Subwoofer Cables

A subwoofer cable in this range is a speaker cable with Speakon connectors, used to connect a passive subwoofer or a bass cab to an amplifier. Once it's plugged in, a Speakon twists and locks, so it won't pop out at high power or when someone trips over the cable. Most of the cables have Speakon at both ends, and two have a 6.3 mm jack on the other end for amps with a jack speaker output. You'll find Cascha, Behringer, Bespeco, Klotz and Soundking here, plus the bass brands Markbass and Orange, in lengths from 1 to 20 m.

What cable does an active subwoofer need?

An active subwoofer has its amplifier built in, so it doesn't need a speaker cable – it only receives a signal. On stage you connect it from the mixer with XLR cables; in a home cinema or hi-fi system, with cinch (RCA) cables. You only need a Speakon cable for a passive subwoofer driven by a separate amplifier.

Why not connect a speaker cab with an instrument cable?

A jack instrument cable has thin conductors and shielding designed for a weak signal. A speaker cable carries the amplifier's power, so it has thicker conductors and no shielding; a thin cable would heat up, lose some of the power and could damage the amp. What's more, you can't plug a Speakon into an instrument input by mistake. Other types and lengths are in the speaker cables category.

What length of subwoofer cable for a bass cab or a PA sub?

Short cables of around 1 to 2 m, such as Markbass Super Power or Orange Crush, link a bass amp to the cab it sits on. In PA setups, where the amps stand in a rack beside the stage and the subwoofers in front of it or at the sides, longer cables are the norm – Cascha Advanced Line comes in 6, 10 and 15 m lengths.