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Best way to connect my speakers to my amp?


Linus27
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What’s the best way to connect the speakers to my amp head? I have a Genz Benz Shuttle 9 which has to speakon connections and two Aguilar GS 112 speakers. Should I connect one speakon connection from the back of the amp into one speaker and the second spearkon connection on the back of the amp to the other speaker or one speakon connection from the amp head into one speaker and the from the back of that speaker, a speaker lead into the second speaker?

Never really known which is the best way to do it or if it makes any difference.

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There is no difference to what the amp or cab sees, so you can do either.

Apparently some people have had a cable fail but I never have. I daisy chain my cabs because my current (OBBM) cables are too short to connect up any other way.

Edited by chris_b
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[quote name='chris_b' post='1367338' date='Sep 9 2011, 09:40 AM']There is no difference to what the amp or cab sees, so you can do either.

Apparently some people have had a cable fail but I never have. I daisy chain my cabs because my current (OBBM) cables are too short to connect up any other way.[/quote]

Thanks Chris :)

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[quote name='Linus27' post='1367388' date='Sep 9 2011, 10:30 AM']Thanks for the replies everyone. So it seems it makes no difference which ever way you choose to set it up.[/quote]

No difference at all as far as the amp is concerned.

Running two cables from the amp to the two seperate cabs removes the risk of losing all sound if a cable should fail.

I do that out of habit (and I made my cables to the exact lengths) - I guess it's the musical equivalent of an airbag, you never need it until you need it and then you're thankful you had it. :)

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The other consideration is that daisy chaining cables means all the power is going down one cable but running two cables (using both amp outputs) splits the power across both of them, effectively giving you "thicker" speaker cables.

I'm only really mentioning this for completeness and would be the first to agree that this is snake-oil territory, but it might be important if you subscribe to the notion of bigger-is-better when it comes to speaker cables.

Personally I always use both amp outputs, purely for the resilience to a cable failure - not that I've ever actually had one.

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[quote name='icastle' post='1367405' date='Sep 9 2011, 10:52 AM']No difference at all as far as the amp is concerned.

Running two cables from the amp to the two seperate cabs removes the risk of losing all sound if a cable should fail.

I do that out of habit (and I made my cables to the exact lengths) - I guess it's the musical equivalent of an airbag, you never need it until you need it and then you're thankful you had it. :)[/quote]

I do this, purely because of this reason. Have daisy-chained cabs before, when necessary, but if possible, will always connect each individually.

Edited by Lozz196
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Something else I've just thought about. Apparanly the shorter the cable, the better the sound quality, so daisy chaining would allow shorter cables.
But for the length of cables you need to run from amp outs to both cabs, is it going to make any difference? I doubt anyone would be able to hear it at a gig!

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[quote name='flyfisher' post='1367497' date='Sep 9 2011, 12:10 PM']The other consideration is that daisy chaining cables means all the power is going down one cable but running two cables (using both amp outputs) splits the power across both of them, effectively giving you "thicker" speaker cables.[/quote]
The power going to the second speaker in the daisy chain is also going through four connection joints rather than two. It's not going to make an awful lot of difference though. My preferred option would be separate leads, but if lead length dictates daisy chaining, I wouldn't lose sleep over it (not while we've still got Dakota in the set to send me to sleep, anyway).

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[quote name='Linus27' post='1367336' date='Sep 9 2011, 04:38 AM']Should I connect one speakon connection from the back of the amp into one speaker and the second spearkon connection on the back of the amp to the other speaker or one speakon connection from the amp head into one speaker and the from the back of that speaker, a speaker lead into the second speaker?

Never really known which is the best way to do it or if it makes any difference.[/quote]Electrically both are parallel circuits, but with two cables to the amp each cab has a separate current pathway. With daisy chaining the current for both cabs must pass through the single cable attached to the amp. With cables of adequate gauge there's no problem with daisy chaining, but if your cables are questionable separate feeds is the safer method.
[quote]Apparanly the shorter the cable, the better the sound quality, so daisy chaining would allow shorter cables.[/quote]True with 50 foot cables on PA, not a concern with six foot cables.

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We're not talking about 10,000 watt PA systems here, where all cabs would be daisy chained anyway!!

We don't buy cables rated by watts and ohms, so any half decent cable will be able to manage the power delivered by a 500 watt amp, and if you have a 4ohm 410 you will only use 1 cable anyway.

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[quote name='tauzero' post='1367597' date='Sep 9 2011, 01:22 PM']The power going to the second speaker in the daisy chain is also going through four connection joints rather than two. It's not going to make an awful lot of difference though. My preferred option would be separate leads, but if lead length dictates daisy chaining, I wouldn't lose sleep over it (not while we've still got Dakota in the set to send me to sleep, anyway).[/quote]

If you're stacking your cabs with the amp on top then you're still running through the same length of cable to get to the bottom cab as you would be by running a cable direct from the amp head...

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[quote name='icastle' post='1367634' date='Sep 9 2011, 01:51 PM']If you're stacking your cabs with the amp on top then you're still running through the same length of cable to get to the bottom cab as you would be by running a cable direct from the amp head...[/quote]
Yebbut the first part of the daisy chain carries the current for both speakers, so will lose a little more power than carrying the current for just one. All pretty negligible unless you're using skinny little cables (or instrument leads), but I see nothing wrong with being pedantic.

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