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In Reply to: RE: fuses posted by DTS ma 7.2 on January 22, 2015 at 09:36:25
I'm not saying you should, but many bypass the fuses altogether. If you consider this, ensure you have played your system as loud as you are comfortable without having blown any fuses.
And if you do, I'd go wire to wire if possible, bypass the entire fuse and fuse holder. If you switch amps or cabling, put'em back in until you are comfy again.
That will gain an improvement, hi-fi fuses are somewhat subjective.
Follow Ups:
Grant, look what I posted, above, before reading YOUR contribution!
Too much is never enough
Brothers from another mother, and from a different country... well, you get it. :) Darn near verbatim.
I replaced the fuses with copper bars, and get a big improvement in the mid to high frequencies. Quick and easy, with the option of putting the fuses back if my system, for resale, or if the volume is pushed by a high volume idiot, when I am not in the room.
I disagree with neolith regarding the safety of normal fuses when the amp is driven into clipping. My tweeters were saved with normal fuses, in my early days, of high volume demos.
Since then I know I can play very loud, (but not INSANELY loud], without fuses.
I replaced the JUMPERS on my 1.6s with handmade parts of #6 copper wire. It is a LITTLE too big in diameter, but some spin sanding fixed THAT. They need to be pulled every 6 months for de-oxing.
I think the fuse size equivilent is #4 solid, but I'd have to go look at the chart again.
Too much is never enough
The fuse holders which Magnepan use degrade the sound - even if you have a $100 HiFi Tuning fuse in them. So if you want to get maximum SQ from your fancy fuse purchase ... replace the fuse holders with, say, an Acme Audio Labs cryoed fuse holder. However, you might have to make up a little angle-bracket to attach it to the frame.
Secondly, talking about the fuse on the ribbon:
* I'm assuming 'copper bar' means something that's a similar diameter to a fuse - so 1/4" (4g)?
* HFs, IMO, sound much better when they go through thin wire - say 18g, max. So you are not getting the best sound you could get, given the stock fuse holders.
* Yes, the copper bar sounds better than the stock fuse but you will get a much clearer sound by replacing the 'bar' by, say 4 strands of teflon-insulated solid-core wire - like you get from Cat5/Cat6 cable.
But still not as good as bypassing the fuse altogether.
Your Aussie mate,
Andy
Bypassing the fuse holder has no effect on sonics. A"cryoed" fuseholder? LOL!Name one incident of the tweeter failing, and the fuse was still good.
Edits: 01/24/15
There have been quite a few reports of this over the last 15 years or so, on Planar Asylum.But you can do a simple experiment, if you're game to put your money where your mouth is. Simply use, say, a 50w ss amplifier (whose spec is 50w into 8 ohms & 70w into 4 ohms ... so not a 'stiff' power supply!) to play your Maggies at the loudest level you listen to. If you actually do have 3.x Maggies (or 20.x), one or both of your ribbons should blow (due to the HF harmonics produced by clipping) ... however the ribbon fuses will remain intact because you're not actually running too much current through them.
Regards,Andy
Edits: 01/24/15
nt
FWIW
Check link.
You seem to be the kinda guy who needs proof positive with your own eyes, rather than reading a link (which you won't believe when you read it, anyway).
So just get off your fat A and do the experiment I suggested.
Andy
You're speculating.
Just because the fuses blew doesn't mean your tweeters wouldn't have survived. It's not an either-or situation.
There are other variables at work.
Dave.
Give me one example of the tweeter blowing and the fuse not!
As Andy mentioned, it's happened to a number of folks on this forum through the years. Do a search and you'll find them.
Interesting heating effects that happen in the fuses and mechanical effects with true ribbons. It's unusual, but with the right conditions, it's possible to open the ribbon while the fuse remains intact.
Dave.
Despite popular opinion, standard fuses offer no protection for speakers and there are several reports on this forum of the ribbon tweeter successfully saving a fuse from certain death. BTW, the ribbon tweeter costs about $100 which is almost the same as those high-end fuses.
Here is an article by Rod Elliott and why fuses are not protective. You may not want to read the whole thing but drop down to item #10 for a quick explanation.
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