What connector is this?

NikolasR

Member
In our theatre, the speakers have an older connection which is a hole in the middle, and a circle around it. Apparently you lock it into there. What connection is this?
 
In our theatre, the speakers have an older connection which is a hole in the middle, and a circle around it. Apparently you lock it into there. What connection is this?
Could it be a SpeakON connector?
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perhaps something like this Hubbell midget twistlock?
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The Stratford Shakespearean Festival was using these in the mid seventies with the main-stage standardizing on the 3 contact grounded version and the Avon prosc' house using the, slightly less costly, 2 contact, non-grounded, version. Stratford was also using a lot of Cinch Jones' polarized, round, 2 contact 300 series connectors in locations where locking wasn't required.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
Wow! I never would've expected to find such a thing from a reputable manufacturer, but sure enough...link.

Pasted from Martertek's description:
NA4FC-M FAQ
Q:
What is the purpose of the NA4FC-F and NA4FC-M speakON-to-XLR adapters?
A: Neutrik's NA4FC-F and NA4FC-M are generally used to interface speaker-level, high-amperage XLR connections with speakON. Only the 1+ and 1- connections on the speakON connector are active (wired). These parts are very rarely used, since speaker-level connections are rarely made via XLR connectors. These parts should only be used by experienced technicians who understand the amperages involved. Never use these products to connect an amplifier output to any line-level type input! Doing so will almost surely blow something up. These parts are not attenuators, just passive adapters.
 
It is that. Is it possible to convert that to XLR?

Edit: Never mind just googled it and I found a bunch of adapters. Thank you.

Magic Smoke!
Quick flash Lessons in Magic Smoke production are often given free of charge to users of such adapters. Take Care, you do not want to let the Magic Smoke out of your mixer or your microphones.
 
All that is fine and dandy but you still do not want to create any magic smoke. the problem is when someone else comes in and not knowing that is a speaker line they inadvertently create smoke.


markertek
Q:
What is the purpose of the NA4FC-F and NA4FC-M speakON-to-XLR adapters?
A: Neutrik's NA4FC-F and NA4FC-M are generally used to interface speaker-level, high-amperage XLR connections with speakON. Only the 1+ and 1- connections on the speakON connector are active (wired). These parts are very rarely used, since speaker-level connections are rarely made via XLR connectors. These parts should only be used by experienced technicians who understand the amperages involved. Never use these products to connect an amplifier output to any line-level type input! Doing so will almost surely blow something up. These parts are not attenuators, just passive adapters.
 
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I'm still curious as to why you are using XLR's on speaker cable. It is going to be much cheaper to just buy the right connector than to buy an adapter. If you're going to fix something, why not do it right.
 
I'm still curious as to why you are using XLR's on speaker cable. It is going to be much cheaper to just buy the right connector than to buy an adapter. If you're going to fix something, why not do it right.
Possibly we should begin by asking the OP @NikolasR what he's trying to accomplish. Possibly we're rushing to incorrect assumptions. Before we advise he's doing something wrong, I'd like to understand what he's trying to accomplish.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
Some older packaged systems -- Bose 901's for example -- *used* XLR-3s for their speaker connections. I assume that was an attempt to keep you from plugging bare speakers into an amp without a System Controller... though I admit that I'm not sure how, since even the passive System Controller was in front of the amp. Did Bose make any amps besides the ones in their powermixer?
 
So apparently the Speakon connector came to market in 1987 - but before that took off, XLR3 was a fairly common speaker connector.
Cannon made PDN to try and reduce the accidental intermating issues (along with LNE for mains), but they were never as popular...

There are plenty of older boxes and facilities using what we now consider odd connectors for speaker level, XLR3, RCA, etc...
 
So apparently the Speakon connector came to market in 1987 -
That's why some, myself included, call SpeakOn "that newfangled connector."

but before that took off, XLR3 was a fairly common speaker connector.
I remember doing a show in 1984 that came out of one of the NYC shops, ProMix I believe, that used 2-pin XLR for some low of its low-powered speakers. Wired to 12 or 14g zipcord, IIRC.

But the majority of high-power, multi-amped systems used EP4, EP6, or EP8, and continued well into the 2000s.
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It looks like XLR, but is slightly larger. 1.13" diameter as opposed to the XLR's 0.75". Beefier pins too, about twice the thickness of XLR3. Also expensive; in the early 90s, about $30 for a mating pair.

Those that didn't use EP series often resorted to any number of, hopefully non-standard for them, twistlock connectors, with the female on the speaker. Not a good practice at all. Thus the timing was right for a low-cost, easy to use, locking speaker connector. SpeakOn was so good that one major moving light used the NL8 version to provide both power and data, but that's a different conversation/argument.

I've never used, nor needed, nor seen, a SpeakOn-XLR adapter.

See also XLR-Camloc, XLR-powerstrip, https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/adapters.7066/ , http://www.dfd.com/April_1_2015.html .
 

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