Ohms

Sethdusith

Rebel Corn
Reaction score
2,822
Points
93
I took off the speaker on my behringer cab, and all the wires that the speaker would normally be connected to are all cut off, only this blue two wire remains. It's like a regular wire you would use to connect speakers to a sound system, by the looks of it, one wire to positive speaker terminal, and one wire to negative. The tweeter wasn't connected, so I grabbed the tweeter speaker wires and wrapped them on the appropriate terminals on the 15" speaker, not knowing if that was a dumb move

I know how to solder, so I could possibly fix it, but I don't really know how these should be wired

Sorry, didn't take pics either. Perhaps I will next time
 

Pilgrim

Corn Star
Reaction score
6,306
Points
93
I found out something bad about this cabinet. This weird blue speaker wire is all that's connected to the speaker. I been connected it to my combo amp this way so I can use it, and it works, but is this safe? Could I just connect this wire to a 1/4" female jack and use it with my new amp head, when I get it? I unhooked my speaker from my combo amp and connected the wires to the wires that were connected to the Peavey combo amps speaker.


Considering power goes through these cables, is this at all safe? Would it be safe to connect them to a 1/4" jack and connect that to a speaker output on an amp head? Am I risking a fire? 🧐
This advice is for your benefit and for whoever might own that Behringer cab after you. It sounds like you're new to this, and I want to share some advice that will help you now and down the road.

Fix it, and do it right. I do NOT believe in changing the internal wiring on equipment like that, and there is more than one reason. First, the cab simply is not working correctly. Second, are you 100% sure you will remember exactly what you did, and why, two or three years from now and can use the cab without damaging your amp by connecting something badly? Finally, what happens if you get tired of that cab and sell it? Are you going to provide the buyer a full wiring diagram documenting the changes in it and explaining how to use it safely? I doubt it.

First, go online and gat a manual for that cab. There will be one, and it will explain what the connectors on that cab are for. Open it up and see what it's supposed to do.

Then fix it and do it right. Restore the original wiring connections, which should be quite easy. There isn't a lot of wiring in there, there are just a few wires. If they're color coded, matching them up is trivial; if not, there are other clues like length. But this is the only way that you know that you can use that cab and not damage the amp you're driving it with. And yes, right now that is potentially possible.

The big question you haven't answered is WHY someone got in there and screwed with the wiring. That makes it dangerous to use that cab right now. Something happened to it, and there's a good chance that speaker has a problem or there's something wrong with the electronics. You need to know what is going on, and if there's a problem with the cab, you need to either give it back to the previous owner (for a refund), fix it so it works, or scrap the speaker and get rid of he cab and learn a lesson about buying a speaker cab that has been modified.
 
Last edited:

Sethdusith

Rebel Corn
Reaction score
2,822
Points
93
I'm not the type of guy who sells equipment. I usually keep everything I buy so no need to worry about the next owner. As there will be none. Even if everything was broken I would use the cab box itself and just make a new cab out of it

Also, the speaker does seem to work fine. I've wired it to my amp and it transfers volume as it should.

I've downloaded a manual for the cabinet but it says nothing about wiring. Where can I find information on this cabinets wiring? I'm new to this, so I am not sure where to look

I do believe I'd know how to connect the speaker to the 1/4" unbalanced output, but I wouldn't know the first time about wiring anything else it has

The blue wire is connected directly to the speaker terminals, it has two wires, one to the negative, and one to the positive. Is this a safe way of powering a cabinet speaker?


I wish to fix this cabinet so that it works. As if I took it back to the pawn shop I got it at, they'd only give me store credit and there is nothing in the store I particularly want. Even if it just means wiring the speaker to a 1/4" output. I'm not sure if that's a safe move, I don't know much about cabinets, but I'd like to learn

As for why they did it. It beats me. I don't know who owned this speaker last or why the pawn shop accepted it
 

Sethdusith

Rebel Corn
Reaction score
2,822
Points
93
this a guitar a cabinet? hooking the tweeter may need a high pass cross over in order to keep the lows from damaging the tweeter. now this is on car audio. i think the principles are the same.
Bass cabinet. And I hadn't thought about that, since I don't have the cabs crossover hooked up, you're right. I guess I will need to unhook it
 

ponchonlefty

Royal Corn
Reaction score
50,518
Points
113
Location
alabama
Bass cabinet. And I hadn't thought about that, since I don't have the cabs crossover hooked up, you're right. I guess I will need to unhook it
it will sound better too. im not a expert just burned up a few things before. is the woofer dual voice coil? a dual will have two positives and two negatives. that's the hot thing in car audio. im not that familiar with band stuff.
 

Sethdusith

Rebel Corn
Reaction score
2,822
Points
93
it will sound better too. im not a expert just burned up a few things before. is the woofer dual voice coil? a dual will have two positives and two negatives. that's the hot thing in car audio. im not that familiar with band stuff.
It does have two positives and two negative spades. They are connected together tho so I'm not sure if it's because it's duel coil
 

armyadarkness

Royal Corn
Reaction score
48,504
Points
24
Location
New Jersey
Thanks guys, that answers a lot for me. Tbh I was mostly curious if a 50 watt solid state bass amp, if I ran guitar pedals through it, would be loud enough for jamming. For bass it isn't, but I was thinkng I could use my 50 watt bass combo for my guitar if I had a buddy to jam with.


Maybe?
Yes. That would work quite well.
 

armyadarkness

Royal Corn
Reaction score
48,504
Points
24
Location
New Jersey
Many combo amps connect the speaker to the head with regular speaker wire, so as long as the speaker has the same ohms or MORE than the amp, you're fine.

In case you didnt know, 1/4 instrument cables and 1/4 speaker cables, look identical... but they are not. They have different shielding and resistance... and though they interchange without issue, the sound suffers... to say the least.

I have a Monster cable that's even directional! It works fine no matter how I use it, but one end is designed to be an output, and the other is an input (just like my friends mom).

Note the arrows

1729083025687.jpeg
 

Sethdusith

Rebel Corn
Reaction score
2,822
Points
93
Thanks Amy, I appreciate the knowledge. I am happy to hear there is no inherit risk to this other than noise. I bought myself a speaker/amp cable, but when I tried it out, that's when I discovered the cab had been gutted lol

Don't suppose you know anything about wiring a speaker to a 1/4" jack eh? You mentioned something about shielding. Is that like grounding?
 

Sethdusith

Rebel Corn
Reaction score
2,822
Points
93
Many combo amps connect the speaker to the head with regular speaker wire, so as long as the speaker has the same ohms or MORE than the amp, you're fine.

In case you didnt know, 1/4 instrument cables and 1/4 speaker cables, look identical... but they are not. They have different shielding and resistance... and though they interchange without issue, the sound suffers... to say the least.

I have a Monster cable that's even directional! It works fine no matter how I use it, but one end is designed to be an output, and the other is an input (just like my friends mom).

Note the arrows

View attachment 20801
What's the directional design intended for? 🤔

Also, 😂
 

4strings

Royal Corn
Premium Corn
Reaction score
54,736
Points
113
File "directional instrument cables" under "this doesn't freaking matter".

Back when I built basses and amps for a living a company approached me and asked if I would be a dealer for their directional instrument cables. They came to my shop to do a demo, and compared their cables A/B with "normal" cables. The sales guys said, "See how much clearer the B string is with our cables?"

There's not enough pot in the world to make me that friggin high, kid.

I think I still have their sample cables hanging around here someplace!
 

bonin in the boneyard

Royal Corn
Premium Corn
Reaction score
85,697
Points
113
File "directional instrument cables" under "this doesn't freaking matter".

Back when I built basses and amps for a living a company approached me and asked if I would be a dealer for their directional instrument cables. They came to my shop to do a demo, and compared their cables A/B with "normal" cables. The sales guys said, "See how much clearer the B string is with our cables?"

There's not enough pot in the world to make me that friggin high, kid.

I think I still have their sample cables hanging around here someplace!

What made them "directional" in the first place? Something about the ground connection? I can't imagine anything they would do to the cable that wouldn't be considered a defect in a different context.
 
Top