Cerwin Vega SE Series Crossover Location?

user41332

New Member
Is the crossover for this series supposed to be attached to the inside of the rear input panel? I took mine apart and find that it's different on each speaker! One is on the rear input panel, the other is stapled to the inside of the cabinet!

I'm guessing the inside-cabinet one is due to a previous-owner repair job, since the fuse holder has been sloppily bypassed. Oddly, I did have these professionally re-coned, and the shop never mentioned anything about the odd crossover placement and defeating the fuse mechanism (not sure if this is common or not).


Here is the assembly that I suspect is the default, factory style:

A2_Crossover.jpg



You can imagine my surprise when I removed the second speaker's input panel and saw only this:

B2_NoCrossover.jpg


With the wires leading to the crossover inside, stapled to the inside of the cabinet, but containing different components than the more official looking board in the other speaker (though the board here is stamped with "300 SE" ??).

B3_Crossover.jpg


So, at this point, I'm not sure what I'm looking at, and if any of it's an issue. (Speakers have been working flawlessly for ten years after having been re-coned). I'm going to get a new fuseholder and correct the bypassed fuse on speaker 2, which appears to have the outboard contact point ripped off.

B4_FuseHolder.jpg


The fuseholder repair is easy enough, but should I be concerned about the crossover placement, or the observation that it's apparently distinct from the other speaker?


Thanks for any input on my inputs!
 
both look legit
the second speaker cup is different and did not have the mounts for the x over
as long as the values are the same on each board are the same it shouldn't matter
i would repair the fuse as its probably tweeter protection

are the serial numbers in the ball park with each other?
it may be 2 different production runs

both boards are marked 300se
 
If it's like my D9's the fuse is for the whole input, not only the tweeter.

Resettable circuit breaker for tweeters on my CV's.

If you don't push your CV's and don't plan to (you've never popped a fuse and don't plan to) eliminating the fuse from the circuit entirely is better than leaving it in.
 
Orsen you're the man, thanks. Great call on serial numbers, they're not even close, and even have a different type of sticker: 016622 (crossover-in-cabinet unit) and 024411 (crossover-on input plate unit). They've both always worked, so I'm fine with it. I tested impedance on both units as 3.0 ohms at the main input terminals, so they at least appear to have consistent resistance too.

Gibsonian, yes the fuse is for the whole enchilada, being directly inline between the single rear input and the crossover board. A resettable circuit breaker sounds more convenient, but since this is the first time I've tripped one in 10 years I'm going to replace the fuse and leave as-is. I do push them, hard at times, and cherish the freedom to do so, so I'm going to wire in the $2 replacement fuse holder on the one that's been bypassed too, no biggie to me and with this setup I'd take protection over perfection. I appreciate the insight, thank you.

The input panels say "3AG Slo Blo [sic]" but no specific rating. The pre-existing were a 1.5A 250V and a 2A 250V. I can't find a factory spec, but I'm going with 2A which still seems conservative given known specs on subsequent models. Thanks guys.
 
Voltage rating not important for fuse. 3A slo blo recommended as per CV, but if you want to be conservative, obviously you can. Don't know any benefit though. Cranking will heat up the lesser fuse more and result in higher resistance, affect damping. I recommend using 3 amp slo blow per CV direction!
 
Are we sure 3A is the original spec? (The 3AG stamped on the input plate referring to the form factor rather than the fuse rating). I can only find a specified rating for the 380SE, which has a 15" woofer and rated for 405w max, and it only calls for a 2.5A fuse. By comparison the 300SE are 255w max.

We can probably both agree that between 2A, 2.5A, 3A it's probably splitting hairs. I'll grab a few of each for good measure.
 
My bad, got taken in by the 3A. My D9's came with 2.5 amp slo blow and I contacted CV and they recommended using a 3A slow blow if blowing fuses.

Guessing yours would be 2.0 or 2.5A with the smaller woofer. You are doing fine, in spite of me.

Sorry for my mistake!
 
No you're fine, and I actually saw that same anecdote as well, that CV officially recommended someone bump up the fuse by .5A and "keeping an eye on it" or something, so it's good to know there's a half-amp of wiggle room if needed.

Kinda dumb for whatever institute to define a size using a convention almost identical to an unrelated specification: "3AG" as a size for something otherwise measured in "nA"? Would be like measuring light bulb sockets in millimeters of width and calling it 30w if it's 30mm wide.
 
Yep.... Cerwin Vega production differences of location of the Crossovers and the way they isolated mid-ranges and Tweeters with different ways they sealed the back isolation from the Woofer resonances... Cabinets made prior to 1991 used half tube with Wood glued on each end, then sometime after 1990 the mid-ranges had hard foam composite buckets glued over the drivers glued to the cabinets, Crossovers after 1990 were new type Electronic Board assembly the older Cabinets Cerwin Vega just used homemade Crossover boards Stapled to the side of the cabinet
 
Had a pair of CV R-10's (1977) speakers. Pulled the circuit breakers going bad. Replaced with fuses. Sounded better after.
 
I run 5A 250V fastblo's in my D9s, changed the crap bullet horns to Dhorms from the HED series, also used by Polk and Altec
 
Had a pair of CV R-10's (1977) speakers. Pulled the circuit breakers going bad. Replaced with fuses. Sounded better after.
What goes bad in the circuit breaker Cerwin Vega used?......& Where on Earth can you purchase new circuit breakers identical to the originals????????....mouser Electronics?...& Will a glass fuse replacement protect the Tweeters just as good as the circuit breaker??
 
I used a regular glass fuse. The breaker was getting intermittent so I replaced it. Just changed the CB to a fuse holder and wired it up with the same wires. I think 2Amp fuse. Maybe Mouser, Digi-key, Newark just off the top of my head.
 
I used a regular glass fuse. The breaker was getting intermittent so I replaced it. Just changed the CB to a fuse holder and wired it up with the same wires. I think 2Amp fuse. Maybe Mouser, Digi-key, Newark just off the top of my head.
Thank you I may do the fuse option on a set of PD9
 
Back
Top Bottom