Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

[Bezmotivnik]

Anyone know of a link to an authoritative diagram for this? SWR helpfully uses a FOUR POLE Speakon for two-conductor speaker connections, so the possibilities for expensive and exciting mistakes are good. I pulled apart an amp and a GIII looking to back-engineer a solution, but the jacks were PCB mounted so I couldn't get anywhere with that without more work than I wanted to do.

Funny, but I've been asking around for a YEAR (including SWR support) and nobody's been able to give me the slightest help yet. This seems like such a common question...don't people make speaker cables all the time?

Many thanks for any assistance!

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

OK, OK, I know this isn't the sexiest question here, but don't tell me that nobody here has made Speakon cables from scratch!

C'mon, give!

 

[J Moose]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

I hate to say it... but SWR would be the right contact on this. As you say, there's several different ways to wire the cab... is it series? Parallel? Series/Parallel? Bi-Amped? Some combination of the above???

Sorry man...

 

[ErikH]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

I've done this. It's hard to describe but you need to really get the connector diagram to see what the hot and ground connection would be for your application. Look at the NL2 diagram and the NL4 and use the two on the NL4 that match the NL2. Use a DMM to check continuity that the wires are in the right spots.

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

I hate to say it... but SWR would be the right contact on this.

SWR (surprise!) has been useless on this.

The Speakon speaker cable is a standard (if overpriced) retail item that is wired one way. I just don't have one to take apart and duplicate the layout.

 

[trevorus]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

Unless you are running a biamp setup, you wire up the cable to +1 and -1, both ends.

 

[J Moose]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

SWR (surprise!) has been useless on this.

The Speakon speaker cable is a standard (if overpriced) retail item that is wired one way. I just don't have one to take apart and duplicate the layout.

Try this;

http://www.audiopile.net/Technical_Library/speakon_explained.htm


BTW - Audiopile also sells premade cables. Not amazing quality but they don't suck either.

On par with ProCo & the like.

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

OK, that link was interesting, but raises a few questions:

SWR, for what little help they gave, said I needed a 4 pole plug, though they didn't seem to know which plug they were talking about, nor how it was to be wired. I know they use the 4-pole NL4MP jack (which appears to use three contacts, two of which are wired together, though it's hard to be sure with a coated, two-sided PCB in situ).

The link article says otherwise, that either the 2-pole or 4-pole plug will work.

OK, conceivably the NL4FC has more gross contact area than an NL2FC or something, but then why is the 4-pole industry standard pinout for a mono speaker such a state secret?

I find it absolutely staggering that they've managed to take a bone-simple, two-conductor polarized speaker connection and make it so abstruse and esoteric that nobody is entirely sure how to pull it off.

Progress!

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

Unless you are running a biamp setup, you wire up the cable to +1 and -1, both ends.

So the 2+ and 2- are not used at all? Why does SWR want me to use the 4-pole version, then, I wonder.

 

[trevorus]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

So the 2+ and 2- are not used at all? Why does SWR want me to use the 4-pole version, then, I wonder.

NL2 jacks cannot be hooked to NL4 plugs. NL4 jacks (amp side) can use either NL2's or NL4s. That might be some of the confusion.

 

[Bezmotivnik]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

OK, so, then it really is just a matter of using the NL4FC's +1 and -1 and leaving the +2 and -2 unused?

I still don't understand why 4-Pole hardware had to be used for a 2-conductor mono output...except that possibly the 4-Pole jack was industry standard for mono/stereo/bridged PA amps, or something. :scratchch

 

[J Moose]

Re: Wiring Up NL4FC Speakons for SWR

I still don't understand why 4-Pole hardware had to be used for a 2-conductor mono output...except that possibly the 4-Pole jack was industry standard for mono/stereo/bridged PA amps, or something. :scratchch

Or something...

Isn't there a wiring diagram inside the owners manual?