Speaker Fuses?

[Riverplay]

Hey Everyone,
Seeking sound tech advice to determine if in-line speaker fuses would be recommended for my sound system. Currently running Carver TFM 35X (250w+ per channel) and Phase Linear 400 series II amps (200w+ per channel), Phase Linear 4000 series II preamp, Dynaudio X44 speakers (IEC power handling 250w 4ohms). All components running well and issue free. If so, what best types of fuses are recommended.
Many thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[DrRobert]

From my experience, it is generally not recommended to use in-line speaker fuses for a sound system like the one you described. As you might already know, in-line speaker fuses are intended to protect the speakers from damage due to excessive current flow. However, in a well-designed and properly functioning sound system, the amplifiers should already have built-in protection circuits that prevent excessive current flow and protect the speakers from damage.

In addition, the use of in-line speaker fuses can potentially degrade the sound quality of the system. In-line fuses add another element to the signal path, which can introduce distortion and other artifacts that can negatively affect the sound quality.

If you are concerned about the safety of your sound system, it is generally better to ensure that all of the components are in good working order (like you said) and that they are properly matched and configured. This will help to ensure that the system operates safely and reliably, without the need for additional protection measures like in-line speaker fuses.

That's just my opinion, but I'm no expert by any means. I would also be interested in reading what other people have to say regarding this.

 

[Blumlein 88]

From my experience, it is generally not recommended to use in-line speaker fuses for a sound system like the one you described. As you might already know, in-line speaker fuses are intended to protect the speakers from damage due to excessive current flow. However, in a well-designed and properly functioning sound system, the amplifiers should already have built-in protection circuits that prevent excessive current flow and protect the speakers from damage.

In addition, the use of in-line speaker fuses can potentially degrade the sound quality of the system. In-line fuses add another element to the signal path, which can introduce distortion and other artifacts that can negatively affect the sound quality.

If you are concerned about the safety of your sound system, it is generally better to ensure that all of the components are in good working order (like you said) and that they are properly matched and configured. This will help to ensure that the system operates safely and reliably, without the need for additional protection measures like in-line speaker fuses.

That's just my opinion, but I'm no expert by any means. I would also be interested in reading what other people have to say regarding this.

I don't think you can show any reason to believe these ideas.

The degradation of in line fuses is very small and measurable. Fuses can protect the speaker even if the amp protects itself. Even so to the OP, I don't think you really need fuses for your speakers. I would note your amps are older and likely don't have protection beyond fuses in the amps. If you wanted to fuse 5 amps should do fine without any audible concerns. You probably would never blow 2.5 amp fuses. Fast blow type is what I would suggest.

Fuses do affect sound, the question is how much

Yes fuses affect sound. Blown fuse, no sound. Thats about it. One of the first few posts stated N Pass measured the distortion a fuse adds to a speaker at .0033% worst case, probably at high power. In a power supply 0%, ( I dont need to measure I know how a power supply works) your service AC...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[egellings]

I wonder if there are amplifiers that have built-in speaker fuses and include them inside the feedback loop. I think one of the older Hafler amplifiers did that. The feedback would remove the fuse's resistance from the speaker line. Components around the fuse would prevent the amplifier from running away while safely limiting output current when the fuse would open, which also opened the feedback loop.

 

[DVDdoug]

I'm not sure how effective speaker fuses are... If your amplifier fails and puts-out full-power DC a (properly rated) fuse will probably blow before the woofer's voice coil blows... But I'm not sure about actual dynamic audio... A "small" fuse should protect the speaker if you aren't trying to get full-power.

It's going to be the short-term average current that blows the fuse. I'm not sure how the IEC power rating correlates to the short-term average but you can probably find a graph for that. And the tweeter can't handle as much power as the woofer, etc.

Power (wattage) can be calculated as Current squared X Resistance so 250W would be about 8-Amps. But you should de-rate that for the average power.

Since your speakers are not underrated for your amplifiers you should be safe, assuming no amplifier failures, and no excessive clipping. When the amplifier clips the power still increases,* the harmonic energy (into the tweeter) increases, and assuming normal-dynamic program material, the average power increases.

* Worst case, a sine wave clipped so badly that it turns-into a square wave, the square wave contains twice the power of the unclipped sine wave.

 

[walt99]

Do the current generation of class D amps (purify/hypex) provide effective speaker protection ?

 

[Doodski]

Do the current generation of class D amps (purify/hypex) provide effective speaker protection ?