Just curious if anyone knows how far you can run speaker cable to connect the cab to the head without any signal loss. I don't ever hear much talk about speaker cable gauge and length.
Technical Data on Speaker Cable..att. Jbroll
- Thread starter Deaf Ear
- Start date
If the cable gets warm its too long and/or too thin. 
Just keep it as short and thick as possible, the cable also influences the speakerdamping..
No prob if you have a pre somewere and run it with a long linecable, as long as you keep your head on top of the speakers.
Just keep it as short and thick as possible, the cable also influences the speakerdamping..No prob if you have a pre somewere and run it with a long linecable, as long as you keep your head on top of the speakers.
pifos_2
des scoubidoubidous wha !
hum let me think. If you run some 2 x 2,5 mm2 you could go up to 15 meters I think (I've done with good result)... even more I think.
Be sure you run on 16 ohms. High impedance means lower current so less power loss on your line.
In any case, the thicker the cable, the better it is.
There are some tables that shows the signal loss depending on the jauges and the lenght.
Wait...what? I'm pretty sure lower impedance equates to less power loss, because more current means the signal is less subject to cable capacitance. I mean, think about why guitar instrument cables have to be so short, it's because the signal is such high impedance.
Either way, though, I doubt the difference between running a cable at 16 and 8 ohms will even be noticable
pifos_2
des scoubidoubidous wha !
Wait...what? I'm pretty sure lower impedance equates to less power loss, because more current means the signal is less subject to cable capacitance. I mean, think about why guitar instrument cables have to be so short, it's because the signal is such high impedance.
Either way, though, I doubt the difference between running a cable at 16 and 8 ohms will even be noticable
There are 2 different things :
- the impedance/resistance of the cable : has to be smallest possible, so the cable jauge has to be high (2 X 2,5 is good, higher is even better)
- the impedance output of the amplifier/input of the cabinet : good if it is high because :
P = R(I)^2 (if the cable was only resistive)
And so, for the same power, the high the impedance/resistance, the smallest the current. Less current means less deltaU (voltage loss due to the cable "inner" resistance) so less delatP (power loss)
Yeah also the difference should not be really much, but maybe at 15 meters.... well i don't take the risk. Morever there is a "square relationship" (sorry I can't speak math in english) in the formula so between 8 and 16 the difference can be big and between 4 and 16, huge.
Anyway, further calculation would be necessary (considering length and cable impedance per meter) to calculate the loss and to observe if there is a real power loss. You can find those in manufacter's site sometimes. At least for one of the european best cable manufacter :
http://www.cordial-gmbh.de
Glenn Fricker
Very Metal &Very Bad News
Great cheap speaker cable = go to Home Depot & buy some thick bulk extension cord wire, 2 conductor if possible, & solder on 1/4" ends.
It's good shit & has the advantage of not being labeled "speaker cable" so it's cheap. Got the tip from my brother the hi-fi nut with the $20,000 speakers.
It's good shit & has the advantage of not being labeled "speaker cable" so it's cheap. Got the tip from my brother the hi-fi nut with the $20,000 speakers.
::XeS::
Member
Exactly! Buy a normal electrician cables, with 2 conductors, a pair of jack connectors and a solder.
egan.
daylightdies.com
12ga (3 mm^2 I think) is more than adequate for most runs. This is what we use for flown speakers so it should more than enough for am purposes unless you are putting the cab a block away. Often times you want to buy speaker specific cable for flexibility but certainly a/c stuff works fine and I'll be damned if I can here a difference. IMO the main performance determinant is ga.
