Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences.
Return to Planar Speaker Asylum
69.114.81.30
Hello, I have a pair of Magnepan 3.6r speakers. I am thinking about jumping the fuses(mid & tweeter) which "should" sound better. Has anyone ever done this? Does it sound better? Is it easy to do? I know I run the risk of blowing up a driver. I am using a pass X350.5 amp(350 watts into 8 ohms). I would appreciate any feed back. Thank you...Evan
Follow Ups:
First, you can clean your fuse holders and fuses with good quality alcohol.Second, you can use contact enhancement product on your fuse holders.
Third, you can replace your fuses with audiophile fuse brands, like hi-fi tuning jobs.
If you do all that and still want more, than jumping is tne last step.
Dimitry,You forgot one ... which I suspect delivers a lot more than just changing fuses - even to gold ones.
That is ... replace the unbelievably crappy-sounding, zinc-plated Maggie fuse holder with a high-quality fuse holder like the cryoed silver one from Acme Audio Labs. The signal still has to pass through the stock Maggie fuse holder, even if you have a "great sounding" fuse. Yes, this fuse will improve the sound but it's still being throttled by the fuse holder so replacing that will yield a much greater improvement! :-((
Regards,
I like this idea Andy..Not able to look at the stock fuse holder at this moment, how easy would you say this exchange is?
certainly not for people who don't like "getting serious" with their Maggies, as they might like to sell them and so want them to look "original". This is a "one-way" tweak! :-))Here's a pic which shows how I fitted the Acme Audio labs fuse holder:
http://www.audiocircle.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=626&pos=2NB: This is only for the ribbon - I had removed the mid fuse many years ago.
Regards,
I appreciate you sharing this idea..
Soon after I bought my 3.6's, I bypassed both fuses and the tweeter attenuator. Sounded much better. I had done the same to my previous speakers, the 1.6's. Although this is reversable, the buyer of the 1.6's wanted me to keep the 1.6's modded, because he had planned on doing the same thing.What does your amp do at 4 ohms, and is it stable down to 2 ohms??? That is the real issue for you to think about!!
His Pass Labs amps will drive the Maggies with no problem at any level. Go ahead and by pass the fuse, easy mod and can be undone if you wish to sell the speaker or do other mods later.
If you think it sounds better, by pass the fuse. Never did anything anyway. Anybody blow a fuse BEFORE the ribbon? I didn't think so.The secret is to never clip the waveform of the amp on the ribbons, then, no worries.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: