Speakon Cable

[slaine01]

I am going to order a 10m B1 cable from a local dealer here in Sydney and want to make sure they make the right cable ( I don't have time to send them the one I already have with the system).
Can you please tell me the pin configuration of the NL4 cable so they get it right as I don't know if they are made as a "stock standard" cable for the L1 - B1.

[hilmar-at-bose]

Easy enough:
What you need as a 4-wire Speakon, i.e. all 4 pins of the NL4 plugs need to be connected. The pins are named 1+, 1-, 2+, and 2-. The connection is one-to-one, for example 2+ on one plug goes to 2+ on the other plug.
The wires inside the cable are usually arranged in a square pattern. Very long cable work a little bit better if the two signal pairs are connected diagonally like this

    1+    2+

    2-    1-

Hope that helps

Hilmar

[slaine01]

Great Thanx,
So basically any pro NL4 bought "off the rack" at a Music store should be fine?

[hilmar-at-bose]

Not neccessarily. It has to be a cable with all 4 pins connected.

All Speakon cables use NL4 connectors but many connect only pins 1+ and 1- and leave pins 2- and 2+ unconnected.

Unfortunately, many sales people are not aware of the difference, so it's important to talk to some who is knowledgable.

Do you have any on-line retailers in Australia? If you send me a link, I'll be happy to take a look and see if I can find something suitable.

Hope that helps

Hilmar

[slaine01]

Thanks,
"Lots Of Watts" here in Sydney are building a custom cable for me as we speak.

[phillspace]

My first post... I believe I've just played 3 gigs with the wrong wire. I had what I believed to be a faulty B1 wire and Guitar Center just sold me a Speakon cable. 1st gig just had 3 vocals in it and sounded fine, the second two gigs were 2 vocals, a boomerang vocal, acoustic guitar, and boomerang guitar. I must have the B1 for acoustic guitar, it sounds so big. But I could not understand why the sound was weird, ie. less volume and a more tubby sound. I also heard occasional digital distortion. We had played the same club many times before with the PAS with wonderful results. The next night at another club seemed better but not "right", maybe I am adjusting for it since everything goes thru a Mackie board. After reading this post I tried to open up the Speakon cable I've got and it appears to have only two wires in it. I think my sound is compromised and I'm going back to guitar center. Would these symptoms be typical of using the wrong configuration cable? What do the 4 wires do?

[ST - Pro]

Hi Phill Space,

You really need the 4-wire Speakon cable.

The "second" two wires that you are missing allows the PS1 Powerstand determine if there is a B1 Bass Module at the other end of the cable. If it detects a B1, then it sets up an appropriately processed signal for a B1. If it doesn't detect a B1, then the signal is flat band-pass filter 40-180 Hz.

The B1 will 'play' either way, but it won't be voiced correctly unless connected with a proper 4-wire cable.

If you have a faulty B1 cable, you should probably call support to get that resolved.

Call Support
Telephone the Bose Live Music Product & Technical Support Team
(877) 335-2673 (U.S. and Canada only)*
Hours of operation
Monday-Friday: 8:30 AM - 8:00 PM ET
Saturday: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET

[phillspace]

Ah. 40 to 180 Hz. That explains why I hear it but it sounds wrong! At least it won't hurt the unit. Guitar Center should have the right Bose cable for me. If not they'll have to order one. I already paid them $25 for the wrong cable they thought was right. Thanks a million, I thought I was losing my hearing and/or my mind.
Funny (sob) story... the club was long and narrow with a very high ceiling. They shove the tables to the back so we can set up... guitar, bass and drums. They have trouble hearing us so we put the PAS on a table which worked great and had less feedback too. Unfortunately, the cable to the B1 was too short to reach the floor... and... you guessed it, we put the B1 on a table too. I turned around to see the B1 bounce off the floor nose first!! The cable was stretched way out! The Bose finished the song and then shut off. Amazing!! Unplugging the cable allowed the PAS to work fine. The system was only supplying us with three vocals so the B1 wasn't important and we finished the night easily. My B1 seemed to work fine when we tested it at Guitar Center the next day so the guy sold me a generic Speakon cable (with 2 wires I later figured out thanks to this site). The next two gigs were acoustic duo stuff and that's when the weirdness became apparent. I like this system so much but I am afraid of how much time a real breakdown will steal. I have a guy who can fix anything in a day or three. Bose seems very secretive about their equipment; I noticed that when I read the owners manual. There is nothing in it!
Thank you ST! I'm using my nickname from an old band too. My guitar job in that band was to fill space.

[ST - Pro]

Hi Phill Space,

Glad all of that made sense and you know how to get things resolved.

Too bad about the B1. Any physical / cosmetic damage there?

I bet your friend could probably repair that blue B1 cable for you in under 10 minutes, (assuming that the some of the wires got yanked out of the binding posts).

And as far as names go, Phill Space sure beats Dead Air.

[Steve-at-Bose_3]

quote:

Bose seems very secretive about their equipment; I noticed that when I read the owners manual.

Phill,

We're not being secretive ... what questions do you have? We'll answer all the non-proprietery ones you have right here.

Steve