[Kim S.]

I'm a happy owner of RM-2's.  My System is pretty well developed and I'm at the tweak stage.  I am thinking of playing around with audiophile grade fuses.  Do the Rm-2's have a fuse and if so what size and value?  Thanks

[Shear Bliss VMPS]

You don't see a fuse socket on the RM-2 do you ??? No VMPS employed a fuse that I know of, just not needed.

[Kim S.]

When I had the speakers open a few years ago I don't remember seeing any fuses.  However I have seen other speakers (not powered subwoofers) that did have a fuse.  If it did have a fuse I thought this would be a good area to experiment .

[Stimpy]

A fuse is only there for speaker protection.  And if you practice careful playback habits, they are not needed.  Plus, adding a fuse is not going to offer any sonic improvements to your playback system.  Adding a fuse, could in fact degrade the sound of your system.  You're adding a devise that would basically limit the input signal, as it's gauge isn't any where near the size of a standard piece of speaker wire.  So, if you're careful with how you use your system, why consider it?

[Kim S.]

I was only thinking about replacing the fuse if it already had one. 

[Stimpy]

I was only thinking about replacing the fuse if it already had one.

I got ya.   

There are companies that build 'audiophile' fuses.  Gold plated, as well, I think.  But, I doubt that Brian designed any fusing into his speakers, as it would take a heck of a fuse, to withstand Brian's playback levels!!!   

[7x57]

Many amplifiers have fuses in their outputs, and if your amp is properly sized to your speakers, you should not need loudspeaker fuses. Failure in the loudspeaker that could take out your amp would be my main consideration. A blown amplifier will be more expensive to repair than a blown speaker component. My C-J amp blew a fuse when a spade lug came loose and fell over against the other terminal and shorted out. A loudspeaker fuse would not have helped in my case. After a cheap Buss fuse replacement, I was back in business with no damage done to the amp. The amp would have cost $120 per hour with shipping costs both ways plus parts cost if C-J did the repair. Loudspeakers are usually repairable by the owner if a replacement part can be sourced.

Most loudspeakers give distress signals such as distortion increases before they blow up on music signals. A fast blow fuse will change its resistance with an audio signal such as heavy bass. The fuse in the output of an amp has a higher amp rating than most any loudspeaker could handle on a continuous signal.

Running continuous test signals at high levels is a big danger to loudspeakers, especially the tweeters which can only handle 1 or 2 watts continuous power and music signals have very little power at the very high frequency crossover levels that VMPS RM models run at.

The actual average power that a loudspeaker handles is a tiny fraction of the peak power levels if you are listening to music with a wide dynamic range. At 20 dB of dynamic range above average listening level, the average power is 1 percent of peak power.

The most likely driver to blow is a tweeter that is driven by an overdriven amp that is clipping. It would blow at a small fraction of the amperage that would be necessary to power the woofer. A single fuse cannot protect all of your drivers and still operate the woofers.