# No Short Speakon Cables?



## zackw250 (Jul 5, 2005)

Does anyone know why I can't find any shorter speakon cables? Like 6ft? Or am I just blind?


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## Eboy87 (Jul 5, 2005)

I get my cables at Guitar Center. If there's none there, you can always make your own.


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## Foxinabox10 (Jul 5, 2005)

They're speaker cables only, so finding a short one is hard. The only thing I can suggest is to make them yourself or buy 1/4" to Speakon Adapters and throw those on a 1/4" cable, which, since the cable is short, shouldn't be too much of a signal loss.


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## AVGuyAndy (Jul 5, 2005)

I've seen 5ft speakon cables on ebay regularly.


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## zackw250 (Jul 5, 2005)

Thanks for the help - i found some 4ft cables at Mucisians Friend - thanks!


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## ccfan213 (Jul 5, 2005)

its much cheaper to make your own cable anyway.


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## zackw250 (Jul 5, 2005)

Yeah, it's cheaper. But I dont have time -


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## The_Guest (Jul 5, 2005)

I have several 2' speakon that I use for patching. I also use them for daisy chaining speakers together. It's really nice because the cables don't touch the ground or get tangled in anything else. You can get them through any of the main production or a/v retailers (full compass, sweet water, markertek, MF, etc).


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## wolf825 (Jul 5, 2005)

zackw250 said:


> Does anyone know why I can't find any shorter speakon cables? Like 6ft? Or am I just blind?



http://www.audiopile.net/products/Speaker_Cables/NL-4_speaker_cable/NL413_cutsheet.htm


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## mbenonis (Jul 5, 2005)

It really doesn't take that long to make your own cables, especially NL4 cables because they do not need to be soldered. Just strip the cable, pop on the connector, screw the conductors down, and screw the whole thing together - 15 minutes tops.


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## sound_nerd (Jul 5, 2005)

Yah, its real quick and cheap to make your own. If you look around enough and buy in bulk, Speakon connectors can be had for $3-5 CDN a piece. But a word of advice, NEVER buy the immitation speakons. Always buy the Neutrik Speakon connectors. [edit] i never mentioned why...I've bought the cheapies in the past and they fall apart after they hit the floor once, the Neutrik ones are really durable. [/edit]

Oh, and a note on buying shorter cables....buy a 12' cable , cut it in half and add connectors, if you must.


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## stantonsound (Jul 5, 2005)

Even better...buy a 100' cable on ebay. You can pick up some decent ones, 14g, for less than $40. Cut it up as you wish.... Make a couple of 25 footers and a bunch of 6 footers. It is always best to have a spare laying aroung and for less than $75 with connectors, the price can't be beat.


......and I agree.....buy the better connectors. They truly make a difference.


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## Mayhem (Jul 14, 2005)

don't forget to use ferrules as it helps to protect the copper strands from getting cut through when screwing them into the connector


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## sound_nerd (Jul 14, 2005)

Mayhem said:


> don't forget to use ferrules as it helps to protect the copper strands from getting cut through when screwing them into the connector



Right. I completely forgot to meniton those.


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## Mayhem (Mar 7, 2006)

AVGuyAndy said:


> I've seen 5ft speakon cables on ebay regularly.



Perhaps these were once 6' cables that developed a problem resulting in 1' being cut off and thrown away!


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## Footer (Mar 7, 2006)

stantonsound said:


> Even better...buy a 100' cable on ebay. You can pick up some decent ones, 14g, for less than $40. Cut it up as you wish.... Make a couple of 25 footers and a bunch of 6 footers. It is always best to have a spare laying aroung and for less than $75 with connectors, the price can't be beat.
> 
> 
> ......and I agree.....buy the better connectors. They truly make a difference.




You can also buy a 500 or 1000' role of 12g for about the price of one or 2 terminated 100's


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## BillESC (Mar 7, 2006)

Whirlwind 12/2 speaker cable is available for only $ .33 per foot. Extra flexible and made for Whirlwind by Belden. Why would anyone buy some no name speaker on eBay?

Agreed on using only Neutrik Speakons. It's the only way to go.


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## CURLS (Mar 9, 2006)

defenitely making your cables whether it be nl4 or nl8 is def the way to go these days matter of fact im goin in the shop today to make a custom order of a crap load of 100' nl4's a did a crap load of jumps yesterday, but make sure you get a pz1 bit for the screws.. posi bit number 1.. we almost find them essential for use on neutrik connectors there is about no other way in getting them fully tightened down


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## Mayhem (Mar 9, 2006)

I recently made up 10 sets of 2.5mm (12AWG I think is the conversion) speaker cables with Neutrik Speakon connectors. I found that the little folded metal clamps inside the screw connectors actually can push the wire out of the hole when you tighten it. I removed all these and used ferrules on the wire and then had no problems getting a good grip with the screws provided.

One thing that I am not all that fond of on the Speakon connectors is the strain relief/cord lock, which seems rather flimsy when used on large OD cables. However, by stripping back only a small amount of the outer jacked (about 5mm more than for the inner conductors), they hold on a lot better.

Much better however that the XLR ones that kink the cable in three places!


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## mbenonis (Mar 9, 2006)

Does anyone know of any good US suppliers for purchasing bulk cable? Specifically, I'm looking to get a rough estimate for a 50' or so section of 10/5 SEOW cable. Also, where would one order quality NEMA twist-lock connectors from?


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## AVGuyAndy (Mar 9, 2006)

I usually get my electrical connectors from McMaster. They might have your cable too.


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