Speakon-Jack or Jack-Jack

[DaveMuadDib]

Here's my situation: I connect my main amp and cab with a speakon. My main cab has two speakons and two jacks; My big secondary cab only has a solitary jack input.

To link the two cabs, I can either get a:

1) Speakon-Jack cable and hook the speakon-out of main cab to the jack-in of second cab.
2) Jack-Jack cable and just hook the two cabs together using way.

Before I order one, is there any benefit or downfall to going down the speakon->jack route? I'm always dubious about using different connectors, but I guess it's exactly the same signal, only a different plug. Or are hybrid and jack-jack speaker cables just absolutely identical and neither holds any benefit over the other?

The main reason I'm going down the hybrid route is because it's one less surface to electrocute myself on

Edited June 20, 2010 by Dave_MuadDib

[Happy Jack]

I've tried both ways and noticed no difference ... except that a Jack-Jack cable is cheaper than a Speakon-Jack cable.

These days I tend to carry a Speakon-Jack converter (female Speakon --> 3" cable --> 1/4" Jack) just in case.

[gafbass02]

Funnily enough Dave I think I've got one of those in the basement too. Welcome to give it a whirl

[bigjohn]

Can't see there being any benefit other than the speakon connector being a speakon connector.

ie - it locks in place and can be fixed without soldering.

They make no difference to signal quality other than their inherent reliability do they?

[51m0n]

A speakon cable will not short the circuit as it is plugged in or unplugged, a jack will.

So you can unplug a speakon with the amp running at no risk of shorting, but if you try the same with a jack you may well find you ahave inadvertantly released the magic smoke.

Also the contact area of a speakon is far greater than that on a jack, so the resistance at that point is less. This is a very good thing when talking about high power amps.


HAving said that I've run up to 250w amps with jacks and had no problems as yet. But I never unplug the amp from the cab whilst its running.

[BigRedX]

You should replace the jack socket on your second cab with a Speakon socket. That's best in the long run.

Personally I won't even entertain the idea of anything other than a low-powered guitar amp/speaker connection being done with jacks.

[4 Strings]

Just a thought, why do you not connect the second cab from your amp instead of the daisy chain? Less contacts for the signal path and halves the signal going through the first lead. More reliable as if the first lead goes down the second cab is still running. (Impedance should be the same as the speaker through socket should put the second in parallel anyway.)

Speakons are designed for speaker signal and connection whereas jack are general purpose. To this end its +1 from to the locking and extra contact area and also +1 for putting a speakon in your 2nd cab. No need for for more than one type of connector then.

[flyfisher]

My cabs have jacks and speakons but I use speakon connectors for the good reasons above plus to avoid getting the speaker cables (which should be heavier) mixed up with signal cables.