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Higher amperage fuse for sound quality

I apologize if this question is either (1) ridiculously stupid or (2) already been beaten to death. And I'm definitely not looking to re-litigate whether aftermarket fuses are anything other than b.s.

I've read that people sometimes choose higher amperage fuses. This is because aftermarket fuses are supposedly built to tighter specs and therefore prone to blowing. Supposedly SR is noted for this.

Recently I was looking into some SR fuses and the dealer told me that higher amperage was also better for sonics. I'd never heard that before.

 

So last night I was looking through my stuff and discovered an unused 3.15a fuse. (I used HiFi Tuning throughout.) I decided to try it in my transport which takes a 1.6a. Everything is plugged into a Shunyata and there were no signs of t-storms so I figured I was safe for an hour or so.

It made the single biggest difference of any "tweak" I've tried. For one, the bass went significantly much deeper, became more authoritative, more controlled, more precise. The treble lost whatever edge it had and became golden and bell-like. Aside from those things, the music generally became more musical, which is difficult to explain. The music "might" have lost a tad of nuance and subtlety but I'm not sure. It's a small exaggeration to say that it sounded like a different amp. 

Being risk averse, I switched the fuse back, but I'm still so surprised. Has anyone had a similar experience? 

rfprice
pingstonsmile
43 posts
 

I'd say it was time for a fuse holder clean up and new fuse in the right direction. I'd be looking at a PC too if a fuse made that kind of difference. Some manufactures equipment react differently than others to fuses and power cables. It usually points to maintenance and the quality of the power supply. I'd say your change was due to poor contact and an old fuse.

spenav
413 posts
 

@rfprice 
Short answer is no I haven’t experienced anything like that. If you want to confirm your findings, have someone switched the fuse ten times and see if you can tell which fuse is in at any given time. See if you can guess correctly at least 50% of the time.  In terms of leaving that fuse in without risk, ask yourself this question: have you ever had to replace a blown fuse before in one of your devices? I haven’t in forty years. In my Melco server, the manufacturer is so certain they used the best possible fuse that they soldered it in so as to discourage replacement. When I swapped SR Orange in my amps, I only got a little bit more resolution but nothing to write home about. But I only jumped a little bit up on the amperage though. Good luck. 

auxinput
2,920 posts
 

I have experienced this in source equipment.  If the stock fuse is 500 mA or 1A, I will often bump this up to 2A, but that is as far as I will go.  Fuses in amplifiers usually don’t see any benefit from increase since they are often already 6+ amps.

pingstonsmile
43 posts
 

I read here on AG that a cold start with a regular fuse can take up to an hour to recover from the a hard cold start. That is the main reason boutiques sound better and over time stay sounding better. That little wire isn't moving in a fuse filled with a dampening and heat sink material, it never gets hot like a standard fuse on startup..

Cold start a 3.5amp stock fuse 30 times and look at the wire inside. It use to amaze me when I'd change the fuses in my old speakers. Tightening driver screws and changing fuses was like getting new speakers. Amps; any fuse with a dampened wire, barrel and goo will work for me. -------> please not <-------- way. It matters. I don't know about SR but most the fuses I use sound different one way vs the other. ACME with a crinkle coat is a good fuse.

rfprice OP
147 posts
 

Pingstonsmile, thanks, I hadn't thought of that. The fuses are both just a few months old and the fuse socket is from a new component, but maybe I should hit it with some Deoxit. 

For a low-draw piece like a transport, it seems like it shouldn't be too dangerous to run the higher fuse. Makes me a little queasy though. 

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