Speaker cables for AR 2ax speakers

[Guest bhambluzfan]

Hello, I'm new to this forum but not new to AR's. I have a pair of 2ax's that I bought back in the early 70's to accompany a Marantz model 1200 amp. I still have both, not wanting to upgrade as I'm happy with both. My question is what type of cables to get to connect the two. I currently have the type that are fused together with 2 RCA males on one end & bare copper wires on the other. I would like good value & good sound. Can anyone help? Thank-you & happy holidays.

Judy

[charger3834]

The 2ax/Marantz 1200 combo sounds like a good set up. I had a Marantz 1150 hooked up to 2ax's at one time. I would just use 16 or 12 gauge wire. You could "crimp" on a couple of clips for easy connection to the AR-2ax's knurled posts. I don't think anything really fancy would make an audible difference.

[Guest bhambluzfan]

Hello Brad,

Actually what I need to know is which brand & model number & if wire currently includes the right type of connectors to the speakers' knobs.(I haven't really checked out any new speakers lately). I looked up Monster cables & found a vast array of fittings for speaker cables. I know I need the male RCA fittings for the amp but not sure about the speaker end. & there are some that have 3 or 4 wires or some with a fitting with the tip at an angle. Life was simpler in the 70's although we didn't have the choices. Thanks again, Judy

P. S. I do have an mp3 player that I hooked up so I like the tech advances.

[charger3834]

Judy,

I bought these Monster Cable units from a local Hi Fi shop. They work well, you can crimp them on to your wires. See the Monster website

"Premium Gold Spades Extra Thick Speaker Cable Connectors

Extra heavy duty, thick 24k gold contact spade type speaker cable connectors. Large connector areas with flanged ends allow for heavy-duty tightening, while heavy mass construction provides better signal transfer."

[Guest bhambluzfan]

Hi Brad,

Thank-you for the info. I think I will visit Radio Shack to see what they have. I like the spades better than the bare wires (which always tended to break off). & I will also get the gold plated connectors. I may need to just buy it all separately but the hubby is handy with a solder gun or maybe they are all just quick connect now. I'm glad I held on to my gear over the years: I'm just not too impressed with the current consumer equipment & the audiophile gear is out of my price range. Back when I was single, first job out of college & no mortgage, kids, etc. I was able to buy decent gear. I'm now looking for an extra pair of AR's for our bedroom or to blast the neighbors (we're on 6 acres). Thanks again, Judy

[charger3834]

>

I'm just not too impressed with the

>current consumer equipment & the audiophile gear is out of my

>price range.

I think AR is the best way to go peroid. I think we all agree that current consumer grade stuff will not meet our standards. Why contribute to the trade deficit anyway ?

A meaningfull upgrade would be to get AR-3a's , AR-5's, AR-11's etc. for your second speakers. I think your amp is rated around 100 watts RMS if I am not mistaken.

[dynaco_dan]

>Hello, I'm new to this forum but not new to AR's. I have a

>pair of 2ax's that I bought back in the early 70's to

>accompany a Marantz model 1200 amp. I still have both, not

>wanting to upgrade as I'm happy with both. My question is what

>type of cables to get to connect the two. I currently have the

>type that are fused together with 2 RCA males on one end &

>bare copper wires on the other. I would like good value & good

>sound. Can anyone help? Thank-you & happy holidays.

>Judy

Hi Judy;

I am not familiar with the Marantz amp but the AR-2AX's are a superb choice for speakers.

My choice would be to go to Home Depot and buy their, Carol brand 10 guage multi-strand speaker wire.

It isn't that expensive but your losses are minimized now.

Buy equal length wires and consider going to Radio Shack and buy open cartidge style fuseholders and use maybe 1 amp fast blow fuses.

The AR library has fusing information with their recommended slow blow fuses, which are difficult to find and expensive now.

I wrote a piece a month or two ago in the AR section regarding fusing and referred to the Dynaco 416 amp manual for fast blow fuses references.

Good luck with your choices, Judy.

[draftingmonkey]

Judy,

I agree with Vern on at least fusing your speakers. While AR recommended fuses, the Fusetron dual-element FNM 6/10, are not cheap; if you live in the US you can get them online or if lucky at a local electronics supply house. If you are across the border to the north, then like Vern says, they get really pricing with customs and international shipping.

Good choice to keep the 2ax's. Just finished refoaming the wifes for christmas. WOW. Really brought the bass back. Wife check them out with her C&C Music Factory cd (with the bass cranked).

James

[dynaco_dan]

>Judy,

>

>I agree with Vern on at least fusing your speakers. While AR

>recommended fuses, the Fusetron dual-element FNM 6/10, are not

>cheap; if you live in the US you can get them online or if

>lucky at a local electronics supply house. If you are across

>the border to the north, then like Vern says, they get really

>pricing with customs and international shipping.

>

>Good choice to keep the 2ax's. Just finished refoaming the

>wifes for christmas. WOW. Really brought the bass back.

>Wife check them out with her C&C Music Factory cd (with the

>bass cranked).

>

>James

Hi James;

Aren't you the nice hubby.

Could you give me the CD's full title, artist and model number please and I'll add it to my database of CD's.

About my suggestion of speaker wire.

I would have just suggested 18 gauge lamp cord for years.

I was originally given 50 feet of wire about the size of telephone wire.

As time went along the guage of wire was increased to improve the line loss and to improve the damping factor.

I believe the Carol 10 guage may be oxygen free.

This is a low cost wire without the hi tech price.

It appears to have a very substantial insulation, is transparent and flexible.

I am sure there is many hi tech brands which will also do the job.

One must be careful with the hi tech brands where anything beyond 2 solo wires are being used that might affect cable capacitance as well.

Good luck with your choices.

[Guest MPPurcell]

Vern wrote:

>Buy equal length wires and consider going to Radio Shack and

>buy open cartidge style fuseholders and use maybe 1 amp fast

>blow fuses.

>

>The AR library has fusing information with their recommended

>slow blow fuses, which are difficult to find and expensive

>now.

>

>I wrote a piece a month or two ago in the AR section regarding

>fusing and referred to the Dynaco 416 amp manual for fast blow

>fuses references.

For all the mention of fusing speakers on this forum, I have been unable to follow any of the citations to a complete discussion of this anywhere here. I can't seem to find the "library" that has sometimes been mentioned (think I found it once but have not again). I also tried to use the search function for some of the terms mentioned in this and in a few other posts, but I have not been able to come across the original or more complete references on the forum.

I am about to start using an old Hafler 200 amp I came upon last year (though I have been trying to figure out whether to change out the old thin AC line cord for a grounded heavy cord, grounded to the chassis). There are fuses built into each channel of this amp--will these fuse the speakers? Or are they just for the amp? (I suspect the latter.) By the way, the Hafler has the requisite weight and hefty transformer--I don't know how the rest of the electronics will hold up under use, after apparently being out of service for some years. But back to fusing...

It sounds like my best bet is just to go to Radio Shack and get a couple of fuseholder cartridges, as Vern mentions, and then splice in a fast-blow one amp fuse on one side of my connection at the speaker terminal. I imagine I would just solder this in on one side of the speaker wire line, and it could even be done at the end of the wire near the amp--right? That's pretty simple--will this do the trick?? And what's the risk of blowing fuses unnecessarily and too often?

Thanks,

Michael

[Wally]

Michael, If the Hafler is working properly it will be a great amp with the AR's. I have a DH200 and it sounds wonderful.

I am using a Hafler DH220 preamp, an Apt Holman and a modified Crown IC150a preamp with this amp and they all sound excellent although slightly different. All three preamps sound better to me than the pre in the Marantz 1200. I have a few more pre's around here but I haven't used them with the Hafler amp yet. The AR2ax's are easy to drive. Both the 1200 and the Hafler can do serious damage to those speakers so do fuse them.

[Wally]

Michael, OOPS, just realized you were not the party with the Marantz 1200.

If you change the power cord I would recommend some heavy duty appliance cord. It is heavier guage and more durable with a rubber jacket rather than plastic. I would not ground the amp as you may create some hum problems. You could try a three wire cord and listen with the ground connected and disconnected to see if indeed there is a difference. I haven't replaced the cord on My DH200 yet but that certainly was on the list of things to do because it really is a skimpy cord. I have routinely changed 2 prong cords to grounded cords on my vintage guitar amps but have not done so on my stereo gear because of concerns about ground loops.

I haven't checked the schematic for a while but I believe that there are fuses for the power supply rails and the speakers in the DH200 but if I remember correctly the speaker fuses are pretty heavy so they won't be much protection for the AR2's.

If I can find the schematic I'll update this forum.

Let us know how you make out.

[dynaco_dan]

>Vern wrote:

>

>>Buy equal length wires and consider going to Radio Shack and

>>buy open cartidge style fuseholders and use maybe 1 amp fast

>>blow fuses.

>>

>>The AR library has fusing information with their recommended

>>slow blow fuses, which are difficult to find and expensive

>>now.

>>

>>I wrote a piece a month or two ago in the AR section

>regarding

>>fusing and referred to the Dynaco 416 amp manual for fast

>blow

>>fuses references.

>

>For all the mention of fusing speakers on this forum, I have

>been unable to follow any of the citations to a complete

>discussion of this anywhere here. I can't seem to find the

>"library" that has sometimes been mentioned (think I found it

>once but have not again). I also tried to use the search

>function for some of the terms mentioned in this and in a few

>other posts, but I have not been able to come across the

>original or more complete references on the forum.

>

>I am about to start using an old Hafler 200 amp I came upon

>last year (though I have been trying to figure out whether to

>change out the old thin AC line cord for a grounded heavy

>cord, grounded to the chassis). There are fuses built into

>each channel of this amp--will these fuse the speakers? Or

>are they just for the amp? (I suspect the latter.) By the

>way, the Hafler has the requisite weight and hefty

>transformer--I don't know how the rest of the electronics will

>hold up under use, after apparently being out of service for

>some years. But back to fusing...

>

>It sounds like my best bet is just to go to Radio Shack and

>get a couple of fuseholder cartridges, as Vern mentions, and

>then splice in a fast-blow one amp fuse on one side of my

>connection at the speaker terminal. I imagine I would just

>solder this in on one side of the speaker wire line, and it

>could even be done at the end of the wire near the amp--right?

> That's pretty simple--will this do the trick?? And what's

>the risk of blowing fuses unnecessarily and too often?

>

>Thanks,

>Michael

>

>

Hi Michael;

When you arrive at classicspeakerpages you see the pair of AR-303 speakers on the main page.

Directly above the discussion group title is the library title, mouse click this, then AR or whichever brand you choose to browse.

AR has their electronics section.

There is several sheets with fusing recommndations.

I suggest a fast blow fuse because of cost and availability only.

AR used to supply at their cost, fuses and fuseholders back in the good old days, postage included.

For reading interest, go to crownaudio.com's website and read their discussion on power needs and fusing speakers, very, very interesting.

Your amp usually has one power fuse and each channel has a fuseholder for the speakers.

You can use these fuseholders for the speaker fuses.

It was less than a month ago on the AR topics I wrote quoting from Dynaco's 416 amp manual regarding fuses for use by most all brands and models.

AR never recommended fast blow fuses but slow blow were only about $.30 each also.

Reading crownaudio's information will give you more insight than I can.

Some members don't believe in fuses and have used their systems for decades unharmed.

A woofer is almost, but not impossible, to blow.

You can burn the voice coils, you can bottom them out, and the voice coil can become un-glued from the former.

The uppers are more sensitive and need a faster fuse than the woofer.

I feel that an investment of less than $5.00 US can provide a good measure of safety.

For comparison purposes only, Heathkit had the AS-103 speaker kit which was a Heath/AR-3A speaker kit equivalent and it used a 3 amp fast blow fuse in a chassis style fuseholder.

AR recommended a fuse size slow blow fuse for the AR-3a and AR-2ax on their fusing sheet.

Some comparison can be made fast versus slow blow and keep to the lower value.

Please read the Dynaco 416 fusing information for more accurate ratings.

Good luck and have a good night.

[dynaco_dan]

>>Vern wrote:

>>

>>>Buy equal length wires and consider going to Radio Shack

>and

>>>buy open cartidge style fuseholders and use maybe 1 amp

>fast

>>>blow fuses.

>>>

>>>The AR library has fusing information with their

>recommended

>>>slow blow fuses, which are difficult to find and expensive

>>>now.

>>>

>>>I wrote a piece a month or two ago in the AR section

>>regarding

>>>fusing and referred to the Dynaco 416 amp manual for fast

>>blow

>>>fuses references.

>>

>>For all the mention of fusing speakers on this forum, I have

>>been unable to follow any of the citations to a complete

>>discussion of this anywhere here. I can't seem to find the

>>"library" that has sometimes been mentioned (think I found

>it

>>once but have not again). I also tried to use the search

>>function for some of the terms mentioned in this and in a

>few

>>other posts, but I have not been able to come across the

>>original or more complete references on the forum.

>>

>>I am about to start using an old Hafler 200 amp I came upon

>>last year (though I have been trying to figure out whether

>to

>>change out the old thin AC line cord for a grounded heavy

>>cord, grounded to the chassis). There are fuses built into

>>each channel of this amp--will these fuse the speakers? Or

>>are they just for the amp? (I suspect the latter.) By the

>>way, the Hafler has the requisite weight and hefty

>>transformer--I don't know how the rest of the electronics

>will

>>hold up under use, after apparently being out of service for

>>some years. But back to fusing...

>>

>>It sounds like my best bet is just to go to Radio Shack and

>>get a couple of fuseholder cartridges, as Vern mentions, and

>>then splice in a fast-blow one amp fuse on one side of my

>>connection at the speaker terminal. I imagine I would just

>>solder this in on one side of the speaker wire line, and it

>>could even be done at the end of the wire near the

>amp--right?

>> That's pretty simple--will this do the trick?? And what's

>>the risk of blowing fuses unnecessarily and too often?

>>

>>Thanks,

>>Michael

>>

>>

>

>

>Hi Michael;

>

>When you arrive at classicspeakerpages you see the pair of

>AR-303 speakers on the main page.

>

>Directly above the discussion group title is the library

>title, mouse click this, then AR or whichever brand you choose

>to browse.

>

>AR has their electronics section.

>

>There is several sheets with fusing recommndations.

>

>I suggest a fast blow fuse because of cost and availability

>only.

>

>AR used to supply at their cost, fuses and fuseholders back in

>the good old days, postage included.

>

>For reading interest, go to crownaudio.com's website and read

>their discussion on power needs and fusing speakers, very,

>very interesting.

>

>Your amp usually has one power fuse and each channel has a

>fuseholder for the speakers.

>

>You can use these fuseholders for the speaker fuses.

>

>It was less than a month ago on the AR topics I wrote quoting

>from Dynaco's 416 amp manual regarding fuses for use by most

>all brands and models.

>

>AR never recommended fast blow fuses but slow blow were only

>about $.30 each also.

>

>Reading crownaudio's information will give you more insight

>than I can.

>

>Some members don't believe in fuses and have used their

>systems for decades unharmed.

>

>A woofer is almost, but not impossible, to blow.

>

>You can burn the voice coils, you can bottom them out, and the

>voice coil can become un-glued from the former.

>

>The uppers are more sensitive and need a faster fuse than the

>woofer.

>

>I feel that an investment of less than $5.00 US can provide a

>good measure of safety.

>

>For comparison purposes only, Heathkit had the AS-103 speaker

>kit which was a Heath/AR-3A speaker kit equivalent and it used

>a 3 amp fast blow fuse in a chassis style fuseholder.

>

>AR recommended a fuse size slow blow fuse for the AR-3a and

>AR-2ax on their fusing sheet.

>

>Some comparison can be made fast versus slow blow and keep to

>the lower value.

>

>Please read the Dynaco 416 fusing information for more

>accurate ratings.

>

>Good luck and have a good night.

>

Hi again Michael;

Mouse click on (other topics) below Acoustic research and the Dynaco fusing article shall be seen. It was done since Nov 25/05.

[Guest MPPurcell]

I'm just realizing that maybe I should have started a new thread, although fusing speakers is somewhat connected to cabling, and this was the last thread I saw where fusing came up.

Wally-- Great to hear you also have a Hafler 200 Amp. It seems to have a great reputation, and if it does blow, I notice there are several mods out there on the net that purport to make it an even greater amp for a few hundred $$--using the heavy metal framework and toroidal power transformer, but replacing other critical electronics like big caps. So I might consider that, down the road. I will be using it with an old Proton AP-1000 preamp which, however, I just had factory refurbished to spec. (There is one old guy still working at Proton that knows how to do this.) Thanks for your advice about the power cord:

>If you change the power cord I would recommend some heavy duty

>appliance cord. It is heavier guage and more durable with a

>rubber jacket rather than plastic. I would not ground the amp

>as you may create some hum problems. You could try a three

>wire cord and listen with the ground connected and

>disconnected to see if indeed there is a difference. I haven't

>replaced the cord on My DH200 yet but that certainly was on

>the list of things to do because it really is a skimpy cord. I

>have routinely changed 2 prong cords to grounded cords on my

>vintage guitar amps but have not done so on my stereo gear

>because of concerns about ground loops.

It would be good to hear if anyone else has any experience with converting old two-prongs to three-prong grounded plugs. The original cord does not even have a clear orientation to hot and common (black and white) leads, wherein one side of the plug is wider so as to only orient one way in an AC socket, even without a ground pin. Maybe getting that right might make a difference too. Another small mod which might be fairly simple and worthwhile is changing the RCA input connectors--gold would be a lot nicer than those old aluminum ones.

>I haven't checked the schematic for a while but I believe that

>there are fuses for the power supply rails and the speakers in

>the DH200 but if I remember correctly the speaker fuses are

>pretty heavy so they won't be much protection for the AR2's.

I just checked the fuses in mine--they are 5 amps, so maybe not. I just see two fuses, one on each channel, and I wonder if they are for the speakers at all. Also, I don't have AR2's like the person who started this thread. I have AR93s's, with two 8" woofers (side-firing) and one 8" midrange, plus a tweeter. The AR93s is rated for 100 W/channel, as is the Hafler. However, I've heard the Hafler actually can put out considerably more than that, so I don't know what protection there is. Since I don't normally crank the sound up very high, I've never worried much about fusing. However, other transient accidents, like someone plugging in a jack while forgetting to turn the amp off, could do in the speakers. (I started another thread a couple of weeks ago on my AR93s speakers.)

>If I can find the schematic I'll update this forum.

That would be great.

Michael

[Guest MPPurcell]

Vern, thanks once again. I found the Library with your help, and I also just noticed that there is a link to it right at the very bottom of each page here! I will look for the article again when I have more time, and I did intend to go to crownaudio's website and forgot to do that. Will check there as well.

>Your amp usually has one power fuse and each channel has a

>fuseholder for the speakers.

>

>You can use these fuseholders for the speaker fuses.

When you say "Your amp", do you specifically mean the Hafler? As I said above to Wally, I only see two fuseholders, and they have 5 amp fuses in there now. I kind of doubted they are for the speakers. Does anyone know for sure? --I don't have a manual for the amp.

>It was less than a month ago on the AR topics I wrote quoting

>from Dynaco's 416 amp manual regarding fuses for use by most

>all brands and models.

Actually, I tried searching on "Dynaco 416 amp" but didn't come up with anything other than the post where you referenced this.

>AR never recommended fast blow fuses but slow blow were only

>about $.30 each also.

>

>Reading crownaudio's information will give you more insight

>than I can.

Okay, I'll do that.

>Some members don't believe in fuses and have used their

>systems for decades unharmed.

I've never had a problem, but as I said above, with a powerful amp, I do worry about a transient short from a component sending a pulse through to a speaker. But as to contrarian viewpoints: With all the hoopla about using heavy speaker wire, I suppose one might worry whether the fuse itself could disturb the signal transmission. Have you seen discussions on that point?

>For comparison purposes only, Heathkit had the AS-103 speaker

>kit which was a Heath/AR-3A speaker kit equivalent and it used

>a 3 amp fast blow fuse in a chassis style fuseholder.

If indeed those fuses on my Hafler are for the speakers, maybe I should consider reducing them to 3 amps? (Again, I have the AR93s, with 3 X 8" and a tweeter.) On the other hand, if they are for the amp,... well, there is a note at the power cord indicating that the amp may draw up to 600 watts.

>Please read the Dynaco 416 fusing information for more

>accurate ratings.

Will try again to find it.

Thanks,

Michael

[dynaco_dan]

>Vern, thanks once again. I found the Library with your help,

>and I also just noticed that there is a link to it right at

>the very bottom of each page here! I will look for the

>article again when I have more time, and I did intend to go to

>crownaudio's website and forgot to do that. Will check there

>as well.

>

>>Your amp usually has one power fuse and each channel has a

>>fuseholder for the speakers.

>>

>>You can use these fuseholders for the speaker fuses.

>

>When you say "Your amp", do you specifically mean the Hafler?

>As I said above to Wally, I only see two fuseholders, and they

>have 5 amp fuses in there now. I kind of doubted they are for

>the speakers. Does anyone know for sure? --I don't have a

>manual for the amp.

>

>>It was less than a month ago on the AR topics I wrote

>quoting

>>from Dynaco's 416 amp manual regarding fuses for use by most

>>all brands and models.

>

>Actually, I tried searching on "Dynaco 416 amp" but didn't

>come up with anything other than the post where you referenced

>this.

>

>>AR never recommended fast blow fuses but slow blow were only

>>about $.30 each also.

>>

>>Reading crownaudio's information will give you more insight

>>than I can.

>

>Okay, I'll do that.

>

>>Some members don't believe in fuses and have used their

>>systems for decades unharmed.

>

>I've never had a problem, but as I said above, with a powerful

>amp, I do worry about a transient short from a component

>sending a pulse through to a speaker. But as to contrarian

>viewpoints: With all the hoopla about using heavy speaker

>wire, I suppose one might worry whether the fuse itself could

>disturb the signal transmission. Have you seen discussions on

>that point?

>

>>For comparison purposes only, Heathkit had the AS-103

>speaker

>>kit which was a Heath/AR-3A speaker kit equivalent and it

>used

>>a 3 amp fast blow fuse in a chassis style fuseholder.

>

>If indeed those fuses on my Hafler are for the speakers, maybe

>I should consider reducing them to 3 amps? (Again, I have the

>AR93s, with 3 X 8" and a tweeter.) On the other hand, if they

>are for the amp,... well, there is a note at the power cord

>indicating that the amp may draw up to 600 watts.

>

>>Please read the Dynaco 416 fusing information for more

>>accurate ratings.

>

>Will try again to find it.

>

>Thanks,

>Michael

Hi Michael;

First off, we must confirm if your amp has a chassis or internal power fuse or not!

I am still not perfect trying to navigate my self around here, sorry.

Go to the conference screen.

The classic speaker pages News will be at the top.

Go down to the, "other section," directly below Boston Acoustics.

Nov 27/05 I wrote the first piece.

The data lines for the fuse sizes, truncated after I saved it, so on Dec 24/05 I used periods to pad the lines to make it more readable.

If you were to come to Vancouver, I wouldn't send you on such a wild and long goose chase finding a tourist site, maybe.

I am not familiar with your amp.

Does it have one or two power cords attached?

One is the most common.

Usually you will find, very near the power cord entrance, is the chassis style fuse holder.

Usually around the power cord/fuseholder, it usually states voltage and amperage and type of fuse size.

Usually there is only one power cord and one fuseholder for the power AC.

I keep saying the word, "usually," because, we have members all over the world, here in Canada sometimes for CSA approval required some equipment (Dynaco for example) to add an internal pigtail fuse and so the external chassis style fuseholder would be a dummy only.

If both fuseholders are side by side very close to the speaker terminals then very likely they are speaker fuseholders.

Line voltage fuse are slow blow glass type ratings of perhaps 5 - 10 amps.

Speaker fuses should be 1/4" x 1 1/4" glass and rated at a beginning of say 1 amp fast blow.

The fast blow fuse usually looks like a single wire about the size of a piece of thread.

The slow blow fuses element looks about like a coil spring roughly the size of a piece of pencil lead or it may be flat.

Your amp with 5 amp fuses is about right for factory shipped speaker fuseholders.

The manufacturer was not trying to protect your speakers so much as protecting their amp output transistors against overloads or shorts.

I never discussed speaker wire and fusing and they're faults before.

Yes decades ago there was the resistance of the fuses and the effect on the damping factor.

I don't think we should necessarily worry about that, if you use large cables.

Back then, we could buy new drivers from AR, and maybe they would have covered repairs under warantee at no charge.

Today an AR 3/4" 4 ohm tweeter on ebay that hasn't been nippled can run maybe up to $75.00 each if and when they are parted from their enclosures.

If I remember correctly, 18 guage speaker wire was considered heavy way back then.

My suggestion of Home Depot, or equivalent source of, perhaps, Carol Brand 10 guage multi-strand oxy-free twin wire with clear, soft and flexable insulation is affordable.

One only has to read the classified section in the back of Stereophile magazine, to see what types, sizes and prices of used cables are being sold or being looked for.

We have choices, aren't we lucky?

As I noted about the Heath AS-103 speaker fuse being 3 amp fast blow, I was showing a comparison or ratio which maybe someone else can calculate as AR recommended a 1 1/4 amp slow blow fuse.

I definitely would recommend you read the other article I wrote and go read the information on the Crownaudio site before deciding on your AR-93's fuse size.

There is some very intelligent and technically oriented members which may want to jump in and comment now, please.

Hope this helps, Michael.

Good luck and all the very best to you and yours in 2006.

[Guest bhambluzfan]

Hey, thank-you all for the help. I made a mistake though as the Marantz 1200 has 2 (stereo) connections for each speaker you access by pushing a lever which opens a hole into which you put the bare wires. I guess I should look at the backside of my amp once in awhile. Anyway, I will follow your suggestions & thank-you again.

p.s. I'm one wife who is the more knowledgable about audio. I just bought a dvd player to which I'll hook up my amp & speakers. Who needs surround sound or Dolby? My mp3 player sounds great: 100 watts (true) per channel!

[dynaco_dan]

>Hey, thank-you all for the help. I made a mistake though as

>the Marantz 1200 has 2 (stereo) connections for each speaker

>you access by pushing a lever which opens a hole into which

>you put the bare wires. I guess I should look at the backside

>of my amp once in awhile. Anyway, I will follow your

>suggestions & thank-you again.

>p.s. I'm one wife who is the more knowledgable about audio. I

>just bought a dvd player to which I'll hook up my amp &

>speakers. Who needs surround sound or Dolby? My mp3 player

>sounds great: 100 watts (true) per channel!

Hi Judy;

You are most welcome and it is nice that there is women also enjoying this relaxing hobby.

Thank you for the questions.

Best of the new years to you and yours.

[Guest MPPurcell]

Vern and Wally,

Having read a few more of Verns recent posts and gone to some of the pages mentioned,I am a bit more knowledgable now about fusing speakers. Thanks.

I finally got time to pull my Hafler amp off the shelf where I've had it stored. I could not see before that in fact the two visible fuses are clearly marked: "Speaker Fuses 5A Max". So in fact, that is what they are, though 5 amp won't help much, will it; so I plan to put in at least 2 amp, or maybe 1.5 amp fast fuses in there. When I opened the case, Eureka! There are another 5 [FIVE!] fuses inside the box. One has a large spring-loaded coil and is obviously a main fuse off the AC line cord. The others are two on each side--I think Wally may have referred to these. These are obviously to protect electronics inside.

Anyway, there are defintely speaker fuses on a Hafler 200 amp, and they can be made useful. Clearly my Hafler was built from a kit. I don't really know its history, but I will know next week if it works well with AR 93s speakers--it should.

Michael

[Wally]

Michael, you have an enemy for life......I hate being wrong.... LOL :-)

You're absolutely right. There are 2 speaker fuses in convenient external fuseholders on either side of the speaker terminals. Very convenient!!! Geez... it's been a while since I looked at the back of that amp. Sorry, I was going by the schematic and I could not see the speaker fuses althought the parts list clearly called for the 2 5 amps... you'd think that would have been a clue to me....... duh...

Anyway, the Hafler amp and any AR will be a great combo. I love that amp even though I have more powerful ones.

Anyway I have used cables from 18 to 12 guage on even my LST's and there is NO difference in the sound quality or the bass. I did keep the 18 guage under 12 feet and never went more than 20' with the other guages. I have some fairly expensive multi conductor cables here and they sound exactly the same as the standard stuff.... even tri wired on my Paradigm Studio monitors.... can't hear the difference against single pairs of 14 guage generic speaker wire.

Bret and Vern, I couldn't find replacement tweeters for my AR12's so my speaker repair guy is going to custom build new foam surrounds. He says it's a tricky job and will end up costing me as much as replacement AR3a mid ranges but you guys will be pleased to know that these speakers will be essentially original because they will be the original drivers. You (whoever) were right. There is no spider he tells me so it will be a delicate, time consuming restoration.

[Guest Bret]

>You (whoever) were right.<

That was Tom Tyson. Being right is one of the things Tom does best.

Bret

[Wally]

Tom and Bret.

I can't say enough good things about the great support and information provided by the members of this forum.

Thanks to all of you.

[Guest MPPurcell]

>Michael, you have an enemy for life......I hate being

>wrong.... LOL :-)

That's okay, Wally, maybe we will be enemies in this life, and friends the next time around.... ;-)

But I agree with you in any case on your other comment--this is one of the best forums, of any kind, I've seen.

Getting back to speaker cables/wire. I've noticed that a lot of standard speaker wire, even in somewhat larger gauges, like 16 & 14, comes with one wire copper and the other is, I guess, aluminum. Does anyone have any opinion about whether there is any difference between using the CU-Aluminum combo, vs. having CU on both leads?

Michael

[dynaco_dan]

>>Michael, you have an enemy for life......I hate being

>>wrong.... LOL :-)

>

>That's okay, Wally, maybe we will be enemies in this life, and

>friends the next time around.... ;-)

>

>But I agree with you in any case on your other comment--this

>is one of the best forums, of any kind, I've seen.

>

>Getting back to speaker cables/wire. I've noticed that a lot

>of standard speaker wire, even in somewhat larger gauges, like

>16 & 14, comes with one wire copper and the other is, I guess,

>aluminum. Does anyone have any opinion about whether there is

>any difference between using the CU-Aluminum combo, vs. having

>CU on both leads?

>

>Michael

>

Hi Michael;

The "aluminum" coloured wire is really tinned copper wire.

It is one method used to visually identify wire polarity.

Wires have, in the case of, two wire pallel run, one side tinned, or a ribbed insulation side or a thread within the insulation to identify one of the two cables.

Aluminum wire had been previously approved here decades ago for use in residential house wiring.

An electrical safety journal I read in 1974 stated that there was over a quarter of a million reported house fires caused by aluminum wire installations.

Our hydro utility company, I believe, still use aluminum cables on our hydro poles.

Aluminum is not a great conductor of electricity, but it is cheap.

Aluminum wire oxidizes and creates a poor electrical contact.

There is an anti-oxident paste but only for line voltage connections.

I have seen several blown connections within electrical panels and heating equipment over the past years that I was involved with servicing.

In residential wiring, the guage of aluminum wire was increased from 14 guage to 12 guage.

Aluminum wire created all sorts of problems with broken connections in concealed locations, and just poor long term connections with, then current copper wire compatible outlets and switches.

One experience that I had that I will pass on is, I saw inside the dedicated outlet box of a microwave oven.

The heat from the wire with the high amperage draw of a microwave oven, had caused the wire insulation to melt and fall off of the wire.

There was 3 - 4" of bare aluminum wire now exposed inside the box.

I did read many years ago, if you were going to rough in a hifi room, that you use 2/14 or 2/12 BX armoured cable.

The only real issue I would bring up about generic speaker wire is the quality of the insulation.

If you look at some of our real, real old table lamps, tv's and radios see the deterioration of the insulation.

Only time will tell how the current insulations stand up.

Remember the foam speaker surrounds and how firm they are when new.

Good luck.