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Post subject: speaker cable length??
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 11:37 am
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Is there a limit to the length of cable I can use on my speakers ?? 50 feet


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Post subject: Re: speaker cable length??
Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 1:53 pm
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Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:31 am
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Location: Province de Québec, Canada
No limit but must be bigger wire size if you don't want to loose some bass or power , if you can hear it........


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Post subject: Re: speaker cable length??
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 5:38 am
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Just to agree with that opinion, I've used a female-to-female 1/4" TS adapter to daisy chain a 50' cable and a 30' for a total of 80' with no problem. I do use high quality speaker cables, and I do NOT use instrument cables for my speakers. The difference is important.


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Post subject: Re: speaker cable length??
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 7:18 pm
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Hi ContraCaller (or anyone else who can help):

For years I've been fine with using the speaker cables that came with my Passport 500 Pro. Recently, however, I needed to place the speakers much further away than usual, so I bought some 50-foot high quality Peavey 12-gauge speaker cables.

I have never had ANY issues with my Passport using the 16-foot cables that came with it -- even when pushing it very loud on occasion. But with these 50-footers the Protect light comes on at even just a very moderate volume -- and if pushed just slightly more the sound cuts out for a second or so. I couldn't use the longer cables and had to improvise a different setup using the standard 16-footers -- then it worked absolutely great, as usual.

I have checked this several times again at home with the same result: With the longer cables, even at a very moderate volume (channel level and master volume both around 10 o'clock), the Protect light comes on. (This is with an electric guitar through a direct box plugged into a microphone input.)

For comparison, if I instead use the shorter cables, I can turn it up as loud as I want (channel level and master volume both around 2 or 3 o'clock, for example -- WAY LOUDER than I would ever want it), and there are absolutely no issues with the Protect light coming on.

What gives? I know there's more resistance with longer cables, but it's 12-gauge, and 50 feet isn't ridiculously long. Perhaps I'll have to settle for nothing longer than 25-feet?


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Post subject: Re: speaker cable length??
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 6:58 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 7:24 am
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I'm surprised by your problem and I don't have a confident solution.

I would expect the signal from an electric guitar through a direct box to be pretty hot. 1/4" connections, like the guitar are usually line level signals. I would expect the direct box to convey it via XLR cable without lowering the volume level, and while XLR has no problem carrying a line level signal, the Passport expects a mic level signal with XLR connections, unless you press and light up the Pad button for that channel. This is exactly what the Pad button is for.

If you didn't have the Pad turned on, I'd expect the channel LED at the top of the guitar connection on the Passport to turn red, instead of green or yellow. You'd overwhelm the preamp stage of the amplifier. That might trip the protect circuit breaker at any master volume level with any speaker cable, though I'm not sure that the preamp is protected. It might only work for the power amplifier.

So aside from making sure of two things, I'm not sure what to recommend:

1: Make sure that switching the cables is not coincidental to changing the Pad button settings.

2: Test the cables to make sure they don't have poor connections at the solder joints where the 1/4" TS plugs connect to the wires of the cables. If one of them has poorly insulated near-short, then your description makes sense. Hotter signals would jump the poor insulation and overheat the power amplifier.

A third, less-likely suggestion is to make sure they are speaker cables and not some strange, super-long instrument cables. 12 gauge sounds like a speaker cable. If it's coaxial instead of two similar wires in the cable, it could be an instrument cable.

There are relatively inexpensive cable testers that are always worth having. A neighbor has one that I borrow from time to time, mostly because I haven't found one at a local store and I'm too lazy to order one online. I prefer to shop locally when I can. Behringer makes a pretty good one. I'm not sure who else does.

If you know someone else with a sound system with passive speakers, you might ask them to test the cables. I know I've used up to 80' (a 50' plugged into a 30' with an adapter) with no problem, but it was acoustic music and might not compare with your volume level.


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