LM II to Traveler 102p cab speakon issue

awfulguitarnois

awfulguitarnois

Jan 22, 2014
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#1
As the title says I have a LM II (2007 Italian) and 102p cab (same) that I bought used, and a standard 1/4" speaker cable works fine. I recently bought a speakon cable, and I get no sound when I plug it in. I have researched, including here, but am still kind of stumped. I know that screams 'bad cable' but it seems to meter out fine from inside the connectors, as well as when taken apart. I will say this is not a name brand cable, but he's been selling on eBay for years with no issues reported. Any ideas on what to check? I've kept the volume very low when testing, because I'm worried about no speaker load if a good connection is not made. I don't exactly know what I'm asking other than for any ideas on possible causes and/or solutions?

Thanks very much!
 
#4
I know this going to sound hard to believe, but I've personally seen more than one example where a non-Neutrik jack/cable end worked intermittently or not at all. Sometimes they would work on a cable tester (same connections right, who can explain that one??) and they always tested fine with a continuity check using test probes on the surfaces inside the connector.

Your 1/4 cable demonstrates that the head and cab do in fact both work, and work with each other. At this point if you can find or borrow another Speakon with genuine Neutrik connectors to test out you may be the next person to have an unbelievable story to tell about non-name-brand Speakons not always working.

I am going to make a leap of faith and assume that no one who serviced the head or cab forgot to connect the Speakons. Given your comprehensive continuity testing up to this point, that's all I got! Good luck!
 
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#5
awfulguitarnois said:
Thanks for your reply, Paul. I took the connectors apart the other day and verified that it's the 2-conductor +1/-1 connection, and appears to be wired correctly. I'm really stumped on this one.
Click to expand...
There was an issue with early LM11's being fussy with some Speakon connectors. I have 2 speakon leads and 1 of the 4 connectors doesn't work in the amp connector but is ok in the Markbass speakers.
 
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#6
Thanks Al! I have read this about non-Neutrik cables, too (after buying this one, of course!). It's not an emergency because the speaker cable works fine. But I'll probably get an 'official' cable, and if that doesn't work, then I'll know for sure! I did contact the seller of the cable, and he immediately responded and said he'd send out another no questions asked. But at this point, I'll probably just get a Neutrik one.
 
#7
If the seller has some cables with genuine Neutrik connectors, maybe you could trade in and pay a few extra bucks to get one of those cables. I know this is frustrating and seems impossible, but as kasbrey mentioned there were some other tales on TB as I recall that also involved Markbass. I've actually seen it with other brands too, so that's no knock on Markbass!
 
#9
It could be either the female cable mount OR the male panel mount connector responsible for your problem. I do, as others have also pointed out, encourage using the real Neutrik SpeakOns for the speaker cable as I have seen plenty of defective parts (mostly from Asia) and entire cables (assembled from defective parts). Can you tell if maybe your speaker was repaired and the repair used a non-Neutrik part?

If you can borrow a cable with genuine connectors, that would help you narrow down the problem.
 
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#10
Thanks, all, I'm gonna check it out. I bought the head from the original owner who barely used it. I bought the cab on here and it looks like it was just unboxed. The sticker was still on it. So I don't think anything has been changed. I messed with the cable after band practice tonight, and it looks like the contacts inside the cable ends are a little hinky, so I'm nearly sure it is a cable problem. The genuine Neutrik cables aren't expensive, so I'm just gonna buy one. I'll let everyone know either way.

Thanks again, you all have been really helpful.

PS - The rig sounds amazing, and I think the 2x10 is gonna sound fantastic with the surf band this weekend. Can't wait to crank it!
 
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#12
I'vs had to use this style NL2 on my LMii
neutrik_nl2fc_15.jpg
 
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