Speaker Cables At March Audio

[jhaider]

Where does your average non technical user buy speakon on the high street?

You're above that kind of irrational and nonsensical argument.

Obviously the "average non technical user" can buy them where she buys practically everything else.

https://www.amazon.com/Neutrik-NL4F...eywords=neutrik+speakon&qid=1580680018&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.de/Neutrik-NL4FC...eywords=neutrik+speakon&qid=1580680294&sr=8-6

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00W997HCE/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=neutrik+speakon&qid=1580680322&sr=8-3

Additionally there are high street music gear stores (in the US e.g. Guitar Center, Sam Ash, B&H), as well as specialty online venders (here e.g. Redco, Markertek, Parts Express.)

Availability is pretty much the dumbest possible argument one can make about any legal good in 2020.

 

[DonH56]

The problem for consumers is that almost no consumer equipment (amplifiers or speakers) uses speakON connectors.

 

[jhaider]

The problem for consumers is that almost no consumer equipment (amplifiers or speakers) uses speakON connectors.

Agreed, though the example that started this tangent was Benchmark gear that does have Speakon on the back.

But does that matter? In 2020, outside of desktop systems, or 2 channel luddite systems with a diffraction source ("rack") between two speakers, how many speaker connections are actually equipment to equipment?

In our living room every single exposed speaker cable runs between equipment and a wall plate.

The equipment end uses whatever connector the equipment supports. The wall plate end uses Speakon because they're better.

I suspect that is the new normal, at least for multichannel/immersive.

 

[March Audio]

You're above that kind of irrational and nonsensical argument.

Obviously the "average non technical user" can buy them where she buys practically everything else.

https://www.amazon.com/Neutrik-NL4F...eywords=neutrik+speakon&qid=1580680018&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.de/Neutrik-NL4FC...eywords=neutrik+speakon&qid=1580680294&sr=8-6

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00W997HCE/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=neutrik+speakon&qid=1580680322&sr=8-3

Additionally there are high street music gear stores (in the US e.g. Guitar Center, Sam Ash, B&H), as well as specialty online venders (here e.g. Redco, Markertek, Parts Express.)

Availability is pretty much the dumbest possible argument one can make about any legal good in 2020.

Nope. You proved my point.

99. 9% of domestic consumers have no idea what a speakon connector is. Let alone which contact is + and - when wiring them.

I speak to consumers on a daily basis and really you have to understand that most are totally non technical. Speakon is just another complication that goes away from what they understand and are familiar with.

Bananas are universal, readily available everywhere and obviously understandable even to my mum.

 

[March Audio]

Agreed, though the example that started this tangent was Benchmark gear that does have Speakon on the back.

But does that matter? In 2020, outside of desktop systems, or 2 channel luddite systems with a diffraction source ("rack") between two speakers, how many speaker connections are actually equipment to equipment?

In our living room every single exposed speaker cable runs between equipment and a wall plate.

The equipment end uses whatever connector the equipment supports. The wall plate end uses Speakon because they're better.

I suspect that is the new normal, at least for multichannel/immersive.

Really?

Honestly you are unusual to have your system wired in this way. It's not the "new normal" by any stretch of the imagination. By far the vast majority go direct from amp to speaker. Most people have limited choices on where they can arrange their HiFi rack due to space and domestic harmony. Nothing luddite about it, its just life.

Also, why complain about the efficacy of the connection type when you have just put another 4 sets of connections in line by using wall plates?

Also by using wall plates with in wall wiring you will have made the cable length significantly longer and created obvious difficulty in changing cable type.

 

[blueone]

Agreed, though the example that started this tangent was Benchmark gear that does have Speakon on the back.

But does that matter? In 2020, outside of desktop systems, or 2 channel luddite systems with a diffraction source ("rack") between two speakers, how many speaker connections are actually equipment to equipment?

In our living room every single exposed speaker cable runs between equipment and a wall plate.

The equipment end uses whatever connector the equipment supports. The wall plate end uses Speakon because they're better.

I suspect that is the new normal, at least for multichannel/immersive.

I can't resist asking. Why are you badgering March Audio over using a connector that thousands of other amplifiers use, rather than a connector that might be marginally superior but has a near zero deployment in consumer audio?

As for your question about the number of systems which have equipment to equipment connections, with the exception of a few home theater systems using in-wall wiring, which strike me as unlikely to be customers of March Audio, all that I've encountered.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Quite. You have to remove those stupid plastic plugs out the holes on the posts. A Pita with an AV amp that has dozens of the things.

Not half as stupid and having to manage 2 spades in tight places for each channel at each end, especially since there are no real standards for spade/post dimensions.

Out of the 2 I think the RCA is the bigger problem.

Of course.

 

[jhaider]

I can't resist asking. Why are you badgering March Audio over using a connector that thousands of other amplifiers use.

Fair question. I reacted to this misguided assertion: "Problem is that [Benchmark's] choice of speakon does make life more difficult for the domestic end user, probably for no appreciable benefit." He piled on strange nonsense in subsequent posts, such as questioning where one can buy an item in stock in Amazon warehouses globally as well as music/pro audio shops all over the world. Either way, I did not realize at the time this thread is an advertisement rather than a discussion, for a product in a category nobody sensible cares about anyway (preterminated speaker wires). So I'm done.

 

[dshreter]

If nothing else, it’s good evidence that speaker cables and termination have a lot of room for improvement, especially so considering it’s such a basic component.

Tons of the banana plugs out there have very little surface area either at the joint from wire to plug, or at a rotating interface inside of the plug. I think fancy cables are a joke regardless, but it dumbfounds me that people buy cables as thick as a hose then terminate it with banana plugs.

I have zero experience with Speakon connectors, and have never owned anything that would be compatible. Maybe there is hope? Because at the moment, there are not many cables that work with consumer gear, offer good mechanical longevity, high surface area/conductivity, good corrosion resistance, and inexpensive.

 

[DonH56]

Agreed, though the example that started this tangent was Benchmark gear that does have Speakon on the back.

But does that matter? In 2020, outside of desktop systems, or 2 channel luddite systems with a diffraction source ("rack") between two speakers, how many speaker connections are actually equipment to equipment?

In our living room every single exposed speaker cable runs between equipment and a wall plate.

The equipment end uses whatever connector the equipment supports. The wall plate end uses Speakon because they're better.

I suspect that is the new normal, at least for multichannel/immersive.

I have one or two friends with houses pre-wired for sound via wall plates but the vast majority have wires along the floor. No plates. I am a luddite as well; my wires go from amplifiers to speakers (seven plus four subs), no wall plates between, in all rooms of the house. Except for a few SONOS speakers sprinkled about.

Virtually all the pro speakers I have installed the past 20+ years use speakONs. None of the consumer speakers.

 

[restorer-john]

and obviously understandable even to my mum.

Yeah, but her bananas are in the fruit bowl, not jammed into the back of her amplifier- I hope.

 

[March Audio]

Fair question. I reacted to this misguided assertion: "Problem is that [Benchmark's] choice of speakon does make life more difficult for the domestic end user, probably for no appreciable benefit." He piled on strange nonsense in subsequent posts, such as questioning where one can buy an item in stock in Amazon warehouses globally as well as music/pro audio shops all over the world. Either way, I did not realize at the time this thread is an advertisement rather than a discussion, for a product in a category nobody sensible cares about anyway (preterminated speaker wires). So I'm done.

Sorry but you are making the mistake of thinking that average consumers have the knowledge that you may have. My comments were not nonsense in the slightest. I can even go into any hardware store here and buy bananas. I could literally find some in minutes. There is nowhere here to buy speakon. You have to go searching for speakon. it would take at least a week to get some delivered here, and no we are not in the outback. I can ram bare wire into 4mm posts and get going. You cant do that with speakon sockets. They offer little or no appreciable benefit in a domestic environment.

So please give your "nonsense" a rest. Misguided attacks like this are utterly tedious.

In consumer land speakon are totally unknown. How many domestic hifi amps and speakers do you know use speakon? Please list them.

Oh by the way, didnt you notice this is the "dealer" forum?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Old PA speakers used TS jacks. Those would have been superior to banana's in my opinion. You do have to not mix up a guitar cord for a amplifier lead to a speaker. Of course none of those made it in the market place. I remember when many all in one systems used skinny leads to speakers over RCA plugs.

I'd be happy is everyone eventually ended up with Speakons, but I don't see it going that way so far.

 

[March Audio]

Old PA speakers used TS jacks. Those would have been superior to banana's in my opinion. You do have to not mix up a guitar cord for a amplifier lead to a speaker. Of course none of those made it in the market place. I remember when many all in one systems used skinny leads to speakers over RCA plugs.

I'd be happy is everyone eventually ended up with Speakons, but I don't see it going that way so far.

Me too, unfortunately things rarely work out to the best way.

 

[beefkabob]

Tempest in a teapot. What good is a speakon clip of your speakers and amp don't have speakon connectors?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Yeah tempest in a teapot.

XLR connectors can take 15 amps and in fact wouldn't have been a bad speaker connector. They are used in lots of lighting applications.

Speakons are only rated for 30 amps current.

One can always get the worst of both worlds with adapters.

 

[Wombat]

I have one or two friends with houses pre-wired for sound via wall plates but the vast majority have wires along the floor. No plates. I am a luddite as well; my wires go from amplifiers to speakers (seven plus four subs), no wall plates between, in all rooms of the house. Except for a few SONOS speakers sprinkled about.

Virtually all the pro speakers I have installed the past 20+ years use speakONs. None of the consumer speakers.

I ran audio cabling in the walls of a house I was having built. The dry-waller promptly covered the ends over even though they were labelled for fitting to wall plates.

 

[Blumlein 88]

I ran audio cabling in the walls of a house I was having built. The dry-waller promptly covered the ends over even though they were labelled for fitting to wall plates.

If you had let @Thomas savage do your dry wall that wouldn't have happened.

A relative has a similar story after I put in ethernet in nearly every room.

 

[Wombat]

If you had let @Thomas savage do your dry wall that wouldn't have happened.

A relative has a similar story after I put in ethernet in nearly every room.

I can believe it.

There are times when I felt that Thomas may have dry-walled over me.

 

[Thomas savage]

If you had let @Thomas savage do your dry wall that wouldn't have happened.

A relative has a similar story after I put in ethernet in nearly every room.

If I had done it that would of been the least of your worriers .