PA / pro audio gurus: audio snake cable?

[hannibal]

My Dad is setting up a PA system for his church. Not because he is an audio tech, but because he plays the role of go-to guy.

He asked me if I knew what a snake was and described it as a cable that can carry inputs to the pre amp and outputs to speakers. At first, I thought it was something like coax/optical digital cable for multichannel output in a home theater, but I think I found what he was referring to.

I found this page on Whirlwind.

http://www.whirlwindusa.com/connsnak.html



If I understand this correctly, the Connect 12 has 8 microphone feeds heading to the preamp and 4 XLR outputs for the speakers. I'm not very familiar with XLR plugs, and I'm not sure if this could be useful for my dad's purpose. I'd also like some recommendations on where to buy this cable.

I did look on wikipedia, but any further input is appreciated. Feel free to hit me up on AIM: mrhannibaljones

Thanks NICO!

[Looneybomber]

Alright, my pro audio experience is nill!(Other than a few amp specs and how to get them to work in a home system to power subs) The tiny bit of info I know is that typical pro audio amps don't have normal 5-way binding posts that we're all used to in home audio. Everything quickly plugs in and unplugs for ease of operation and reduced human error hooking things up. On the back you can have an XLR output and on the speaker you can have another XLR input. You buy the length of cable you need and it's an easy plug in without wondering if your polarity is correct.

What you show looks like the mother cable (using my own terminology) going to all the electronics. All the mics will plug into that, they will get bundled together all nice and neat, go to the amps and come back to the same spot where you'd plug in your XLR cables and run them to the speakers. It looks like a great idea since you wouldn't have 50 cables running to and from the amps. Again, it looks like another way of reducing human error and making it more convenient.

My question though is since this will all be permanent installations, do you really need something like that? This would be awesome for touring, DJing ect where you'll set up and then pack up, but if you're not going through all that trouble do you need a snake cable?

[hannibal]

Thanks Looney. Sounds like we're on the same page...

The church meets in a temporary location, so they wanted something with as few loose cables as possible, and a system they can install permanently at their new location.

[ddrumman]

Hey guys!!!

Maybe I can shed some light. Evev though I'm a player NOT a sound engineer, I can tell you how this snake works.

You know when you go to see a concert and the "house sound booth" is 50 sometimes 100 feet away from the stage?That's what these snakes are for. You set the snake on the stage and plug the kick drum mic on 1, the snare on 2, the overhead on 3, the guitar mic on 4, the bass mic on 5, the keys on 6, the lead vocals on 7, and leave one as a reserve.

Then you take all the coresponding inputs and plug them into the "mixing board". The signal then gets processed and fed into the amps and from the amps to the speakers.

Note that nothing from this snake is fed into any speaker.I'm sure if a sound engineer was on this board he'd be able to shed some more light. I've learned over the years a few things to get me by.but I always hire an engineer when I want my system dialed in.

Here's a pic of my system which is right next to me ON stage so I don't NEED this snake. But imagine if my mixer set up was 50 feet away from the stage we'd definitely need the snake and in my case it'd be the 16 input with 8 returns one.

Hope this helps.

[M3Racer]

I run a sound board for a theater, so I have a basic idea of what you're talking about. For our setup, we have it running through a mixing board. You'd be best off consulting a local company that specializes in theater lighting and sound. They should be able to help buy anything you need and help you figure out what you need. We use a local company, so I can't really help you there. Best of luck to ya.

[hannibal]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Dimitri, what are the 'returns' used for?

I found out a friend of a friend sells and repairs concert and theatre equipment. Hopefully he can help me out once I get in touch with him.

[ddrumman]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Dimitri, what are the 'returns' used for?

I found out a friend of a friend sells and repairs concert and theatre equipment. Hopefully he can help me out once I get in touch with him.

Jordan,Sorry I've not been here in days!I'm not sure 100%, but I'm guessing it's for "outboard gear" like, reverbs, digital delays, EQs, compressor limiters, gates, etc etc.