Best Maggie jumper material?

Waker · « **on:** 15 Jul 2011, 09:14 pm »

What have you replaced the stock, steel/nickel 3.6R tweeter attenuator jumpers with? I don't want to remove the fuse panel or tear anything apart--just a bolt-on mod. The Cardas jumpers appear to be too puny in diameter--sent them back. Is there anything more like the stock diameter, whether home-made, custom manufactured, etc? Thanks

rw@cn · « **Reply #1 on:** 15 Jul 2011, 09:17 pm »

Well it depends what you want to spend. I have seen jumper in the $300 range. Try the Cable Company and search for jumpers.

Waker · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 Jul 2011, 09:26 pm »

Quote

it depends what you want to spend

Two or three hundred wouldn't be out of the question. Has anyone made anything out of something like solid silver, for example?

ClothEars · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Jul 2011, 09:22 am »

I use 2.6mm OFC solid core copper and it sounds great. I tried silver (albeit about 1.5mm) and it puts a slight sheen/brittleness to the sound which I did not like.
The copper came from a cut-off bit of Oyaide power cable bent into a U shape. Here is the link:

http://www.oyaide.com/e_audio/audio_products_files/ee.f-s.html

MAC - SteveH · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Jul 2011, 11:11 am »

Just from a practical standpoint, I've been testing 10awg solid copper for jumpers. Very nice results.

andyr · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Jul 2011, 08:30 pm »

Quote from: ClothEars on 16 Jul 2011, 09:22 am

I use 2.6mm OFC solid core copper and it sounds great. I tried silver (albeit about 1.5mm) and it puts a slight sheen/brittleness to the sound which I did not like.
The copper came from a cut-off bit of Oyaide power cable bent into a U shape. Here is the link:

http://www.oyaide.com/e_audio/audio_products_files/ee.f-s.html

Given that all the ribbon signal goes through these jumpers, I suggest it would be worthwhile doing a simple experiment ... get a couple of small lengths of 1mm diam, solid-core copper wire from some mains cable and try that instead. You do not have the current going through the jumper to require 2.6mm wire and IMO, HF should be carried by thin wire.

If you like the improvement wrought by the 1mm copper - try a length of solid-core Cat5 wire (24g or 0.5mm diam).

Regards,

Andy

Wayner · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Jul 2011, 09:22 pm »

When ever I have any speakers that have separate terminals for the lo's and hi's, I strip the speaker wire way back and feed it thru one , into the other for both the + and - terminals. Works great, and there is no need for an extra jumper. If you are concerned with a distance of bare copper wire between the terminals, just sleeve some heat-shrink between them.

My 2 cents worth.

Wayner

Letitroll98 · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 Jul 2011, 09:53 pm »

I don't see how that's going to work with Maggies Wayner, although quite valid for other types of terminal boxes. The best way to describe the Maggie terminal box is a pair of banana plug sockets with set screws in the side so bare wires can also be used, there's no way to link bare wire between them. Additionally, the jumpers don't connect the high and low frequencies like typical terminal boxes.

Before I eliminated the jumpers (and fuses) by rewiring the fuse box, which is the best answer BTW, I tried several types of materials, with none sounding better than the stock jumpers. I'm a big believer in cables making a difference so this was a bit of a surprise to me, but it's what I heard, YMMV.

ajzepp · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Jul 2011, 07:42 am »

I just picked up the Cardas jumpers for the Maggie tweeter attenuators...can't speak to the improvement since I changed a few things at once like a bozo, but I can tell you that my system sounds better right now that it ever has before

rw@cn · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Jul 2011, 12:33 pm »

You guys got me thinking about this. I blindly bought the Cardas jumpers because it was the first recommendation that most people made. The speakers do sound better. However, I decided to do a little research and found one of the Cable Company's newsletters (September 2009 - http://www.thecableco.com/emailnewsletter091509.php). They reccommend using the same type of wire as your speaker wire from the amp. I sent e-mail to DH Labs to see how much it would cost to do this with banana termination.

I'll keep you posted.

rollo · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Jul 2011, 02:47 pm »

We have tried many different types of wire as jumpers. What we found was using a non inductive resistor trumped all wire tried. The Deuland resistor gave us the results we wanted. Expensive at $65 each however worth every penny.
If you still desire a wire stranded copper [ 22ga] is worth a try.

charles
SMA

rw@cn · « **Reply #11 on:** 18 Jul 2011, 06:00 pm »

What resistance value resistor?

pelliott321 · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Jul 2011, 02:23 pm »

It is a very simple matter to remove the 4 screws that hold the metal plate to the frame and unsolder the wire from one terminal and move it to the other terminal. This is easily reversible, and far better than any jumper you can bye because you are removing all the steel crap that maggy uses.

rollo · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 Jul 2011, 02:42 pm »

Usually a 1 ohm resistor does the trick. The more resistance the less prominent the top.
Now you can do as pellott321 suggests and bypass the connectors however the pupose of the link is for a resistor to reside. Now if ya find the value for your ears than by all means operate and solder in the resistor.

charles
SMA

pelliott321 · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Jul 2011, 12:20 pm »

If you feel the need for a resistor to attenuate the highs, then use the terminals for trying different resistors until you settle on one. Then make the mod by soldering in place on the back side of the metal plate.
It is well know that the steel terminals that Maggy use really degrade the sound. Its best to replace them with good quality five way speaker terminals.

rw@cn · « **Reply #15 on:** 20 Jul 2011, 01:07 pm »

I installed the supplied resistor and the highs are attenuated at the expense of losing some air. I have decided to do the job correctly and get GIK on the job. In my case, the room is the biggest problem not the speakers.

Ed_Zachary · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 Jul 2011, 06:23 pm »

Quote from: rw@cn on 18 Jul 2011, 12:33 pm

They recommend using the same type of wire as your speaker wire from the amp.

In a word, BINGO.

Cut a 2" to 3" length end off of your speaker cables and you are in business.

ClothEars · « **Reply #17 on:** 23 Jul 2011, 08:11 am »

Quote from: andyr on 17 Jul 2011, 08:30 pm

Given that all the ribbon signal goes through these jumpers, I suggest it would be worthwhile doing a simple experiment ... get a couple of small lengths of 1mm diam, solid-core copper wire from some mains cable and try that instead. You do not have the current going through the jumper to require 2.6mm wire and IMO, HF should be carried by thin wire.

If you like the improvement wrought by the 1mm copper - try a length of solid-core Cat5 wire (24g or 0.5mm diam).

Regards,

Andy

Andy, I was under the impression that the jumper was for the purpose of allowing attenuation of the high frequencies only via a resistor.
Using the same wire as in your speaker cables would seem to be a natural choice. As I use ribbon cables I chose the 2.6mm to roughly match the relative AWG of my cables. I did try a thinner wire but found the highs were a tad sweeter with the thicker wire.
Then again, I do have Cloth Ears!!

andyr · « **Reply #18 on:** 23 Jul 2011, 02:34 pm »

Quote from: ClothEars on 23 Jul 2011, 08:11 am

Andy, I was under the impression that the jumper was for the purpose of allowing attenuation of the high frequencies only via a resistor.
Using the same wire as in your speaker cables would seem to be a natural choice. As I use ribbon cables I chose the 2.6mm to roughly match the relative AWG of my cables. I did try a thinner wire but found the highs were a tad sweeter with the thicker wire.
Then again, I do have Cloth Ears!!

The connectors are there for people to put a resistor across them, if they want to attenuate the HFs. But if they don't (want to attenuate the HFs), then a jumper has to be inserted.

If you use ribbon cables for your speaker wires (excellent choice BTW, as ribbon wire is very thin - which is the important factor), use some of the same ribbon as the jumper.

Alternatively, use multiple thin, insulated solid-core wires to aggregate to the same guage ... but (IMO) don't use a single solid-core wire which is 2.6mm in diam.

Then again, if you look at the wires on the mylar which make up your tweeter, you will find it is probably 31g - so a single 24g (Cat5 wire) strand for the jumper will be more than sufficient.

Regards,

Andy

ClothEars · « **Reply #19 on:** 24 Jul 2011, 07:51 am »

Quote from: andyr on 23 Jul 2011, 02:34 pm

If you use ribbon cables for your speaker wires (excellent choice BTW, as ribbon wire is very thin - which is the important factor), use some of the same ribbon as the jumper.

Unfortunately Andyr, my ribbon cables are 40mm wide and difficult to fit on the Maggies. One day I'll have the courage to take the cover plate off and bypass the jumper altogether! In the meantime I shall try your suggestion of multiple thin solid cores and see how that goes.
Cheers