Guest joshua Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 hi, Im just wondering if the cable length has any effect on power? Basically, I have a head, then a VERY long speakon cable connecting a cab, then a much shorter speakon cable connecting another cab to the previous cab. Am I losing a lot of wattage by having a long speakon cable? And am I doing any damage by having two very different lengths? Cheers for the insight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted May 29, 2009 Share Posted May 29, 2009 [quote name='joshua' post='501166' date='May 29 2009, 06:42 PM']Im just wondering if the cable length has any effect on power? Basically, I have a head, then a VERY long speakon cable connecting a cab, then a much shorter speakon cable connecting another cab to the previous cab. Am I losing a lot of wattage by having a long speakon cable? And am I doing any damage by having two very different lengths?[/quote] Yes, you are. How much depends on how long the cable is and how thick it is. You are not doing any harm, but why not cut the cable to the length you need and reconnect the Speakon? You just need some wire strippers and the appropriate Allen key. No soldering needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest joshua Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 thanks for the replies, the longest of the cables is 10m, this one: [url="http://www.disco-world.co.uk/cables/10m-speakon-to-speakon-speaker-cable/prod_63.html"]http://www.disco-world.co.uk/cables/10m-sp...le/prod_63.html[/url] unfortunately it doesnt have much other info such as the gauge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obbm Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 [quote name='joshua' post='501166' date='May 29 2009, 06:42 PM']hi, Im just wondering if the cable length has any effect on power? Basically, I have a head, then a VERY long speakon cable connecting a cab, then a much shorter speakon cable connecting another cab to the previous cab. Am I losing a lot of wattage by having a long speakon cable? And am I doing any damage by having two very different lengths? Cheers for the insight[/quote] You won't do any damage, you'll just not get the best out of your rig. By using a long cable of insufficient capacity you will be losing both power and low end tone. You need cable with a minimum cross section of 2.5-sq.mm., ideally 4-sq.mm for the best results. Cheap PA/Disco cables generally tend to be 1.5-sq.mm. or 2.5 if you are lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 The speaker cables OBBM makes are awesome. Check them out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 [quote name='joshua' post='501510' date='May 30 2009, 11:34 AM']thanks for the replies, the longest of the cables is 10m, this one: [url="http://www.disco-world.co.uk/cables/10m-speakon-to-speakon-speaker-cable/prod_63.html"]http://www.disco-world.co.uk/cables/10m-sp...le/prod_63.html[/url] unfortunately it doesnt have much other info such as the gauge[/quote] In which case, you should definitely shorten it. 10m is much too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted May 30, 2009 Share Posted May 30, 2009 I think you've got about 30 foot of excess cable there, which is just getting warm by all your precious watts from your amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorris Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 [quote name='steve-soar' post='501951' date='May 30 2009, 10:31 PM']I think you've got about 30 foot of excess cable there, which is just getting warm by all your precious watts from your amp.[/quote] there's no point in having more cable length than you think you might need - but always add a bit on - sod's law etc. But as long as you use cable with a decent amount of copper the power loss on the cable will be insignificant. You'll also get a low pass filter ( ie treble loss ) effect from the cable due to the resistance, inductance and capacitance. This depends on the physical characteristics of the cable. But it's unlikely to be significant / audible and almost certainly not for bass or elec guitar. Even if you were running a full bandwidth PA signal out of the into the cabs it's not generally a problem. Just think that PA amplfiers often have to have cables longer than these. As for cable - 2 core mains cable , say 6 Amp guage, generally works fine both electronically and mechanically with Speakon and other connectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 [quote name='rmorris' post='502220' date='May 31 2009, 12:38 PM']But as long as you use cable with a decent amount of copper the power loss on the cable will be insignificant.[/quote] The resistance of 30m of your recommended 6-amp cable is nearly 1 ohm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest joshua Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 i would shorten my cable but i am not at all confident at soldering back on the speakon connector Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorris Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 [quote name='joshua' post='502296' date='May 31 2009, 02:18 PM']i would shorten my cable but i am not at all confident at soldering back on the speakon connector[/quote] from memory when I used these - you can buy screw terminal types - although it's an extra cost if you have solder types fitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorris Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 [quote name='stevie' post='502249' date='May 31 2009, 01:28 PM']The resistance of 30m of your recommended 6-amp cable is nearly 1 ohm.[/quote] But the OP states that he has a run of [b]10m[/b] + a bit on another chained cable. Someone else mentions 30 Foot - is that what you meant ? The power loss is small in audio terms. What may be more important is a worsening of the ability of the amp to control the speaker especially at low frequencies ('samping effect') so that notes might 'overhang', 'blur' etc. Whether it's an issue really depends on the actual amplifier and speaker combination Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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