Inductor Replacement (1 Viewer)

[aaron_d]

Hello all,
I was wondering if it would be alright to subsitute the 2.0mH 14 GA. PERFECT LAYER INDUCTOR from the ERSE SUPER Q 2.0mH 16 GA 500W INDUCTOR. Could you for see any problems with this? Partsexpress does not know when they will be getting more of the ERSE inductor in. I could bump it up to the 2.2mH but the plans call for a 2.0mH. Any helP?

 

[Patrick Sun]

With the 16 Gauge inductor, you might introduce a little more DCR into the circuit, but would it be audible, probably not. But if the inductor is to be placed inline with the woofer/midrange circuit, you might lose a little bit of output in the low-to-mid end, which might cause the tweeter to play a wee bit louder, but again, it might not be that audible.

 

[aaron_d]

So what do you think is a better option, to go with the 2.2mh or get the 14 gage 2.0mh Perfect Layer Inductor

 

[Aaron Gilbert]

The 14ga Solen perfect layer is an air core inductor, while the Erse Super Q 16ga is an iron core inductor. As such, the Solen has about three times greater DC resistance. Whether that matters in the final sound is another question, as Patrick suggests. How much effect the lower DCR has will depend on where in the circuit the inductor is located, and the impedance of the driver upon which it's acting.

One thing to note about iron cores, is that they can be saturated if too much power is put through them, causing considerable distortion. In this case though, given that the Erse Super Q is rated to handle 500 watts, I doubt it's an issue, and lower DCR is theoretically better.


Aaron Gilbert

 

[aaron_d]

Well what i am doing is building the Wyane J verias Speakers. I am fairly new at this and do not understand all of the technical jargon at this point. I am learning though. If you could take a look at the crossover http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/veritas.htm
would it be alright to put the 2.2mh there? What does DCR stand for? I checked out the Crossover schematics and it is inline with the woofer. What do you think? Wait for the 2mh or go ahead with the 2.2mh? Do you know of anyother viable options?

 

[Aaron Gilbert]

DCR = DC resistance, could be of an inductor, a voice coil, etc.

Upon further inspection, I don't think I'd use the air core, given that the speaker in question uses two eight ohm woofers in parallel, for a final load of four ohms. Thiele recommends keeping inductor DCR to 1/20 of the final load or less, which would be 0.2 ohms in this crossover. Air core is not going to get you there unless you go to a huge wire like 12-10 ga, which will be expensive and enormous.

If you must have the speakers now and Parts Express is the only source, I'd recommend going with the Erse Super Q in 1.8 mH or 2.2 mH. If you don't need the higher power handling, you could go with the 2.0 mH 18 ga (part # 266-554), which is said to handle at least 250 watts. However, I'd recommend trying to get the proper value elsewhere. Meniscus has 15 ga 2.0 mH steel laminate coils that would work, http://www.meniscusaudio.com .

The 1.8 or 2.2 mH coils will change the woofer crossover frequency slightly, which may not be significantly audible.


Aaron Gilbert

 

[aaron_d]

Thanks alot Aaron, i think i will finish building my Cabinets and then see where i go from there. Meniscus audio is like 20 miles from my house if i decide to use their inductor. It just that parts express is the only place i could find that type of inductor and they keep on pushing back the back order.