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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
mitch2
3,754 posts
 
My present fuses are well broken in...having been used & never replaced since they were new, pre 1973.
That raises an interesting question, if OS fuses sound so good maybe we should be looking for NOS fuses :>)

Also, Geoff says
There is also the fuse holder to contend with, a silver plated cryo version appears to be a good place to start.
That has been one of my issues with not only fuses but also connectors on equipment, etc. What is the weakest link? I believe Acme and Furutech both offer upgraded fuse holders if you want to try them.
Actually, I have listened to several of the upgraded fuses including two HiFi Tuning types and the Furutech fuse. I used to have the standard HiFi Tuning fuses in all my gear. I honestly can't say I heard a big difference, especially compared to changing out electronics, or even cables. I have no problem with folks hearing a difference and spending their money to attain that difference, but for me the stock fuses seem to do just fine.
rodman99999
6,036 posts
 
If I were using old Marantz gear and Altec speakers; I wouldn't worry about fuses either.
rodman99999
6,036 posts
 
I would delete my last post, but- the site is not offering the option.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Mitch2 wrote,

"That has been one of my issues with not only fuses but also connectors on equipment, etc. What is the weakest link? I believe Acme and Furutech both offer upgraded fuse holders if you want to try them. Actually, I have listened to several of the upgraded fuses including two HiFi Tuning types and the Furutech fuse. I used to have the standard HiFi Tuning fuses in all my gear. I honestly can't say I heard a big difference, especially compared to changing out electronics, or even cables. I have no problem with folks hearing a difference and spending their money to attain that difference, but for me the stock fuses seem to do just fine."

Of course stock fuses and ordinary connectors and ordinary cables and ordinary fuse holders do just fine. But we're not really addressing ordinary fuses and ordinary connectors and ordinary sound. We're talking about getting better sound. Unless you are willing to accept the good possibility that all wire is directional - fuses, interconnects, speaker wire, etc., even the wire in capacitors and transformers, the capabilities of a given system will be masked or constrained by all the wire, fuses, and cables that are not in the correct direction. Bit even stock fuses and stock interconnects can be reversed, no?
gvasale's avatar
gvasale
99 posts
 
Hmmm...In my case, I really don't know what speakers with 100db sensitivity might be able to "mask." I readily agree they don't perform flat out to 20khz for sure. They will sound different than others, I agree. But no two speakers sound alike for the most part. Shouldn't better speakers tend to sound the same, if 100% accuracy is the goal?
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