"Non Inductive" resistors.


I have a couple of Boston Acoustics speakers that I picked up for free at the dump. The woofers were torn, but the boxes and grills were like new. I put in a couple of Dayton Audio woofers, and they are better than OK except that the tweeter needs about a 4 ohm padding resistor.

In view of my minimal investment, I don't feel inclined to use exotic resistors. Question is...so what if the resistor had a bit of inductance? Wouldn't the resulting roll off be well above the audio range?
eldartford

Showing 2 responses by aball

The equivalent series inductance (ESL) of resistors is miniscule and so is only apparent at super high frequencies (100s of GHz). Most resistors are soldered very close to the board surface so the inductance loop is very small anyway. Some resistors would have more ESL than others but it still doesn't matter in linear amps. I have been studying the problem of ESL in capacitors, which are much larger in value, and even then, the problem is only at high switching frequencies (of nonlinear topologies).
In my opinion, the explanation for why non-inductive resistors are necessary doesn't require a lecture: it is marketing at its finest. "hey, our speakers have non-inductive resistors...bet that beats your speakers!" A bag of laughs.