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[Douglas Cyr]

Hello,

What is the lowest gauge I could get away with for NL4 jumpers 3-10 feet in length? The use would be a biamped system with the highest voltage being 90vRMS for the subs.

The rest of my speaker cable for the 25-50 foot runs would be 12 gauge, the tops are 4 Ohms nominal and the subs are 8 Ohms nominal.

Thanks,
Douglas Cyr

[Mike Monte]

Hello,

What is the lowest gauge I could get away with for NL4 jumpers 3-10 feet in length? The use would be a biamped system with the highest voltage being 90vRMS for the subs.

The rest of my speaker cable for the 25-50 foot runs would be 12 gauge, the tops are 4 Ohms nominal and the subs are 8 Ohms nominal.

Thanks,
Douglas Cyr

My 15 ft (and longer) NL4 cables are all 12 gauge.  I made them myself.
I have four 10' jumpers which are also 12 gauge.  I made them myself.
I have a bunch of 3-6 foot jumpers that are 14 gauge which I bought locally when many people switched over to their active cabs so I got them for cheap (really cheap).
If I were to make more jumpers I'd just stick with 12 gauge just to makes things easy/uniform
but
the above being said: my 14 gauge jumpers work fine for my applications and due to their thinner cable, thus they are are easier to work in my bi-amp rigs.

[Steve-White]

My 15 ft (and longer) NL4 cables are all 12 gauge.  I made them myself.
I have four 10' jumpers which are also 12 gauge.  I made them myself.
I have a bunch of 3-6 foot jumpers that are 14 gauge which I bought locally when many people switched over to their active cabs so I got them for cheap (really cheap).
If I were to make more jumpers I'd just stick with 12 gauge just to makes things easy/uniform
but
the above being said: my 14 gauge jumpers work fine for my applications and due to their thinner cable, thus they are are easier to work in my bi-amp rigs.

You stole my post. 

Word for word agree and have done and would do same thing.

[Robert Piascik]

Not trying to be snarky, but who cares? 1) can anyone hear a difference between 12AWG and 14 AWG jumpers? 2) why would you use something different than 12 AWG (to save literally pennies?)
What is your reason for wanting to use something different other than 12AWG?

[Doug Fowler]

Hello,

What is the lowest gauge I could get away with for NL4 jumpers 3-10 feet in length? The use would be a biamped system with the highest voltage being 90vRMS for the subs.

The rest of my speaker cable for the 25-50 foot runs would be 12 gauge, the tops are 4 Ohms nominal and the subs are 8 Ohms nominal.

Thanks,
Douglas Cyr

Pick your wire gauge and length, then calculate voltage drop.   That’s all you really need to know.  Avoid sub jumpers when possible but if you must calculate the loss in damping factor. 

[Dave Pluke]

2) why would you use something different than 12 AWG (to save literally pennies?)

Agreed. Especially when ordering 12 AWG by the spool and building one's own. Ordering lesser lengths of smaller gauge cable would only bring up the unit cost.

Dave

[Russell Ault]

Pick your wire gauge and length, then calculate voltage drop.   That’s all you really need to know. {...}

This isn't quite accurate: over longer runs, the capacitive effects of a cable combine with its resistive effects to produce a low-pass filter.

This is almost certainly not an issue for a 10' jumper, but for longer runs it can become an important factor.

-Russ

[David Sturzenbecher]

This isn't quite accurate: over longer runs, the capacitive effects of a cable combine with its resistive effects to produce a low-pass filter.

This is almost certainly not an issue for a 10' jumper, but for longer runs it can become an important factor.

-Russ

On mic lines over 1000ft sure. Speaker lines?? I am going to have to ask you to show your work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Mac Kerr]

This isn't quite accurate: over longer runs, the capacitive effects of a cable combine with its resistive effects to produce a low-pass filter.

This is almost certainly not an issue for a 10' jumper, but for longer runs it can become an important factor.

-Russ

At the distances for the low pass to come into play you would put the amp closer. At line level I've run analog STP (multicable or 8451) 3000' with no ill effects.

Mac

[Douglas Cyr]

Agreed. Especially when ordering 12 AWG by the spool and building one's own. Ordering lesser lengths of smaller gauge cable would only bring up the unit cost.

Dave

I like to order 12/4 SJOOW and build my own, but I currently have new speakers in need of jumpers and don't have new 12/4 yet.

What I do have is 100's of feet of 18/2 solid core install cable, so I was considering making short NL4 jumpers using two 18 AWG conductors for each pole of the cable, which I calculated using a website to equal 15 AWG per pole.

So it would be four separate 18/2 cables kind of like a loom. But this is all seeming much to ghetto now so I'll probably just wait until I get more 12/4 and do this properly. I was in a mindset of "how can I use what I already have rather than spend more money".

[ProSoundWeb Community]