Damn Cable is Loose

Not Again

So, there you are, a semi-pro or pro musician who owns a PA system. It has worked great for several years.  You start to notice that the speaker cables seem to be loose, or don't connect correctly when you plug them in. 

And then, your speakers start to cut out in the middle of a show.  

What The Hell Happened? 

Several things can cause the problem. 

1> a cable goes bad

If you are lucky, it is just that the wire has come loose by the connector end, or maybe a wire was broken from repeated yanking of the cable out of the speaker cabinet when you are in rush to pack up and go.  Those are easy and inexpensive repairs to make. 

If you are not so lucky, a wire broke somewhere in the cable other than the end, and it is next to impossible to find the exact spot, and if you did, your cable would be too short.  That sucks.  Buy a new cable. 

2> a speaker-out jack on the PA head goes out

This really sucks.  You might be able to open the PA head up and replace the worn out jacks. However, many times the speaker jacks on a PA head are built into a board and it is a pain in the ass to replace them.   Buy a new PA head
 
2> a speaker jack on a Speaker Cabinet goes out  

!@#$%^^&**(()  - This happened to me two weeks ago.  So, I made a change.  I just finished converting my speaker jacks from 1/4" to Speak-On, and replaced the speaker cable 1/4" male end with Speak-On connectors.  Much better!

Similar to the PA head jack problem, you might have old 1/4" female jacks on the speaker.  Most of the time, this can be fixed by replacing the 1/4' female jacks with Speak-On jacks.  This takes a little work.  You will probably have to drill out the holes on the jack plate, and increase to hole size from 1/4" to around 15/16" to 1" so the Speak-On jacks fit.  In addition, the wires connected to the 1/4" female jacks will have to be disconnected.  The wires can lead to crossover boards and to speakers.  Sometimes, the crossover boards are connected to the inside of the jack plate, which means more work disconnecting those components.

Anyway, the Speak-On jacks are an upgrade because they are superior connectors over 1/4".  One last thing, you will need to replace the 1/4" male jacks on the speaker cable with Speak-On jacks that will plug into the new Speak-On jacks on your speaker. Newer model PA speakers are equipped with Speak-On Jacks. 

Enjoy the Music! 

Jimmy