@simao I wondered the same thing for a while, thinking it mostly a silly idea, but it turns our that everything in the electrical pathways of our components can have an effect on sound quality. Fuses are probably the cheapest off the shelf part of that pathway in most cases and appear to function as an electrical bottleneck. Better fuse, better electrical signal, better sound. I'm a believer now.
The secret to a great amplifier...
Is a $150 Orange fuse from Synergistic Research. Seriously, extreme boost in sonic performance. Blacker background, larger soundstage... if I wanted to make some bucks, I’d put these is cheap OEM compnents and start letting the accolades and purchasers come calling.
Mind you, I have a high value-oriented $20k system, so it was nice before, but damn!
Mind you, I have a high value-oriented $20k system, so it was nice before, but damn!
Showing 20 responses by redwoodaudio
@tubebuffer - Let's plug those $160 fuses into some stock Chinese OEM DACs, put a fancy audio brand name on it, market it as the marvelous new "giant-killer" to Thomas & Stereo on YouTube and make some serious $$$. I've got a decent job as it is right now, but were I more of an entrepeneur and slightly less ethical, i'd be all over it. |
@millercarbon - thanks for the support on this thread. I've been finding your posts very informative, particularly on the more esoteric audiophile pursuits (tweaks, electrical, etc.). I appreciate that you typically come across as a decent person more interested in giving good-faith advice than the type of thread sabotage we're seeing here. Honestly, to those of you on this thread who are hostile to the basic premise of the thread, please give those of us who are sharing our ideas and experiences the benefit of the doubt. I am definitely not posting here to engender conflict with anyone. |
From an old thread: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/why-don-t-amplifier-companies-use-high-end-fuses aolmrd1241886 posts09-04-2017 4:49pm"So, the question I have is....if fuses were so important, than why don’t Amplifier companies all install them as OEM equipment?" I can only speak for Merrill Audio...but, my Veritas mono block amps shipped with Synergistic fuses already installed... some manufacturers are quite aware of sound quality differences with premium parts. Others...not so much. |
Same old thread: nonoise6,405 posts09-07-2017 11:42amA fuse is not a wire. A fuse is used in place of a wire, or interrupts a trace, on a circuit board. We can all agree that a wire or trace should be of very high quality/purity to sound it's best. A fuse is an over current device engineered to melt, thus breaking the circuit. It's not made to "sound" good. The end caps are usually made of zinc, tin, and aluminum or alloys of them. The internal wire is usually made of nichrome (nickel, chromium, iron, etc.). It's sacrificial in nature and design, much like MOVs in a surge protector. Why would any "engineer" see it any other way? Enter modern high fidelity. Would anyone here, in their right mind, use any of the aforementioned metals in their speaker cables? Their interconnects? Their power cables? Their RCA jacks? Their speaker terminals? I think not. The fuse is a choke point. Nothing happens unless it gets past the fuse. As someone else has pointed out on another thread, about 85% of what goes on in an amp has a "leg" in what comes after the fuse. Not all fuses deal with the incoming AC. Some, like the ones in my SACD are in the signal path. There's no way in hell I'm not experimenting with a better made fuse. One that uses rhodium plated copper, copper and nothing else, such as the PADIS fuses. $25 apiece. Better pass through, though not as good as no fuse but not as flat out horrible as some of the cheaper fuses out there. Some here have said that they just swap them out on a regular basis and show pictures of tortured, aged fuses. A simple look at Wiki says that there should be no damage from minor, harmless surges of current or oxidize or change behavior even after years of service and yet we have proof that the cheaply made ones do just that. I think what we're witnessing here is a very conservative backlash against progress. The founding tenet of conservatism is stop, not so fast. Well, that was many years ago since the advent of aftermarket fuses and it took a while for me to catch on to the "trend" but now, after observing it firsthand, I don't see what all the hubbub is about. Hearing is believing and it's so very easy to hear. As for any argument about "it's just a 1/4" piece of wire. C'mon now. No matter how small and insignificant you think it is, it just messed with the current or signal, and now it's going from one amplification device to another until it gets to the outputs. I'd rather have as pure an original current flow or signal as possible, instead of a corrupted one. All the best, Nonoise |
another gem from prior thread: auxinput2,235 posts09-09-2017 11:54am Wow, this thread went to a black hole in a hurry! Several things we need to be aware of: - If you have looked inside a fuse (like the glass fuses), you will see a VERY thin wire. Say a 1 amp fuse. The internal wire is extremely small, something like 26awg or 28awg (not entirely sure). If this is for a preamp, would you ever put on a power cable smaller than 18awg? (that’s stock, and I don’t think they make them smaller). No, you would upgrade to something like 14awg or even 12awg -- so that there is less current restriction. All A/C has to go through this tiny wire, even if it’s less than 1" long. - The wire in the fuse has electrical resonance as well. Different upgraded fuses will sometimes do things to combat this resonance. The same thing happens inside electrolytic capacitors (during charge/discharge). The material/filler used in capacitors has a definite affect on electrical resonance and sound quality. Poor resistance to electrical resonance in caps will result is harsh sound that lacks solidness. - People who say that the fuse and power cords are not in the signal path are not entirely correct. The actual waveform signal that starts at the source is never the actual signal that makes it to the amp. For anyone who doesn’t realize this, the basic idea of a transistor or op amp circuit is to "regenerate" the incoming signal. It never truly "passes through". There is always a resistor that the signal passes through and then a opamp/transistor gain circuit. Well, the gain circuit uses voltage/current from the A/C power supply to re-create or "add to" the output voltage for the signal. The power cord and fuse has a definite impact to the quality of this power supply voltage/current. - Since A/C power is used to create/add-to this signal, the type of power cord or fuse will definitely affect the "flavor" of the sound. Just like comparing gold-plated connector to rhodium plated. Comparing silver wire to copper wire, etc. - There are things that our ears are hearing which we cannot measure for at our current level of technology. Granted, electrical engineers will "nay say" this, but ask yourself this: What can we measure today that we couldn’t measure 10 years ago? 20 years? 35 years? (when they were making tube based electronics). |
I'm really not trying to convince or persuade anyone. Just letting those of you who are interested know, in slightly cheeky way, of my experience with these fuses. I'm not special. But I needed to hear this from others a few times before I could take the leap. And I'm glad I did. I don't care if you do or don't want to try it. But if you do, it's fun. |
Tweaks that I've liked: SR Orange fuses (not subtle) Highend Novum PMR resonator (subtle) Tweak Geek Stealth passive conditioner (used, subtle) DNM cables XLR x 2 + speaker cables(subtle) Tweaks that did nothing for me: BDR cones under preamp and amp SR FEQ + HFTs (10) I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to try these things. At this point, I have two more tweaks on the way: PPT omega emats High Fidelity Cables MC-1 pro |