What cables to use to connect my studio monitors?

How do I connect speakers to an amplifier in series using a double banana plug?

• Okay, so I want to connect several speakers to this amplifier: http://www.qscaudio.com/products/amps/usa/usa.htm (the USA 900) , and I need to connect them in series, because they're small speakers and if I only use one it's getting too much power. Anyway, I know to connect speakers in series you have to connect the negative terminal of the amp to the positive terminal of the speaker, and so on, then the last speaker needs to be connected to the negative terminal of the amp. I am using double banana plugs with female 1/4" cable connectors on the end (similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Hosa-BNP-116-Female-Adapter-6-Inches/dp/B000068OAZ/ref=pd_cp_MI_1), then speaker cables with two male 1/4" connectors to hook up my speakers. How do I separate the negative side from the positive side on the banana plug? Would I need two single banana plugs or a y-splitter, or is there another way to do this? These speakers are going to be used as monitors so the band can hear themselves - it's a church worship band, we already have main speakers set up.

• Answer:

  Do not wire the speakers in series!!! You are over thinking this. I have been doing church sound for 25 years and I have NEVER needed to wire any speaker system in series. Series wiring is a pain in the butt and is not needed in 99.9999999999% of cases (including yours). The speakers will not get too much power if you connect them the normal way (parallel). I hope the speakers you are planning on using are professional PA speakers not some tiny little home stereo speakers. If you let me know the make and model of the speakers, I can help more. What you need to do is figure out the ohms of each speaker. If they are 8 ohms each, that means you can connect four speakers to that amp - two speakers per channel. If you have more than 4 speakers to connect, you probably can get away with 3 speakers per channel if they are 8 ohms per speaker. If they are 4 ohm speakers, you can connect all four (2 per channel) but you will need to be careful because that would be the maximum load for that amp. If each speaker is using a 1/4 inch speaker cable, you will need a 1/4 inch female to banana adapter for EACH speaker. The other option is to buy 1/4 inch to banana speaker cables. To connect more than one banana connector to the amp, just stack the banana connectors on top of each other. They fit inside one another - make sure to keep the positive to positive and neg to neg etc, etc. This will be a normal parallel connection. Please e-mail me if you need more help - I have helped many churches here at Yahoo answers over the years. [email protected]