Magnepan re-wiring - Why not Copper?

[mr_wetland]

A couple of years ago I bought a pair of Magnepan MG-1's off Craigslist for $100. I have a friend who has a pair and I love the sound, so I was so excited that I bought them without listening to them. I knew nothing at the time about corroding wires and glue coming loose. Of course when I got them home, one worked and one didn't. I took the trim and sock off the bad one, and found lots of little puddles of deteriorated wire. I put them in storage and walked away.

Now I'm itching to get them going, but I'm a cheap-skate and with two sons in college I'd like to do it as low budget as possible. I have acetone, the 3M spray glue and DAP. What I don't have is the wire. From what I've seen on AK and the MUG, you use 31-34 gauge wire for the tweeter section and 20-23 for the mid-bass. But it's always spec'd as aluminum, which seems hard to find and hard to solder. I KNOW I can go to Magnepan and get the kit, but I'd rather spend $20 than $60 with my current economy. Why can't I buy much cheaper and easier to solder copper off the FleaBay and use that? Is it the weight of the copper on the mylar, or conductance/resistance of aluminum compared to copper? WIll copper throw the crossover all off?

 

[moray james]

sometimes being cheap is not what works. You need what you need to do a job any job and going cheap is the wrong thing to do. Aluminum wire is lighter than copper and your diaphragms have been designed for aluminum not copper. Either get the same type and gage as the factory used if you can find some at a discount great if not buy it from the factory. You know that you can buy a set of the MGM's direct from the factory for around $600.00 bucks or so. What is your time worth? Do you really want a project? Good luck/ I Look forward to how things go. Best regards Moray James.

 

[frommerstop]

As Moray says, copper is roughly 3 1/2 times the mass of aluminum, and since it rides along on the diaphragm, mass is critical. You might be able to reduce the gauge a little if you went to copper, but even with copper's superior conductivity, you would still be adding mass which would dull panel response.

 

[Dukiedook]

Like was said above if you weigh down the panels with copper wire you will essentially take away the speed that the Magnepans are known for. Copper will significantly slow down the panels. This is one of those pay the money up front deals you can't really get around.

 

[mr_wetland]

Thanks for the quick responses and I got the information I expected from my knowledgeable friends at AK. Aluminum it is. If I can find the right gauge, fine, otherwise I'll go right to Magnepan. I always enjoy a project, I'm usually involved in two or three at a time anyway. I like the feeling of figuring something out and fixing it. You are all correct, also, it does not make sense to go cheap on materials and do a job half-a**ed. But I also don't like to pay more than I need to buy stuff from the manufacturer that I can find at my local hardware store.

Steve

 

[moray james]

I hear ya but you are not going to find this at the local ACE Hardware store. You might score some on ebay, good luck/ Best regards Moray James.

 

[RickeyM]

The main reason aluminum is used instead of copper is the resistance of the wire. If you wired a Maggie with copper wire, the speakers resistance would be a good bit lower than the original 4-ohms.

 

[Cogito]

The main reason aluminum is used instead of copper is the resistance of the wire. If you wired a Maggie with copper wire, the speakers resistance would be a good bit lower than the original 4-ohms.

Aluminum's mass is the primary factor. Copper weighs more than twice that of aluminum, a HUGE factor in the design of Magnepan's speaker technology.

 

[Blue Shadow]

The main reason aluminum is used instead of copper is the resistance of the wire. If you wired a Maggie with copper wire, the speakers resistance would be a good bit lower than the original 4-ohms.

Aluminum's mass is the primary factor. Copper weighs more than twice that of aluminum, a HUGE factor in the design of Magnepan's speaker technology.

Well there you go. Use Copper and burn up the amp as well as having slow sounding speakers compared to real Magnepans.

They used Aluminum to match the aluminum ribbon tweeters of the higher models.

 

[gary7]

Thanks for the quick responses and I got the information I expected from my knowledgeable friends at AK. Aluminum it is. If I can find the right gauge, fine, otherwise I'll go right to Magnepan. I always enjoy a project, I'm usually involved in two or three at a time anyway. I like the feeling of figuring something out and fixing it. You are all correct, also, it does not make sense to go cheap on materials and do a job half-a**ed. But I also don't like to pay more than I need to buy stuff from the manufacturer that I can find at my local hardware store.

Steve

How did your Maggies work out. I picked up a pair of SMG's and am in the same boat. My Bass wires are still attached except for a few ends have de-laminated. There are big sections of the tweeter wires missing. Did you go with the factory kit or what?

 

[Tom Brennan]

They used Aluminum to match the aluminum ribbon tweeters of the higher models.

They used aluminum wires long before they made ribbon tweeters.

 

[62sunbeam]

What I don't understand is why you can't find aluminum motor wire anywhere else but at Magnepan.

Thanks

Eric

 

[gadget73]

There probably isn't a whole lot of use for the stuff. I would expect there isn't a ton where higher resistance is desirable, and the mass is largely unimportant for most tasks.

 

[Retrovert]

What I don't understand is why you can't find aluminum motor wire anywhere else but at Magnepan.

Search for aluminum craft wire.

 

[kirk57]

It's not like Magnepan charges a lot for the wire. They won't ship the Fastbond in the winter, but that you can buy locally. The wires they can ship.

So you can try finding AL motor wire at some shop or craft wire or whatever and hope it's the same, or you can just call Magnepan and have them send you the correct stuff.

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

 

[Retrovert]

It's not like Magnepan charges a lot for the wire. They won't ship the Fastbond in the winter, but that you can buy locally. The wires they can ship.

So you can try finding AL motor wire at some shoop or craft wire or whatever and hope it's the same, or you can just call Magnepan and have them send you the correct stuff.

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

What he said.

I misunderstood and thought the wire was unavailable from the manufacturer.

Always best to go directly to the source.