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   53009
   We propose to observe a sample of cataclysmic variables with weak
   magnetic fields in order to determine their detailed X-ray spectra and
   thus to test the validity of standard models, developed on the basis of
   low spectral resolution observations of a very few bright CVs. Recent
   observations of weak-field CVs, and our own ASCA programme, demonstrate
   the problems with present models and make it unclear whether the
   properties of the brightest systems are typical of the whole class. Our
   understanding of weak-field CVs can only be placed on a firm footing by
   obtaining high quality hard X-ray spectra from a wide sample of
   objects, a programme to which ASCA is ideally suited.
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