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Replacing old Vega D9 Fuse?

Gonkulous89

Gonkulous89

New Member
So pretty sure I overpowered my Cerwin Vega D9 (Singular, not plural. Just one of them...) whilst pushing some unholy power levels of volume (just past 12 o clock area.) with my Pioneer SX-1050. It's completely silent on the left (the blown one), so fairly certain it's a fuse? I saw another thread similar to my issue, but just wanted to know,

A: Is the pioneer SX 1050 too weak for concert level with these speakers?

B: Maybe my fuse is too weak? I havn't gotten it out. Does the front "fuse plug" unscrew? Seems a bit jammed on mine.

Any old heads here who know, I need some advice!

-Andres
 
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Is it an actual fuse or is it a circuit breaker? I have a pair of VS-150's but don't know about the D9's. If it's a fuse and it blew, well, it did its job; replace it with the correct value. If it's a circuit breaker, resetting it should bring it back unless the breaker is going bad...which they all do.

A. Is the SX-1050 still using all of its original 40 year old parts or has it had cap updates, idle bias checked, etc?

B. Stay with the right fuse or you'll be replacing more than a fuse next time it pops. If it does. Some holders unscrew, others want you to push in while turning (spring loaded).

It's probably a 3 amp fuse. I would buy a 5 pack and have some extras. I run my VS-150's on a 460wpc Carver amp and have never blown a fuse. Maybe you're just clipping that 1050 and the fuse is doing its job.
 
avguytx said:
Is it an actual fuse or is it a circuit breaker? I have a pair of VS-150's but don't know about the D9's. If it's a fuse and it blew, well, it did its job; replace it with the correct value. If it's a circuit breaker, resetting it should bring it back unless the breaker is going bad...which they all do.

A. Is the SX-1050 still using all of its original 40 year old parts or has it had cap updates, idle bias checked, etc?

B. Stay with the right fuse or you'll be replacing more than a fuse next time it pops. If it does. Some holders unscrew, others want you to push in while turning (spring loaded).

It's probably a 3 amp fuse. I would buy a 5 pack and have some extras. I run my VS-150's on a 460wpc Carver amp and have never blown a fuse. Maybe you're just clipping that 1050 and the fuse is doing its job.
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I bought it off ebay maybe 8 or 9 years ago, and when it arrived it was a little dirty cosmetically, but everything functions. The only knowledge of update to it was replacement to electrolytic filters in the power supply section. So, to my knowledge it could be all original besides that. What should I look for in finding service for it? ALSO, the protection circuit never clipped the speakers off and on, so maybe there's more going on with my amp than I know?

Also, just got the fuse out. Definately blown. So good, pretty sure it's that. It's an AGC2 fuse...2 AMP? 250V. So I want 3 Amp fuse?
 
The D9 is sometimes called an 8 ohm speaker and sometimes 4 ohm. I don't have an impedance curve in front of me but I assume it dips below 8 and possibly as low as 4, somewhere. I think the SX receivers are 'capable' of 4 ohm loads but generally not thrilled to be driving them especially at high power levels. I would be more careful with the volume, and if you are boosting bass via loudness or tone controls (or, heaven forbid, both), you are really putting an epic strain on the amp.
 
toxcrusadr said:
The D9 is sometimes called an 8 ohm speaker and sometimes 4 ohm. I don't have an impedance curve in front of me but I assume it dips below 8 and possibly as low as 4, somewhere. I think the SX receivers are 'capable' of 4 ohm loads but generally not thrilled to be driving them especially at high power levels. I would be more careful with the volume, and if you are boosting bass via loudness or tone controls (or, heaven forbid, both), you are really putting an epic strain on the amp.
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Good to know! Actually, Both Tone AND the Loudless were active when this occured. Which I had not done since getting these D9's not too long ago. It felt so good, hahaha... but literally took 30 seconds for the left to Kaputz. Maybe I have the wrong pairing for the level of sonic elation I desire? What is a better amp pairing for high levels? I prefer vintage...
 
Gonkulous89 said:
Good to know! Actually, Both Tone AND the Loudless were active when this occured. Which I had not done since getting these D9's not too long ago. It felt so good, hahaha... but literally took 30 seconds for the left to Kaputz. Maybe I have the wrong pairing for the level of sonic elation I desire? What is a better amp pairing for high levels? I prefer vintage...
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Honestly, I'd think not cranking the bass and using loudness when playing at a high volume might be a good idea. I'm not sure why a more powerful amp would keep you from blowing a speaker fuse (unless the 1050 was clipping hard maybe). The loudness should not actually be active at some point, based on the position of the volume control, since it's designed for use in for low-level listening. Try listening again without boosting the bass and see how it sounds. I used my 1050 for many years on a variety of speakers, including 901's that can handle a lot of power, but I never had an issue with needing a bigger amp or receiver.
It may sound silly, but when I was trying to ween myself off unnaturally boosted bass decades ago, I'd engage the low filter and turn the bass to the left of center with loudness off. I'd listen like that for a good while, and then turn off the low filter and return the bass knob to zero (or flip the switch to disable tone controls). Suddenly, it seemed like I had lots of bass when in reality I was listening to mostly flat material. These days, I find myself turning bass down occasionally, when I need to keep from disturbing others, but I rarely, as in almost never, boost the bass unless it's a really bad recording / mp3.
 
I too would recommend listening to music as it was recorded, i.e. without tons of artificial bass boost. However, everyone has to listen how they want. In which case, powered subwoofers are another way to take pressure off your vintage receiver. Note that as much as half the actual power goes into the woofer on most music, and if bass is boosted, even more.
 
Somewhere around here is a thread analyzing quantitatively the impact on an amplifier from bass boost, in terms of actual wattage demanded. It's rather sobering. I can't find it today or I'd post a link.
 
Another option is to get a power amp and run the preamp out of the SX into the poweramp then wire the D9s to that. Those speakers should be able to take a good bit of power and get pretty loud. You should be able to get something that will push a few hundred watts RMS to each channel and be stable down to 2 ohms that will really drive them well.
 
:p

I like the separate amp idea, but it seems a shame to just use the 1050 as a pre and let its power section sit there unused. That led to the powered sub suggestion. But I agree the D9's shouldn't really need a sub - unless the listener is demanding a really ridiculous amount of bass.
 
toxcrusadr said:
:p

I like the separate amp idea, but it seems a shame to just use the 1050 as a pre and let its power section sit there unused. That led to the powered sub suggestion. But I agree the D9's shouldn't really need a sub - unless the listener is demanding a really ridiculous amount of bass.
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Could always bi-amp. Use the 1050 for mids and highs and hook the woofer up to the NAD 2400.
 
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