Speaker Protection

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Housteau

Speaker Protection
« on: 25 Apr 2019, 08:37 pm »
Is there a good way to protect a speaker that was not originally equipped with it, especially the tweeters?

WGH

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #1 on: 25 Apr 2019, 09:23 pm »
Buy a better amp = less distortion = fewer blown tweeters.
AVA amps has a 5 amp quick blow fuse for each channel, I suppose you could make a stand alone fuse block to accomplish the same thing. If your speakers are prone to tweeter burnout use a lower value fuse.

Housteau

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #2 on: 25 Apr 2019, 09:46 pm »
I have never had a blown driver issue and I do use quality amplification.  I feel that just maybe I have been lucky over all these years and should add a protection circuit to be safe.  I have friends that did have issues through some accidents and electronics having a fault?

Freo-1

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #3 on: 25 Apr 2019, 10:18 pm »
If you have a McIntosh amp, no worries.  The Mac has several speaker and amp protection circuits that are second to none.

Housteau

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #4 on: 25 Apr 2019, 11:32 pm »
If you have a McIntosh amp, no worries.  The Mac has several speaker and amp protection circuits that are second to none.

One of the friends I spoke of has all Mac gear.

Freo-1

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #5 on: 26 Apr 2019, 12:01 am »
One of the friends I spoke of has all Mac gear.



If the Mac gear is not too old (like, over 20 to 30 years), it's highly doubtful the Mac amp was the problem. 


In addition to the autoformer (which offers a level of speaker protection, Mac also has the following:


Power Guard that monitors and adjusts the input signal at the speed of light and makes real time adjustments to prevent harsh sounding and potentially speaker damaging clipping

Sentry Monitor™ - our fuse-less short-circuit protection circuit that disengages the output stage before current exceeds safe operating levels and then resets automatically when operating conditions return to normal

Housteau

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #6 on: 26 Apr 2019, 01:10 am »

If the Mac gear is not too old (like, over 20 to 30 years), it's highly doubtful the Mac amp was the problem. 


In addition to the autoformer (which offers a level of speaker protection, Mac also has the following:


Power Guard that monitors and adjusts the input signal at the speed of light and makes real time adjustments to prevent harsh sounding and potentially speaker damaging clipping

Sentry Monitor™ - our fuse-less short-circuit protection circuit that disengages the output stage before current exceeds safe operating levels and then resets automatically when operating conditions return to normal

I was not suggesting that the Mac gear was responsible.  My point was that even with the Mac gear my friend had two issues that he was not protected from.  That is why I thought protection n the speakers themselves may be the way to go.

poseidonsvoice

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Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #7 on: 26 Apr 2019, 01:19 am »
I was not suggesting that the Mac gear was responsible.  My point was that even with the Mac gear my friend had two issues that he was not protected from.  That is why I thought protection n the speakers themselves may be the way to go.

And what were those 2 issues or situations?

Best,
Anand.

Freo-1

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #8 on: 26 Apr 2019, 12:17 pm »
I was not suggesting that the Mac gear was responsible.  My point was that even with the Mac gear my friend had two issues that he was not protected from.  That is why I thought protection n the speakers themselves may be the way to go.



Roger, no worries.  Guess we need to understand the background as to how this occurred.  What speakers are we talking about?  What music was playing when this occurred?  How loud?  How were the speakers connected to the amp(s).  Was this a bi-amp scenario? 

Housteau

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #9 on: 26 Apr 2019, 02:07 pm »
And what were those 2 issues or situations?

Best,
Anand.

He told me that whatever happened, it was very quick and basically silent, as in no loud sounds.  It was repeated on his second set of speakers which are Maggie's.  They were fused and were protected by that fuse.

He was playing with a new Open Reel Tape deck and thinks he accidentally created feedback through the monitoring loop by not having all the connections correct.  But, his story is not really important other than to say he had an unexpected incident that his one set of speakers were not protected from and I would like to add protection to mine.  Can a fuse circuit be added to my tweeters without harming the sound?  If so, would a simple inline fuse work and of what value and type?

Freo-1

Re: Speaker Protection
« Reply #10 on: 26 Apr 2019, 03:01 pm »

Under normal circumstances, blowing a tweeter just should not happen.  Normally, they get blown by excessive power.  In this case, I would guess that whatever non standard hookup your friend had caused a lot of high frequency oscillation that exceeded the tweeters design limitations, which would quickly fry the coils.  The point here is, under NORMAL operating circumstances, any well designed amp's protection circuit should prevent blown drivers.


Having said that, if you still desire to fuse the tweeter, my recommendation would be to contact the speaker manufacture's customer service and discuss the matter with them.  They would be best poised to advise you on the viability of such a request.