Speaker wiring advice please

JohnPerry

i have a lovely old silverface Vibrochamp which i wish to plug into a ten-inch extension (and which has currently got an 8-ohmer in it) at the same time as the internal 8-incher (4 ohm). I have done this already and the combination sounds sublime but i am currently using a Maplin adapter and Y cable to get them both into the single RCA socket. These are flaky and unreliable, and keep cutting out, so would like to achieve a permanent solution.

is it as simple as wiring both speakers into a single male RCA and then plugging that in? If so, do both positive cables get soldered together and both negatives get soldered to the sleeve of the plug?

also is there any ohmage problem with a 4 and an 8 together using a VibroChamp at home volume? 

Ta

ICBM

The RCA socket connection in Champs is a weak point and I definitely wouldn't subject it to the sort of repeated stress that you're doing, and especially not with a trailing cable attached to it as well.

The best thing to do is attach an extension socket with two wires *to the speaker*, and make sure the RCA is nice and tight so it doesn't need to be disturbed again. That way the speaker will take any strain from the cable. Yes, connect the tip on the jack to the positive on the speaker and the sleeve to the negative.

A mismatch like that is fine at home volume. In fact it would probably be fine at any volume...

JohnPerry

Excellent, thanks. Do you mean keep the single RCA connector as it is, running to the internal speaker, and then solder the cables leading to the socket for the extension cab from the internal speaker? 

ICBM

JohnPerry said:

Excellent, thanks. Do you mean keep the single RCA connector as it is, running to the internal speaker, and then solder the cables leading to the socket for the extension cab from the internal speaker? 

Yes, exactly - make sure the RCA plug is good and tight then plug it in once and leave it there. Connect the extension cable to the speaker.

JohnPerry

I'll get to it. Thanks v much 

ecc83

I am a great believer in 'sacrificial adaptors' where the actual connectors are either part of a very expensive piece of gear (such as the £40,000 analyser we had at the network firm I worked for) or, as in this case, they are rather feeble and prone to wear.

I would use a nice, big, chunky RCA plug from Nukes and put it on ~100mm of robust cable and fit a jack socket (NOT a jack cable socket unless the Nukey locking jobbie) . Intelligent use of heat shrink sleeving should make a proper job. Tie the cable to the amp if possible.

Dave.

ICBM

It is actually quite easy to replace the speaker jack on a Champ with a standard 1/4" socket - the hole in the chassis is the right size, so no permanent mod needed to the amp - which I would do as the best option if connecting to the speaker doesn't give enough flexibility… although the only real reason for that is if you want to run *just* the extension cab.