Determining current flow to install "audiophile" fuses.


There are 4 fuses in my Odyssey Stratos amp. I recently returned some AMR fuses because they rolled off the highs and lows a little too much for me. Mids were excellent though. Anyway, I'm getting ready to try the Hi-Fi Tuning Classic Gold fuses, as they are on clearance now for $10/ea. Are they any good? However, I have read that they are a directional fuse? Can anyone confirm this? If that is the case, does anyone know the current flow for the Odyssey Stratos? Or, does anyone know how figure out current flow by opening up the top and looking at the circuitry? 


jsbach1685
FWIW we have gotten good reports on some of the boutique fuses from our customers. No-one has ever asked about directionality, and all our fuse positions are AC circuits. Since AC has to go in both directions, it follows that directionality is impossible. In fact, if the fuse were in any way directional, it would heat up and fail almost instantly!

IOW the directionality thing is a myth.
Atmasphere wrote,

"FWIW we have gotten good reports on some of the boutique fuses from our customers. No-one has ever asked about directionality, and all our fuse positions are AC circuits. Since AC has to go in both directions, it follows that directionality is impossible. In fact, if the fuse were in any way directional, it would heat up and fail almost instantly!"


Just because you have gotten good reports from customers doesn't mean that directionality is not true. And because no one ever asked about directionality doesn’t mean it’s not true. A lot of folks are unaware of the issue.  No one has said that the fuse will not work when its in the "wrong direction." That's a uh, Strawman Argument. Because many if not most aftermarket fuses incorporate a number of features such as vibration control, EMI/RFI rejection and perhaps others, directionality is NOT the only issue involved for boutique fuses. Whereas it generally is for stock fuses. Thus, aftermarket fuses inserted in the WRONG DIRECTION will usually sound BETTER than the stock fuse - even if the stock fuse happened to have been in the CORRECT position. A fuse in the wrong direction doesn’t instantly heat up and fail. Half of all ordinary stock fuses are in the wrong direction since their orientation is random. Nobody pays attention to directionality at the manufacturer side. Ooops, my bad.

Ordinary stock fuses, which are also directional, you know, due to the orientation of the "grain" of the crystal structure of the metal conductor created by pulling the wire through the final die. They do not explode if they are in the "wrong" direction, since 50% of stock fuses ARE obviously in the WRONG direction. but the sound quality IS diminished. Cats like to be stroked in the direction of their fur not against it, and porcupines like to be stroked in the direction of their quills, not against it. Lol By the same token, reversing interconnects that were inserted randomly between components will improve the sound 50% of the time for the same reason. It’s a wire directionality issue. It’s why many boutique cable manufacturers have been putting directional arrows on their cables for twenty five years. Hel-loo!

Atmasphere also wrote,

"IOW the directionality thing is a myth."

IOW the belief that the fuse is not directional is an old wives tale.

cheers,

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica
we do artificial atoms right
atmasphere... "Since AC has to go in both directions, it follows that directionality is impossible."


I read somewhere that only the direction of the ac [in a fuse...or power cord for that matter] towards the business end of the component[what is heard] is of any value in directional break-in ,hence, the reason there is directionality in a fuse used in an ac circuit is because of the cycle going to... and not fro. For what its worth,it sounds plausible.