Hi-Fi Fuses - SNAKE OIL? - or something in it?


There's a lot of chatter about the benefits of those high prices gold plated fuses with silver conductor etc. etc. all over the web and the consensus ranges from FANTASTIC!!! to much more subtle observations.

It makes sense to me, epseically in light of spending lots of $$$ on good power cables, that having a skinny piece of aluminum conductor in a glass tube (i.e. a cheap fuse), in the power loop would be detrimental to the performance of the components.

I decided to revamp my DIY power supply I'd built for the Cambridge Audio 640p phono stage and DACmagic in order to test this out - and since it's a DIY project there is no UL Certification to void.

First, I bypassed the fuse link completely to confirm there would be an improvement and give me the best benchmark to compare against - YEP - BIG DIFFERENCE - much more this, that and the other :-)

So then I started looking for hi-fi fuses - WOW!!! - talk about pricey.

Two fuses for the power supply was going to cost $120+ AND I thought I'd probably have to buy a better quality fuse block to make the most of those fuses.

Then a moment of enlightenment - most power supplies and conditioners are protected by pushbutton breakers and not fuses.

I found breakers of the required current rating and installed them into the power supply. I imediately noticed that there was no deteriation in fidelity when compared to the same unit with the fuse link bypassed - GREAT!.

On reflection, the fuses I had in place were rated at 3 amps - so they use a pretty thin fuse wire in them. If I had used a fuse of a higher rating, i.e. it uses a thicker conductor, then I believe that there would be less of a difference between the fused and bypassed implementations

SO - do the expensive fuses work?

Well the empirical evidence out there would suggest they do
- I do know the cheap fuses are not good!

I know bypassing them does improve the sound - a lot in my case
- BUT THAT'S NOT SAFE FOR ONGOING USE

I know breakers work as good as bypassing the fuse
- BUT MESSING WITH A POWER SUPPLY VOIDS UL CERTIFICATION - NOT GOOD!
- FYI a couple of licensed technicians I know WILL NOT change the design of a power supply at all.

I believe the amount of benefit is related to the fuse rating
- but don't go replacing 3 amp fuses with a 20 amp fuse - that's not safe either.

Whilst looking for fuses I discovered AMR Gold fuses priced at $20/fuse.

Now that's definately more affordable than most others at 3-4 times their price.

One supplier I know of in the US is Avatar Aacoustics

If you have had experience with quality fuses please share - especially if they are "modestly priced" i.e. $20-$30 per fuse. And please provide a source :-)

Also, can anypne confirm that Slow blow fuses are better than regular?

And Remember - IF YOU AIN'T LICENCED - GET A TECHNICIAN!

Many Thanks
williewonka
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All very good responses.

All that matters is what makes a difference to my ears.

But sometimes one feels like spreading the good news.

Something that should be seen in a positive light,but seldom is.

I could understand the nasty comments if I would advocate a device or practises that would either harm the audiophile or damage his gear or home.

The only damage or threat I can see would be to someone's pocket book or ego if a long held belief is put to rest by a new device or practise.

Had my singing the praises of using an old Hammond bulk tape eraser as a device which enhanced the sound of my cd's and lp's was also found to destroy the disc or be a health threat, then I could understand the apprehension and avoidance of demagnetizing lp's and cd's.

Yet from all the venom that was spilled, you'd have been inclined to think it was a malevolent act on my part to wreak havoc and ruin.

In fact, the intent of the folks who post about certain tweaks making improvements has only one motive as far as I can tell, and that's to give a heads up to others who may be willing to try something new that just may be a whole lot cheaper way to get to nirvana than chasing after a new amp every two weeks.

I don't think very many posters are shills for any company or product that they are fans of.

For all the avid snake oilers of the new inquisition, I have seldom seen any mention of what products to stay away from.
What companies to avoid.

And most importantly what products "they have tried"that proved to be snake oil.

If I have to prove that something works, isn't it fair to ask for proof that it can't?

I agree about no two ears hearing the same thing, and about aging effects.I've lost some of the top end that I used to have, but I can still make distinctions between wires, fuses etc.

I think that there are a lot of physical factors and the level of concentration that some people are capable of and that others aren't.

Some folks listen to the whole score, others fixate on certain movements or instruments.
Some don't concentrate on anything about the music except if it makes their toes tap.

Nothing wrong with toe tapping.
But, I can get my toes tapping with some pretty inexpensive stuff,so I don't rate that aspect of the music listening experience too highly.

I could be wrong, but I suspect the music lovers are also those who don't go searching for fairy dust in the first place, and feel everything is as good as it's ever going to be in their world.

Then there are others who are always looking for the next "fix", the next new thing that will make the listening experience better than it is at the moment.

I think the last group, the audio junkies as my friend Matt called them,are also music lovers.

I count myself as belonging to the last group.

I'm still on a journey of discovery.
Which makes me happy.

Perhaps those who aren't happy with the hobby anymore, should get back on the road and pick up where they left off.

For me the trip has always been the fun part.

The destination is just a momentary pause,and always somewhere out there beyond the horizon.
Out there , following that trail of fairy dust.


What is irksome is when someone tells you that your ears are lying to you and that
Figured I'd try one more time.
Normally when '60 minutes' or whatever smells a scam they go looking behind the curtain for things like manufacturing plants , u.l. lab test reports, etc.
Is there anybody out there that has ever seen a boutique fuse manufacturing facility ?
Lacee....

For all the avid snake oilers of the new inquisition, I have seldom seen any mention of what products to stay away from.
What companies to avoid.

And most importantly what products "they have tried"that proved to be snake oil.

First, there is a little thing called libel
- it's easy for a company to extol the virtues of their product, even without "proof" (many do), but much harder for someone to refute their claims. Word of mouth is one thing, putting it in writing on a forum - whole different kettle of fish!

Second - if people were to report their failures this forum would be immense
- and very tough to seperate wheat from chaff :-)

Third, people just may not wnat anyone to know about their failures.
- in fear of the rebukes they "might" receive in return.

As you well know - the effectiveness of a component/cable/tweak/etc is relative to the system/components it was "auditioned with".

My atrategy in considering reported products is to do some "due diligence" and revue the system the poster is using (if available) in order to understand why the claim might be valid.

After all a $30,000 speaker cable might not prove "as effective" if I have a $20 interconnect from the phono stage to the amp.

Conversly - nay-sayers should understand that a $30,000 speaker cable on a $200k system might just be the cat's meow! Just pop into your local Audiophile Store for a test drive :-)

From that perspective, I prefer to see reports only on the positive, then I can extrapolate from only those experiences together with available data.

So, we are left with an imperfect, but workable method of communicating our findings.

Without forums like this the thousands of products and a vast wealth of knowledge pertaining to this hobby would be lost to the majority of us

Your words are not lost on the readers - I'm sure they resonate with many, and there's always someone willing to challenge :-)

You keep on posting - we'll keep on reading:-)
One last thing I forgot in the above post

If a reader is considering a product and cannot find it in a search on Agon - post a question about it - you almost always get some feedback - good or bad :-)