Tweakers' Asylum

Replacing inductors

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throwback

A

I have bought some new inductors (Janzen, copper foil in wax) for my speaker crossover. I would like to try them before I commit to them (I know: having bought them sounds like a bit of a commitment already) by putting them on blocks and running extension wires up to the x-over board. I know that capacitor leads should be kept as short as possible; not sure about inductor leads.

Also, is there a good way to break them in outside of putting them into the actual circuit? An inductor break-in device thingee maybe?

Thanks

Follow Ups:

Burn in jig - Salectric 07:58:49 04/25/17 (1)
Making a burn-in jig for inductors is easy enough. Just take a resistor and connect it to one end of the inductor, and then connect the free ends of this series network to your amp in parallel with your speaker. I.e. one amp lead goes to the free end of the inductor, and the other amp lead goes to the free end of the resistor. You now have the equivalent of a 6-db low-pass crossover filter. The resistor value is not critical at all. It could be something in the 8 ohm to 20 ohm range, but it should be at least 10 watts. Then you can just run the amplifier with music signal. I have done this many times with resistors, capacitors and wire all hooked up to my video system and running 24/7. It should do just fine with an inductor as well.
- RE: Burn in jig - throwback 18:32:11 04/28/17 (0)
  Thanks, Salectric. A spkr mfgr buddy of mine already has such a contraption and he is going to break in all my components for 100 hours.
  I appreciate your response.
RE: Replacing inductors - gusser 12:44:51 04/24/17 (2)
I hope you are using the same value inductors. Otherwise you will throw the speaker frequency response out of whack.
Since an inductor inserts inductance, I can't see where adding additional wire would be a problem at all, provided it is of sufficient gauge to carry the current. The added inductance of extension wires is minuscule compared with the actual inductor.
But then I fail to understand why you think an inductor needs to be burned in to start with? A capacitor, perhaps but not an inductor.

Edits: 04/24/17
- One other important issue: resistance. - Mr. Dick Hertz 08:47:53 05/08/17 (0)
  In addition to inductance, the crossover coils also add resistance to the circuit. So there are two considerations. Adding a length of wire to the inductor will increase resistance, the amount of which will depend on the length and gauge of the wire. The increased resistance will also affect crossover frequencies.
  
  As a general rule, when replacing components in a crossover, the inductors should be left alone.
  
  "That was some weird shit".- George Bush
- RE: Replacing inductors - throwback 15:13:52 04/24/17 (0)
  Yep. Same values. As to burn in, I'm only reflecting what another inmate said about replacing inductors: "Oh, one thing - for about 2 weeks it'll sound like the highs have disappeared. It just takes a while for them to break in. Things will sound muted for a while. Just give it time and they'll open up."
  
  I also intuitively agree with you about wire extensions. But I was hoping someone out there could speak definitively on the subject.
  
  Thanks

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