Loudspeaker Wiring Notes

Shortcut to: Vernal Vienna Paris Noho Soho Berlin Cairo Chicago  SpeakOn Notes  Four Conductor Wiring Notes

Vernal

• The Vernal has one pair of gold-plated screw terminals, to attach bare wire inputs to the loudspeaker.

Vienna

• The Vienna has one pair of gold-plated screw terminals, to attach bare wires to the loudspeaker, and one Neutrik SpeakOn connector. These connections are wired in parallel - meaning, either one can be used as an input, or as an output to "daisy-chain"to another speaker. The SpeakOn connectors are wired to "Pair 1" - see note below.

Paris

• The Paris has one pair of gold-plated screw terminals, to attach bare wires to the loudspeaker, and one Neutrik SpeakOn connector. These connections are wired in parallel - meaning, either one can be used as an input, or as an output to "daisy-chain"to another speaker. The SpeakOn connectors are wired to "Pair 1" - see note below.

Noho

• The Noho has two Neutrik SpeakOn connectors, one on each end of the Noho. These connections are wired in parallel - meaning,, either one can be used as an input, or as an output "daisy-chain"to another speaker. The SpeakOn connectors are wired to "Pair 1" - see note below.
• Pair 2 of the Neutrik SpeakOn connector is simply passed from one connector to the other (this allows you to use the very sleek and simple "four-conductor" wiring approach- see below).

Soho

• The Soho has two Neutrik SpeakOn connectors, one on each end of the Noho. These connections are wired in parallel - meaning, either one can be used as an input, or as an output to "daisy-chain"to another speaker. The SpeakOn connectors are wired to "Pair 1" - see note below.
• Pair 2 of the Neutrik SpeakOn connector is simply passed from one connector to the other.   The Soho has an internal low-pass passive crossover ( set at 150 Hz, 12 dB/Octave). The Soho is intended to be "Daisy-Chained" with the Noho loudspeaker for a very simple, full-range/subwoofer system. The Soho can be wired before or after the Noho in sequence, because the Soho passes full-range signal.

Berlin

• The Berlin has four Neutrik SpeakOn connectors, two on each side of the Berlin. The connections are on the side so that the loudspeaker can be wired even if one side of the cabinet it is pushed tight up against a wall. The connectors are not on the back of the cabinet, because the back of the cabinet is the bottom of the cabinet when in "case mode" (protective lid attached). These SpeakOn connections are wired in parallel - meaning, any one can be used as an input, or as an output to "daisy-chain"to another speaker. The SpeakOn connectors are wired to "Pair 1" - see note below.
• Pair 2 of the Neutrik SpeakOn connector is simply passed from one connector to the other (this allows you to use the very sleek and simple "four-conductor" wiring approach- see below).

Cairo

• The Cairo has four Neutrik SpeakOn connectors, two on each side of the Cairo. The connections are on the side so that the loudspeaker can be wired even if one side of the cabinet it is pushed tight up against a wall. The connectors are not on the back of the cabinet, because the back of the cabinet is the bottom of the cabinet when in "case mode" (protective lid attached). These SpeakOn connections are wired in parallel - meaning, any one can be used as an input, or as an output to "daisy-chain"to another speaker.
• The Cairo is the only biamplified Technomad loudspeaker - it is not a beginner loudspeaker!  The Cairo can be thought of as two independent loudspeakers in one cabinet. The full-range 12"/1" coaxial driver (which has its own passive crossover network) is wired to Pair 1 of the SpeakOn connectors - see note below. This full range driver/crossover is equivalent to a Noho loudspeaker. The 15" subwoofer driver is wired to Pair 2 of the SpeakOn connectors. The 15" driver does not have a dedicated crossover attached to it - you must shape the response of the signal being sent to the 15" as needed for your application using processing before the amplifier (i.e. a Crossover, Graphic EQ, Omnidrive Unit, etc).

Chicago

• The Chicago has four Neutrik SpeakOn connectors, two on each side of the Chicago. The connections are on the side so that the loudspeaker can be wired even if one side of the cabinet it is pushed tight up against a wall. The connectors are not on the back of the cabinet, because the back of the cabinet is the bottom of the cabinet when in "case mode" (protective lid attached). These SpeakOn connections are wired in parallel - meaning, any one can be used as an input, or as an output to "daisy-chain"to another speaker. The Chicago is wired to Pair 2 of the SpeakOn connectors - see note below.
• Pair of the Neutrik SpeakOn connector is simply passed from one connector to the other (this allows you to use the very sleek and simple "four-conductor" wiring approach- see below).

Neutrik SpeakOn Connectors - "Pair 1", "Pair 2"

• The very popular Neutrik SpeakOn connector has several nice features. It is keyed, so it is impossible to hook up out of phase. Is is very weather-resistant. Unlike a 1/4" phono jack or banana plug, it can connect two independent +/- electrical circuits simultaneously. These two independent connections are referred to as "Pair 1" (marked as "1+" and "1-" inside the connector) and "Pair 2" (marked as "2+" and "2-" inside the connector).  
• This is very handy - imagine, for example, that all of the full-range loudspeakers in your rig are wired to only connect to Pair 1 of the SpeakOn connector, and if all of the subwoofers are wired to connect to Pair 2 of the SpeakOn connectors. In this situation, it would be impossible to accidentally connect, for example, 1000 watts of subwoofer power to a small full range cabinet and destroy it.
• In general, full-range Technomad loudspeakers that use SpeakOn connectors are wired to Pair 1. The Soho subwoofer is also wired to Pair 1, as it is intended to be hooked up in parallel with a Noho C (the Soho sub has an internal passive crossover network).  The full-range section of the Cairo biamplified loudspeaker is also wired to Pair 1.
• The Chicago subwoofer and the low frequency section of the Cairo biamplified loudspeaker are wired to SpeakOn Pair 2.

Four-Conductor Wiring

• Using Neutrik SpeakOn cables and two-pair (four-conductor) cable, you can greatly simplify your loudspeaker wiring. Instead of using one cable to drive a full range speaker, and a second cable to drive a subwoofer, you can send both signals down one two-pair cable. This cable has two banana plugs (or other amplifier connection) on one end, and is wired to both Pair 1 and Pair 2 of the Neutrik SpeakOn connector on the other end. You then connect this cable to either a full-range Technomad, or a Technomad subwoofer - it doesn't matter which one. If you connect to a subwoofer, it makes the electrical connection to Pair 2, and passes the full-range Pair 1 signal along to the other SpeakOn jacks. If you connect to a full-range cabinet, it makes the electrical connection to Pair 1, and passes the subwoofer Pair 2 signal along to the other SpeakOn jacks. Then (this is the cool part) you can use a short four conductor SpeakOn to SpeakOn jumper cable to connect to the next cabinet.  The next cabinet, whether subwoofer or full-range loudspeaker, will automatically connect to the correct circuit.
• Advantages of this approach: if you hook up the amplifier-end of the first cable correctly, the rest of the system is a no-brainer to set up. No matter what loudspeaker you connect to, it gets the correct source of power. You cut the number of long cables running out to your loudspeaker stacks in half - one long four conductor cable runs out to the stack, and then short jumpers make all connections between subs and full range cabinets. You don't have to worry about hooking subwoofer power to a full range cabinet and destroying it. Inexperienced operators can hook up the loudspeakers with little risk of making incorrect connections.
  
  
• Schematic diagram of Four Conductor Wiring: