Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

[lex666]

...went down to the local Guitar Center on friday with the intent of purchasing 2 speaker cables... (see my other thread regarding cable gauges)

I was planning on getting 2 of the relatively inexepensive Live Wire Speaker cables in 14awg - 3ft... but I let the sales guy talk me into buying the better sounding, less noise, more reliable Mogami cable. Strongly urged me to avoid the Live Wires becuase of his own personal bad experiences...

I bought 'em, got home and wondered to myself if these were just regular 1/4 audio cables - not speaker cables? No where on the packaging does it state the AWG or intended purpose. Is this still okay to use as a speaker cable? I ask becuz I heard using a guitar cable is very bad... what about this Mogami cable? Should I worry?

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Mogami-...h-Cable-with-Neutrik-Plugs-339036-i1129275.gc

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

They are not the same.

 

[lex666]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

Pls explain why or how.

Should I return those Mogami cables for the Live Wires or even Monster?

 

[J Moose]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

What you got sold is a regular old 'instrument' cable, not a speaker cable.

Speaker cables don't have shielding, which in this case doesn't really affect anything for speakers but the small wire is not so good. Speaker cables generally have more mass to the inner diameter of the copper. Think of it like pushing water through a garden hose vs. having a 3 foot wide pipe with 500 gallons a second being demanded on one end. Too small a pipe can lead to a back up of pressure (voltage) inside the amp...

Yes, you could probably use it as a speaker cable but you should really just get a nice 12 or 14 guage speaker cable. Even zip cord from the hardware store is fine if its a large diameter.

Now repeat after me... "The counter jockeys who work at GuiTarget are morons, I will avoid them in the future".

 

[zzmoore]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

You'd think a salesman would know the difference between speaker cable and instrument cable......wouldn't you?????

 

[lex666]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

I understand why the sales guy would want to up-sell me, but selling me something innappropriate is a HUGE disapointment.

"The counter jockeys who work at GuiTarget are morons, I will avoid them in the future".

Truth. I went in knowing what I wanted... I should never have listened to the sales kid.

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

as a 16 year old. I was told at MARS music (now sam ash?) that a distortion pickup would replace a distortion pedal. he was not a kid either.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

You'd think a salesman would know the difference between speaker cable and instrument cable......wouldn't you?????

Er, like, the OP says GC. Go figure.

I understand why the sales guy would want to up-sell me, but selling me something innappropriate is a HUGE disapointment.

Worse than that. Using the wrong lead could have caused serious damage to your amplification. In extremis, it could have caused serious damage to you!

 

[trevorus]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

Yeah, instrument cables have a shield and a thing center conductor, and depending on wattage, you could actually burn up the wire inside of it. This can be bad for tube amps or solid state amps alike! No load on a tube amp could burn up something in the amp, and melting to a short on a solid state amp could do the same.

 

[SlyFoxx]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

I'd take them back and speak to the manager of the store. Then again he/she might not know the difference between an instrument and a speaker cable.

You were on the right track. You just got side-swiped by GC.

 

[these_go211]

Re: Speaker cables and regular 1/4" ausdio cables... same?

the idiots working at guitar center may not know the difference between an instrument and a speaker.