Resistor upgrade

[henrylr]

Hi all,

I'm building new xovers, and want to upgrade the resistors, which are cheap no names. There is one 1R0 10W in the tweeter circuit and one 8R6 10W in the mid range circuit. I can only find an 8R6 10w by Deulund...very expensive. I searched Mundorf, Caddock and others and only found 8R2 10w or 9R0 10w. Will the .4 lower or higher resistance change the sound or should I buy the Deulund? I also wanted to upgrade the 1R0 10w to a Mundorf. Mundorf has a 1R0 10W and a better quality M-resist rated at 20 watts. Is there a downside to using the 1R0 20w instead of the 1R0 10w?

Thanks,
henrylr

 

[Grador]

The only reason you'd want to "upgrade" the resistors is for tighter tolerance of the resistance value. If you're going to change the value while "upgrading" then you'll be doing yourself a massive disservice.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi all,

I'm building new xovers, and want to upgrade the resistors, which are cheap no names. There is one 1R0 10W in the tweeter circuit and one 8R6 10W in the mid range circuit. I can only find an 8R6 10w by Deulund...very expensive. I searched Mundorf, Caddock and others and only found 8R2 10w or 9R0 10w. Will the .4 lower or higher resistance change the sound or should I buy the Deulund? I also wanted to upgrade the 1R0 10w to a Mundorf. Mundorf has a 1R0 10W and a better quality M-resist rated at 20 watts. Is there a downside to using the 1R0 20w instead of the 1R0 10w?

Thanks,
henrylr

All you need are resistors of the correct value and power handling and 5% tolerance.

No need to spend more money. The cheap one will be as good as the expensive one.

Be careful upgrading crossovers it can and often does do harm. The resistances of the inductors are allowed for in the design, at least the should be and certainly are in my designs.

So if you upgrade to expensive inductors of lower resistance you can often change the Q of a filter with adverse results.

There is a lot of bunk about ultra expensive crossover components, just like the "funny wire" advocates.

 

[Stanton]

Like the previous poster said, don't change the values. Mills resistors are good and reasonable; I just used them in an XO upgrade myself. Here's a link:
Mills Resistors

 

[lsiberian]

I think you should resist the urge to change resistors.

 

[Grador]

I think you should resist the urge to change resistors.

Booooooooooo

 

[markw]

Resistance is futile.

 

[highfigh]

What induced you to think you need to upgrade the crossovers? Someone needs to put a cap on this kind of thing.

Sorry. Very sorry.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Like the previous poster said, don't change the values. Mills resistors are good and reasonable; I just used them in an XO upgrade myself. Here's a link:
Mills Resistors

I also use Mills in most of my crossovers, not because they make the slightest difference in sound, but because their small size is sometimes a help on crowded circuit boards, and the leads are much stronger than on some less expensive resistors. I use the green Mundorf MOX series on the Phil 3, where space is less of a premium. Again--sound isn't a consideration. I just didn't want anyone peaking at the Xover board and thinking I had cheaped out.

 

[Speedskater]

What induced you to think you need to upgrade the crossovers? Someone needs to put a cap on this kind of thing.
Sorry. Very sorry.

It's now some 4 years later. I think the speakers are completely built.

 

[Darenwh]

Resistance is futile.

I don't know, a resistor upgrade is hard to resist... I was on the fence about one earlier, thought it could go one way or the other so I got myself a variable resistor... That way I could try both ways... After all, the easiest way to deal with resistance is to make small changes to adapt to the changing needs...

(All in jest, As stated, resistance to resistor puns is hard to resist.)

 

[Johnny2Bad]

Just answering because the topic is live now (the OP is probably long gone)

Mills (brand resistors) MRA series are wirewound non-inductive non-magnetic. The 12W variants are 20ppm (most reasonably priced quality resistors are 100ppm) and 1% tolerance.
Excellent resistors for crossovers, tube amp bias circuits (because they are available in 5W and 12W values).

Mills MRA Series 1R0 12W
Mills MRA Series 3R9 12W + Mills MRA Series 4R7 12W = 8R6 20-ishW (connect in series)*
About $5 each (6 needed for a stereo pair of crossovers)

ppm = the tendency of the resistor to change value with temperature.

" ... Is there a downside to using the 1R0 20w instead of the 1R0 10w ..."

You will increase the power handling of the Crossover, a good thing. Downside? Costs a bit more.

*The formula is simple, N resistors x P watts = NP watts if the resistance values are identical and they are connected in series. However, if the values differ, one resistor will dissipate more power than the other, so 2 of the Mills above x 12W will not be exactly 24W (will not share the power dissipation load equally). That formula is somewhat complex, thus we are using an educated guess here, because I'm in a lazy mood.

Since your original Xor only used 10W resistors, you will be more than OK with making up your desired 8R6 with the two values in series.

 

[highfigh]

It's now some 4 years later. I think the speakers are completely built.

Are they? Are they, really?

What makes you think they weren't built, listened to, analyzed, read about, tweaked and thus started the endless spiral into insanity for the builder?

Didn't the puns appear obvious enough?

 

[Swerd]

I also use Mills in most of my crossovers, not because they make the slightest difference in sound, but because their small size is sometimes a help on crowded circuit boards, and the leads are much stronger than on some less expensive resistors. I use the green Mundorf MOX series on the Phil 3, where space is less of a premium. Again--sound isn't a consideration. I just didn't want anyone peaking at the Xover board and thinking I had cheaped out.

This is coming from someone who led the way among DIY speaker builders in testing the audible effect of caps and resistors. He convincingly showed that, as long as they were the correct value, there was no audible difference in speakers made with high-priced or exotic crossover components.

No, I'm not disappointed that you now say you use moderately more expensive Mills resistors, as you clearly point out that they have no effect on sound, but do have practical value. I have broken leads on less expensive resistors, and agree that Mills resistor leads are much stronger.

But this illustrates how speaker manufacturers are pressured by the audio buying public to include tweaks & features in speakers that they know don't make the slightest difference in sound. The only two commercial speaker makers I know both like to tell stories of the strange people they meet while at audio shows. Most of them involve so-called audiophiles who insist that some unnecessary feature be present on any speaker they might buy. My favorite was the guy who dragged around his precious speaker cables from room to room at an audio show, insisting that his cables be hooked up before he would listen to any speaker.

None of these potential customers seem to complain about the high cost of exotic crossover components. In that world, the moderate increase in cost of Mills resistors makes good sense.

 

[Speedskater]

Are they? Are they, really?
What makes you think they weren't built, listened to, analyzed, read about, tweaked and thus started the endless spiral into insanity for the builder?

While 'henrylr ' checks into the forum from time to time, he only wrote two posts and they were 4 years ago.

Didn't the puns appear obvious enough?

Of course a thread like this is an invitation to puns. But that was 4 years ago.

 

[mtrycrafts]

...

(All in jest, As stated, resistance to resistor puns is hard to resist.)

I don't know. Some are small, others large, some are low some are high, they all resist.

 

[mtrycrafts]

...

Of course a thread like this is an invitation to puns. But that was 4 years ago.

And now we have 4 year newer puns.

 

[highfigh]

While 'henrylr ' checks into the forum from time to time, he only wrote two posts and they were 4 years ago.


Of course a thread like this is an invitation to puns. But that was 4 years ago.

Had you seen it before? I hadn't.

 

[Verdinut]

There could be a slight advantage only in the series resistors of the crossovers.

The Canadian based Solen Electronics, a world renowed crossover parts manufacturer, have Achrohmic Non-Inductive resistors at reasonable prices. They have a 2% tolerance and are rated at 16 watts:

https://solen.ca/product-category/resistors/achrohmic-mil-spec-resistors/

I am using them in the passive mid-high frequency crossovers for my three main front speakers with excellent results. I definitely recommend them.