DIY fix: Speakon to XLR?

[sdcno123]

So, I need some help... ok to cut a long story short I need to fix a dodgey speaker install job done in a hall. The guy installed 2 speakers for (both passive with 1/4 inch jack and speakon inputs) into the hall, one on the left and one on the right. He made a wall socket housing a single female speakon input for both speakers on one side under the speaker near the floor (yes he made the fricken room mono). The mixer used in the hall is a powered mixer with jack outputs to power the speakers. It does not have speakon output from the mixer - only 1/4 inch jack outputs for power.

Now my thinking is that I want to fix this by having two wall inputs instead of one (for L & R speakers). Although, I want to change the single speakon input to be two female XLR inputs because if I ever want to use a different mixer in the future, chances are it will have XLR outputs. My idea is to just have two 1/4 inch jack to male XLR converters coming from the current mixing desk running two XLRs to the wall inputs.

I guess I am a little confused as to whether my intended setup will work or cause problems. Is the actual cable of speakon different from XLR cable or is it the same? What's the difference between a 2 pole and 4 pole speakon?

 

[mshilarious]

You have a few issues here:

First, if the speakers are wired in parallel inside the floor/wall/whatever, you will need to run another cable to one speaker if you want to split them in stereo.

Second, I don't get your idea to use XLR jacks rather than Speakon. It is true that XLRs can handle a reasonable amount of power (16A), but Speakon can handle more (30A). But the more important point is that anybody who sees a Speakon connection will know it's a powered connection, whereas they will assume an XLR-F is a balanced line-level send. And if you get another mixer with XLR outputs, those probably are balanced line-level outputs.

The difference between two and four pole Speakon is the number of poles! Two pole is for one speaker (mono), with four pole, you can send a powered stereo signal using a single (four conductor) cable.

But without that powered mixer, you need a power amp, and you need to decide where the power amp is gonna go. That will determine what kind of cabling you need and where it goes.

Third, as for the cable. No, speaker cable and balanced line cable are not the same. Speaker cable is two conductor (or four for stereo), heavy gauge (12 or 14, maybe thicker depending on length), unshielded. Balanced line cable is two conductor plus shield, usually 22 ga. So if you are trying to convert to a system where you have a line output to a power amp that is located closer to the speakers, you need to change the cable in the wall from the mixer to that point. Or maybe they just ran a Speakon cable from the mixer along the floor to the single jack, which would be a horrible solution if this is not a protected area

 

[sdcno123]

So I hear you saying that there are powered connections to speakers and audio signal connections to speakers. I guess what confuses me is how to know when to use a powered connection and when to use an XLR connection from the mixing desk, and what the different cabling requirements are for each.

In my case, I don't want to buy any more gear at the moment apart from cables, wall sockets and connections. I'm happy to stick with the powered mixer I have and the two passive speakers. I just know that I want stereo, I want the current outlet (of one female speakon) to be changed so that the powered mixer (with 1/4" jack outputs for power to speakers) can be plugged into the speakers via the wall outlet. Keep in mind that the speakers are currently connected to the mono wall outlet via a speakon cable each.

What does the F mean in XLR-F?

 

[mshilarious]

Then you need to open up that wall outlet and see how it's wired. Bottom line is you want two speaker wires from the speakers to your mixer, wired with either Speakon or 1/4". I would try to keep all of it Speakon until the adaptor cable into the mixer.

XLR-F is female. Unlike Speakon, where plugs are male and jacks are female, XLR is of course directional--males send signal, females receive signal.

 

[Farview]

So I hear you saying that there are powered connections to speakers and audio signal connections to speakers. I guess what confuses me is how to know when to use a powered connection and when to use an XLR connection from the mixing desk, and what the different cabling requirements are for each.

A small PA setup like yours consists of three parts. The mixer, the amplifier(s), and the speakers.

The mixer sends a line level signal to the amplifier. Generally, this is done using a balanced cable, like a mic cable.

The amplifier sends a speaker level signal to the speakers. Generally this is done with an unbalanced thick cable.

In your case, the amplifier is built into the mixer. (that's why it's called a powered mixer) So the output of the mixer is speaker level and requires speaker cables.

If you replaced the mixer with a non-powered mixer, you would have to go out and buy power amps to drive the speakers.

XLR connections are for low voltage connections like line level and mic level connections. Speaker cable is for high voltage connections.

 

[sdcno123]

Thanks... That's actually really helpful... I see how it works now... You see I've always owned a set of powered JBLs with an un-powered mixing desk that I use as my own personal PA, and this is the first time I've ever had to think about speakon and speaker cable. I took some photos by the way:

This is the back of one of the speakers:


This is the back of thhe powered mixer:


This is the wall socket speakon connection:


I think I have a plan now... Is this what I need?:

*some speaker wire
*another female speakon wall socket
*another faceplate for housing 2 speakon sockets
*some soldering gear
*2 x speakon-f to mono 14"Jack-m adapters

What speaker wire is the best to buy for this job?

 

[mshilarious]

Something like this:

http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=461

Speakon connectors are solderless, so you could just buy speaker cable terminated with 1/4" plugs and cut off one plug, that way you don't need to solder anything. Or Redco can supply a Speakon-1/4" cable for you.

 

[theobvioustroll]

So I hear you saying that there are powered connections to speakers and audio signal connections to speakers. I guess what confuses me is how to know when to use a powered connection and when to use an XLR connection from the mixing desk, and what the different cabling requirements are for each.

In my case, I don't want to buy any more gear at the moment apart from cables, wall sockets and connections. I'm happy to stick with the powered mixer I have and the two passive speakers. I just know that I want stereo, I want the current outlet (of one female speakon) to be changed so that the powered mixer (with 1/4" jack outputs for power to speakers) can be plugged into the speakers via the wall outlet. Keep in mind that the speakers are currently connected to the mono wall outlet via a speakon cable each.

What does the F mean in XLR-F?

Okay, here is where you are confused.
While an XLR (the F=Female) CAN handle a powered signal, it is really normally used as a balanced Line (pos, neg, common ground) or Microphone line. The vast majority of sound gear does not use XLR as a speaker terminal, so most people would think that it is either a Mic input or a balanced line level input.

If you are lucky, and you open that wall socket up, and you find that whoever wired it up has both sets of leads running to that one jack - you should be able to split them into 2 separate jacks.

I believe you can get Speakon wall socket jack panels from places like Markertek.