Fuse Direction for Pass Labs Amp and Preamp

@tyray 

No, I haven't talked myself out of trying fuses, I just haven't talked myself into trying them.  Partly because the four ARC amps I use to power my tri-amped system have seven fuses each.  So, that's 28 fuses just in the amps. And then another 5 in the front end, for a total of 33.

You can see where that would get pricey very quickly especially if your talkin' SR fuses.  I appreciate the Acme fuse suggestion, so that would only be $700 to do them all rather than the >$4000 variety.

Honestly I don't need to be reminded that this is fun.  It's all about the music to me not the nth degree of what I can get out of my system.   

Regards,

barts 

Hello @barts 

I've accumulated about 5 different brands of low cost, aftermarket fuses (I'd never pay what SR charges, but that's just me) and in my Marantz PM-15S2 and SA-15S2 SACD player there was a distinct difference with all of them, directionally and in comparison to the bog standard ones. With my Kinki EX-M1, I could hardly tell the difference so I kept in the standard fuse that came with it. 

The "sound" when in the wrong direction always rolled off the highs, muted ambience, and gave an out of phase shading to the sound making it harder to locate placement on the soundstage, or kind of a slight blur. If one didn't know, they'd be content with the sound and attribute it to some house sound (like warmth or richness). In the proper direction, everything snaps into place, the highs extend more and ambience is restored, along with better definition and detail. That's been my experience with every fuse I've tried with the Marantz gear, but not the Kinki.

All the best,
Nonoise

Hi @nonoise 

Thank you, that is exactly (and succinctly!) what I was looking for.  I will get an itch to give fusses a go at some point.  I have bigger fish to fry at the moment, as in interconnects.  As you might imagine I have a bunch due to the four amps and external electronic x-over.  

Regards,

barts

Clearly the orange fuses combine the best qualities of the red fuses and the yellow fuses, while the purple fuses combine those of the red and the blue.

I have been in this obsession (euphemistically, a "hobby") for some 50 years and I can still hear the better part of the human range. The SR Purple Fuses are major --  repeat major -- audible improvements, both in my VTL 7.5 iii preamp and more latterly, my Sansui TU-X1 tuner (ca. 1979), often regarded as the finest tuner ever made.  I am beyond audio "snake oil" and can hear --  or not hear -- the difference.

I don't know the physics, but with my simple but experienced ears, I do know you have to tell which fuse's end is in and which points out, to hear which way is better. Neal