Do resistors really have voltage ratings?

[Dave H]

Wow - that still seems so dodgey to me. According to my calculations, 100V would be 0.1 watt at 100k ohms, but it's sold as a 5 watt resistor..... I used to think the whole point of wirewounds was for high power, to dissipate the heat (like a mini radiator), but even a well built 1/4 watt carbon (or any) type of resistor might do better than that?

Well, if you think about it a 100k wirewound resistor will have a lot off very thin wire with thin insulation which can result in a low voltage rating. When selecting a component you have to check all of its ratings and make sure you don't exceed any of them. You can't just look at one rating in isolation.

[Leo_Gnardo]

A 5 Watt wire wound resistor on the preamp tube plates is just plain silly.

For decades manufacturers and hi price boutique builders have completely missed out on this hot new trend of using wirewound plate load resistors. Maybe our OP is on to something: build it and let us know how amazing it sounds. Enough talk talk talk already - the conjecture contest is killin' me. I'll shut up now and go back to staring at Fog Snooze...

[J M Fahey]

For decades manufacturers and hi price boutique builders have completely missed out on this hot new trend of using wirewound plate load resistors. Maybe our OP is on to something: build it and let us know how amazing it sounds. Enough talk talk talk already - the conjecture contest is killin' me. I'll shut up now and go back to staring at Fog Snooze...

Sorry but you are not up to date even with 2001 news: Audio Note Japan makes wirewound silver plate resistors for their amps, besides their famous silver capacitors that is:

When he was not satisfied with the existing film capacitors, he made proprietary capacitors utilizing thin sterling-silver foils. Same thing applies for ANJ resistors. Kondo-San did actually close the entire factory for three weeks to finalize his latest creation: the tiny capacitor he's holding in his hand.

Oda-San making ANJ's proprietary silver resistors

for the full visit:
Audio Note Factory Tour [English]

the impressive hi Tech Factory:


The ecstatic review of a preamp using handmade Silver capacitors and resistors:
6moons audio reviews:Kondo Ongaku KSL M-77

which include lines such as:

For the Japanese artist, the process is sacred, the methods are sacred and the act of creating something simple is considered the noblest achievement man is capable of. This intense and spiritual relationship with physical matter and its counterpoint in our souls can seem bizarre to us. Have a quick look at the late Mr. Kondo talking about silver. You'd think he had taken leave of his senses.


"Silver is a living thing, as if it has a gene which seems to contain DNA as expressed a natural sound." Or what about his thoughts on sound:


"I believe that motion is sound. I am all the more convinced of my belief when I listen to the swelling mass of sound in the middle of Wagner's Tannhäuser Overture. Especially so when listening to the same music performed by the great maestro, Arturo Toscanini at his last concert of April 4, 1954. Which sounds as if the particles of the sound were colliding with one another and whirling in a thunderous march."

No, I am not making this out

[Mick Bailey]

Aargh..... I feel sick.

Get me out of here.

[überfuzz]

Every now and then I mess about with LTspice. Once I simulated the power dissipation in resistors between nodes in the filter.

My point..? Well, what you really want to watch is the average power dissipation. My ½ W resistors has no problem of handling the power dissipation in a start up. The max voltage rating is different, don't think avarage, think max, period. :-)

[Rhodesplyr]

I'm late to this discussion, but, yes resistors do have maximum voltage ratings.

With metal film resistors, in particular you have to pay careful attention due to their spiral construction. If they are overloaded, you can get a short between two adjacent current paths inside the resistor. You usually find that carbon film resistors (not sure why this is the case) and carbon composition resistors have higher maximum applied voltage ratings than metal films.

With high value resistors, you can exceed the maximum voltage rating before you exceed maximum dissipation.

Example: Holco metal film resistors used to be popular for audiophile use, but sellers like Michael Percy warned that their official ratings were overly optimistic and suggested that they not be used in circuits where applied voltage exceeded 150V.