Newbie mistake! - PA wiring

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stldrummer

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Hi folks. Long-time drummer here building his first home studio. I buried every wire I could think of in my walls but just realized I may have screwed up. I have four active PA speaker locations wired up in the four corners of the room. I mistakenly ran heavy-duty 12-guage "speaker" wire (2-lead) to each location. I also ran XLR wires (Redco MIC-5 wires, 20 AWG conductors) to each location just in case I wanted to put mic's there instead. Each location has it's own 120V receptacle as well.

Well I just bought some Behringer B212 active speakers and realized I will need to run them with either XLR or 1/4 TRS inputs, duh. My question(s):
- Is my current XLR wiring heavy enough to run these speakers? (room size is 20 x 25 x 9 ft)
- If not, should I use the two 12-guage leads I have plus one of the leads from the XLR to form a "heavy-duty TRS" run? (and which of the leads needs the least current?)

Thanks for any help!!
 
DO NOT USE SPEAKER WIRE FOR POWERED SPEAKERS. Powered speakers have the amp built in. The only place you use speaker wire is between the amp and speaker, which is already done inside the cabinet. Use balanced line connection to the input of the powered speaker just like you would for an amp or any other line level device.

More importantly, what the heck do you need cheap PA speakers in a studio for? And why would you put them in all four corners?
 
To answer your question, use the XLR cables - whether you are running balance signal from mic to mixer, DI box to mixer/amp/ or line level from mixer to pwoered speaker, it's the same type of cable. You do realize that if you have an issue with a cable in the future, you won't be able to replace the cable, and will end up running a new one around the room's perimeter, right? Putting cables IN the wall only works at first.

bouldersoundguy is right about the Behrs, though - why? Those are cheap PA speakers, not something you want to monitor your music with in a studio.
 
Are you setting up a demonstration of comb filtering? There is no reason to put speakers in 4 corners of your room.
 
If you had put the wires in a large conduit(s), you could have pulled through extra / different wires later. Advice for other readers.

Alan.
 
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