phil_the_bassist Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Morning all! As some of you may've noticed, I'm currently changing one cone on a 4x10 cab of mine. Due to reasons beyond my control I had to cut the wire that goes to the speaker, and it's now gonna be too short to work with when I get the new cone. Do I need to get a special 'high output/low impedance/multicore/plastic coated spaghetti' wire, or will anything do? As I'll be patching the new wire to the end of the old wire, will I need to match the wires perfectly? I'm guessin it's kinda special, as it seemed to be thicker, and the inner strands were a lot tougher to flex...but some hints&tips would be MUCHO APPRECIATO! I'm getting pretty nifty with the ol' soldering iron and heat-shrink, but wire still just looks like bits of string to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='phil_the_bassist' post='277060' date='Sep 4 2008, 02:50 PM']Morning all! As some of you may've noticed, I'm currently changing one cone on a 4x10 cab of mine. Due to reasons beyond my control I had to cut the wire that goes to the speaker, and it's now gonna be too short to work with when I get the new cone. Do I need to get a special 'high output/low impedance/multicore/plastic coated spaghetti' wire, or will anything do? As I'll be patching the new wire to the end of the old wire, will I need to match the wires perfectly? I'm guessin it's kinda special, as it seemed to be thicker, and the inner strands were a lot tougher to flex...but some hints&tips would be MUCHO APPRECIATO! I'm getting pretty nifty with the ol' soldering iron and heat-shrink, but wire still just looks like bits of string to me! [/quote] You don't need anything fancy. PM me and I'll send you a few feet of something suitable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_the_bassist Posted September 4, 2008 Author Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='bremen' post='277098' date='Sep 4 2008, 03:37 PM']You don't need anything fancy. PM me and I'll send you a few feet of something suitable.[/quote] LEGEND! PM'd! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='phil_the_bassist' post='277060' date='Sep 4 2008, 02:50 PM']....I'm guessin it's kinda special, as it seemed to be thicker, and the inner strands were a lot tougher to flex...[/quote] It depends on your gear, what you are doing with it and how you want to sound. You either believe the people who say that any old wire will do, or you believe the people who say that better wire is better for your sound. I use OBBM and Whirlwind instrument leads and 16 gauge speaker cables, so you might be able to guess which side I'm on!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_the_bassist Posted September 4, 2008 Author Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='chris_b' post='277198' date='Sep 4 2008, 04:49 PM']It depends on your gear, what you are doing with it and how you want to sound. You either believe the people who say that any old wire will do, or you believe the people who say that better wire is better for your sound. I use OBBM and Whirlwind instrument leads and 16 gauge speaker cables, so you might be able to guess which side I'm on!!![/quote] I'm very much of the opinion that why rig ££££'s of gear with penceworth cables too...so much so that I've signed up to the 'directional cable' school of thought! I paid enough attention to see that it's more substantial wire than the stuff that holds my basses guts together, but I've really got very little knowledge of wire gauges/materials. If Bremen thinks he's got something suitable then that's good enough for me until I get enough knowledge under my belt to rewire the whole cab with top-notch wires! Do you know what would be decent wire to use for wiring speakers together? I'll be gettin the bottle to do a BFM cab sometime soon (pffft...soon being sometime within the next decade!) so if you know of some good stuff I should invest in pls gimme a shout mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='phil_the_bassist' post='277276' date='Sep 4 2008, 06:45 PM']....Do you know what would be decent wire to use for wiring speakers together?....[/quote] I would give OBBM a shout here on BC (Basschat.co.uk > Affiliates Forums > Basschat Affiliates > Bassic-Bits). He "lives and breaths" the stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='phil_the_bassist' post='277276' date='Sep 4 2008, 06:45 PM']I'm very much of the opinion that why rig ££££'s of gear with penceworth cables too...so much so that I've signed up to the 'directional cable' school of thought! [/quote] Spaking as a professional electronics engineer, and amateur bass player and music lover: Not being funny, but if directional cables make any difference to the sound of a system then the laws of physics don't apply to audio electronics and someone should be getting funding from NASA and CERN to do a phd on the subject ;-) The main reason hifi shops push expensive interconnects and speaker wire is because their margins on audio gear have been cut to the bone, but there's still huge markups to be made on 'special' cables - it's also very easy to get a customer to think 'well, I've paid 2 grand for that system so 200 quid for cables isn't much relatively speaking'. From what I know of OBBN's philosophy to cables he uses the best, toughest, most reliable parts rather than snake-oil that's the product of a marketing department. All that is required for wiring speakers within a cabinet is that it's of sufficiently low impedance to be insignificant compared to the voice coil of the speaker and the output impedance of the amplifier, and be adequately insulated, and that sort of cable does cost pence; you can spend £££ on silver cable or Litz wire but the only reason it'll sound any different is because you know it's there. Guitar leads are a different matter and you do get what you pay for up to a point (though I fart in the general direction of anyone who markets one cable for 'rock' and another for 'jazz') as screened cables are a much more complex piece of engineering and the low level signals coming from a passive bass are a lot more easily damaged. There you go, £££ saved. Spend it on a nice bass and some beer :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escholl Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='bremen' post='277359' date='Sep 4 2008, 08:51 PM']Spaking as a professional electronics engineer, and amateur bass player and music lover: Not being funny, but if directional cables make any difference to the sound of a system then the laws of physics don't apply to audio electronics...[/quote] finally, someone talking sense! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_the_bassist Posted September 4, 2008 Author Share Posted September 4, 2008 [quote name='bremen' post='277359' date='Sep 4 2008, 08:51 PM']Not being funny, but if directional cables make any difference to the sound of a system then the laws of physics don't apply to audio electronics and someone should be getting funding from NASA and CERN to do a phd on the subject[/quote] The only reason that CERN hasn't found any difference is cos they didn't keep the internal SnakeOil reservoir topped up, and they're spending too much money on locating dark matter! ;-P ok, ok, the directional cable was given to me for free with the amp...but I still have never brought myself to put it in the wrong way! Call it superstition, call it susceptible to the sale pitch, but I'm not gonna change now [quote name='chris_b' post='277340' date='Sep 4 2008, 08:16 PM']I would give OBBM a shout here on BC (Basschat.co.uk > Affiliates Forums > Basschat Affiliates > Bassic-Bits). He "lives and breaths" the stuff.[/quote] When I get my pedalboard figured out, OBBM'll be gettin a hefty order for patch leads! I didn't think to contact him for this sorta wire help, but I'm trustin Bremen'll sort me out for the time being! I really appreciate the advice on this guys! And Bremen, thank you for sorting me out with some wire! hopefully I'll have a fully functioning cab ready for the bash (as long as the cone arrives in time!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 [quote name='phil_the_bassist' post='277440' date='Sep 4 2008, 11:07 PM']ok, ok, the directional cable was given to me for free with the amp...but I still have never brought myself to put it in the wrong way! Call it superstition, call it susceptible to the sale pitch, but I'm not gonna change now [/quote] Did you check whether it was a cable for a bass amp above the level of your bass or below it? You could hit problems if you use one that's supposed to be running downhill if you use it the same way round uphill, as the uphill electrons will be trying to go the wrong way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubs Posted September 8, 2008 Share Posted September 8, 2008 [quote name='tauzero' post='279907' date='Sep 8 2008, 06:43 PM']Did you check whether it was a cable for a bass amp above the level of your bass or below it? You could hit problems if you use one that's supposed to be running downhill if you use it the same way round uphill, as the uphill electrons will be trying to go the wrong way.[/quote] Ah, I think I had that problem once. I was using an Ampeg 8x10 so the input was a lot higher than my bass. I’ll have to invest in an active unidirectional rock genre 4 string bass specific instrument cable for next time, otherwise I could be f***ed… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil_the_bassist Posted September 8, 2008 Author Share Posted September 8, 2008 [quote name='tauzero' post='279907' date='Sep 8 2008, 06:43 PM']Did you check whether it was a cable for a bass amp above the level of your bass or below it? You could hit problems if you use one that's supposed to be running downhill if you use it the same way round uphill, as the uphill electrons will be trying to go the wrong way.[/quote] Ahh, yeah, I fixed that by turning the logo on my cab upside down...this changed the reversi-omni-polarification to the uphill electrons helped the downhill electrons overcome the gravitational differences On a serious note, I've just put the cab together and IT ALL WORKS!!! A big thanks to Bremen for the wire, and to Stingrayfan for the heads-up about Soundtech God it sounds goooood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootleg Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 [quote name='bremen' post='277359' date='Sep 4 2008, 08:51 PM']Spaking as a professional electronics engineer, and amateur bass player and music lover: Not being funny, but if directional cables make any difference to the sound of a system then the laws of physics don't apply to audio electronics and someone should be getting funding from NASA and CERN to do a phd on the subject ;-) The main reason hifi shops push expensive interconnects and speaker wire is because their margins on audio gear have been cut to the bone, but there's still huge markups to be made on 'special' cables - it's also very easy to get a customer to think 'well, I've paid 2 grand for that system so 200 quid for cables isn't much relatively speaking'. From what I know of OBBN's philosophy to cables he uses the best, toughest, most reliable parts rather than snake-oil that's the product of a marketing department. All that is required for wiring speakers within a cabinet is that it's of sufficiently low impedance to be insignificant compared to the voice coil of the speaker and the output impedance of the amplifier, and be adequately insulated, and that sort of cable does cost pence; you can spend £££ on silver cable or Litz wire but the only reason it'll sound any different is because you know it's there.[/quote] Here's my speaker cable recipe: 1 metre of 20A Figure 8 XS73Q twin power cable from Maplins (2.12mm2) - £1.99/metre 2 Neutrik Speakon 2 pole (NL2FC) @£2.89 each Take one penknife (to strip insulation) and 1 small phillips screwdriver. 5 minutes later and I have a speaker cable. Total cost £9.12 inc VAT. You could buy thicker cable (25A is 3.53mm2 @ £2.49/metre). [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=20666"]http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=20666[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Just to add my $00.02.... all this stuff about directional cable, OFC cable, solid-bloody-silver cable even was just invented to part stupid people from their money. Two core mains flex is as good as anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.