Best way to protect active tweeter.

[sfdoddsy]

Just wondering what the best and/or easiest way to protect the tweeter in an active system is.

I have the electrical skills of a hippopotamus.

[BobEllis]

Easiest cheapest solution - have a nice reliable amp and don't turn it up too loud or connect/disconnect anything or turn anything else on or off while the amp is on. I managed to keep my ribbon tweeters alive for several years this way, then an act of klutziness killed one.

I now use a pair or trio of 12 uf film caps in series with the tweeter, netting 24 -36 uf, which pretty much keeps the high pass filter formed by the protection caps well below the active XO. If your electonics warrant, you might want to use a boutique cap or two in your bundle.

[Amphiprion]

A large polypropylene cap would be my choice as well.

[sfdoddsy]

My crossover is at 1400hz (LR4). What cap value would suggest? And is it just wired in series?

[Saurav]

Yes, it goes in series with the tweeter. If you want to combine caps to increase the total capacitance, those caps go in parallel with each other, and the whole thing goes in series with the tweeter.

f = 1 / (2 * pi * R * C)

pi = 3.14, R = impedance of your tweeter. So for example, with an 8 ohm tweeter and a 12uF capacitor, that works out to about 1700Hz. You'll probably want the corner frequency at least a couple of octaves below your crossover, so the cap doesn't mess with the crossover's response.

[Mazeroth]

I used a 30 uF cap in series with my Fountek ribbons and DCX2496.

[Space]

Is the tweeter necessarily the most vulnerable driver in an active system? I have a 4-way active system (including subwoofer) and I've noticed (to say the least) a HUGE transient from the sub when powering on my DEQ2496. Just about blew the doors off, and now I switch the sub amp off before touching the DEQ power button. No major transients higher up. The sub is wired directly to the DEQ's analog output, so that may be a factor.