Speech Reinforcement: Room Speakers

By: Owen T. Heisler
Updated: 2020-02-02
Published: 2016-08-05

This article is part of a series; see Speech Reinforcement. This is a stub; more content may be added later.

Notes

  • High-impedance (70 V) wiring is recommended for room speakers. High-impedance systems provide a variety of advantages, including much greater flexibility with number of speakers, significantly smaller wire gauge requirements, and greatly simplified wiring schemes.

  • Always be sure to use large enough wire to provide adequate damping, etc. Larger wire must be used when directly powering low-impedance speakers; for example, see Wire gauge on Wikipedia for low-impedance gauge recommendations.

  • Connectors for high-impedance or low-impedance cables are normally twist connector (such as speakON), 1/4 inch TS, or bare wire.

  • Speaker wire does not need to be shielded or twisted. In fact, using shielded cable is discouraged because it can increase the risk of a short. Note that shielded cable should be used for powered speakers where the signal is line or microphone level; the connectors in this case will often be XLR or 1/4 inch TRS (see Wiring and Cables).

  • Consider using line array speakers, such as the TOA SR-H2L

  • TOA offers the following high quality equipment for high-impedance (70 V) systems: