Speaker cables vs. guitar cables

Lkoz91

Lkoz91

New member
Is there a difference between 1/4" speaker cables and 1/4" guitar cables? I just got a pair of yamaha HS50m's (first pair of monitors) and the last thing I want to do is damage them with regular guitar cables. Am I just worrying too much? Will guitar cables be ok to hook them up to my L/R connection on my Firstudio project? Or should I get myself two speaker cables to be certain?
 
I've used instrument cables as speaker cables before, and it went fine.
I've used speaker cables as instrument cables before, and it sounded terrible and crackly.

:guitar:
 
Speaker cables designed to carry the relatively high output of an amplifier--conventional stereo speaker cable is like doorbell cable but, when you get up to professional PA systems, they're sized more like mains wiring.

Since your monitors have the amplifiers built in, you don't want "speaker cable" at all. You're carrying line level audio signals, not the output of an amp.

Guitar cables should work fine, though if you want to get really fussy (like me!) you'll probably use the balanced XLR inputs. Depending on what your interface output is, this might mean a TRS to XLR cable. (Of course, if your interface doesn't have balanced monitor outs, you can disregard this last comment.)
 
kidkage said:
I've used instrument cables as speaker cables before, and it went fine.
I've used speaker cables as instrument cables before, and it sounded terrible and crackly.

:guitar:
Click to expand...
Never ever use instrument cables as speaker cables. Instrument cables have a thin wire with a braided shield around it. The thin wire is not designed to take much current and is completely encapsulated by the shield and the insulation, so it can't dissipate heat.

A speaker cable is made of two equal sized wires that are generally thicker and can take the current coming out of an amplifier.

If you have a tube amp, using an instrument cable can really screw up the output transformer because of the added resistance of trying to push a lot of power through a thin little wire. It's a bad idea, there is a reason why they are different.

You should never confuse the type of connector being used with the type of signal it is carrying.


That being said, a speaker cable is what you use between the power amp and the speaker itself. Since the HS50M's are power monitors, the speaker cable is inside the cabinet connecting the built-in power amp to the speaker drivers.

The cable you need to connect the interface to the power amp (that's what you are connecting to in this instance) is a balanced line cable. A guitar cable will also work, but it is unbalanced.
 
You should never confuse the type of connector being used with the type of signal it is carrying.
Click to expand...
Word to that. I knew a guy that used a 1/4" instrument jumper cable on a power amp (this is back when a lot of power amps and speakers used 1/4" connectors and thank goodness those days are just about gone). He had a case of 1/4" jumpers, all with blue heat shrink - and an instrument cable was throw into the speaker jumper case at the previous gig (so it really was just an accident).

Once those amps were fired up and he put signal to the stacks, it didn't take more than a few seconds for that cable to fuse itself and the amplifier met a most untimely and unkind death. I'm hoping it was a simple fuse, but there was an awful big puff of smoke and much crackling involved...

Mic / instrument cable is low-voltage only -- Think telephone wire or network cable. Speaker cable carries some friggin' current.
 
Speaker cable is a twist of wires, but they are the same and you can even find some that are higher gauge.

Instrument cable has one wire that is coated and many tiny wires braided (the shield) that wrap around this coated wire. The small wire is what could fuse out if to much electricity was sent through it (and why you shouldn't use it as speaker cable).

Here is a picture of speaker cable (those 2 shown insulated wires will be twised around each other inside the outer plastic protection though:
Speaker_Cable.jpg
This is instrument cable:
GS-6_Guitar_Cable_7.jpg
 
But anyhow, all that shit is besides the point because you don't want to use either speaker or instrument cable. Both the monitors and your interface have balanced ins/outs so use balanced cable:

Either TRS 1/4" to TRS 1/4" or TRS 1/4" to 3 pin MALE xlr cable in whatever length you need.
 
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