks like my connector is stuk in the sleeve. How the heck do I get it out of the sleeve?
On the newest version of this connector there is no more sleeve - only the body of the connector, strain relief and tail cap. Check carefully.
Thanks for the clear instruction. I've just bought some SpeakON cables and the connectors and was trying to work out what each terminal was for, so this really helped. The tip about pruning shears to cut the cable is great too, I've never though about that, but it certainly makes life easier and gives a nice clean cut, I'll have to invest in some :)
You're most welcome, glad the video was helpful :)
Is it cheaper to buy the cables and connector separately as appose to buying the cable already for use?
Assuming the components are of equal quality it should be cheaper to buy them separately as you are providing your own time and labour to assemble them.
this man is the business in pro pa
Thanks for your support, Phil!
Thank you for the very clear explanation!
You're welcome Thomas.
Thanks for a very informative video.
You're welcome Glen!
I just wired cables for my bass amp with Neutrik SpeakON Connectors. Thank you to Bruno for your incredibly thorough tutorial. I especially appreciated all of the fine details you provided. One helpful tool I purchased is a wire stripper made in Germany (Stahlwille 12967). It makes stripping the outer jacker on cables 4-28 mm in diameter a snap, and is adjustable so the inner conductors are not damaged. It is by far the best wire stripper I have used. No more frustration of nicking the inner conductors. The first cut is made along the axis of the cable, then the hooked end is used to cut the outer jacker away. Make sure to point the hooked end away from the conductors while advancing it circumferentially, cutting just under the outer jacket. In the U.S. it is available at K.C. Tool (kctool.com). They also sell #1 pozidrive screwdrivers. The set I purchased is made by Felo. For the inner conductors, I used standard wire strippers by Klein Tools. Thanks again for the helpful advice!
Thanks 64, good suggestions on the wire stripper - having the right tool makes all the difference!
thanks a lot i really liked your videos specially your polite explaination
You're welcome Daniel.
is there away of connecting them to a mixer, like a adapter or something any help would be appriciated thank you
These are speaker-level connectors only, so they cannot be connected to a mixer's line level outputs.
Excellent Demonstration thanks :)
You're welcome :)
Can you use any 12 Gauge - Positive / Negative speaker wire to connect these?
Yes you can - it doesn't have to be 12-gauge either, the connector will accept a very wide range of wire sizes due to the design of the clamping mechanism.
Excellent video, thank you
You're welcome John!