Synergistic Red Fuse ...

Regarding the fuse upgrades Zacho is considering, if the fuses involved are AC mains fuses, and if they are the smaller of the two sizes SR provides (5 x 20 mm), I'm not sure I would feel comfortable using one of those fuses in a 240 volt application.  The SR 5 x 20 mm fuses are rated at 250 volts, which doesn't seem like a lot of margin relative to his line voltage, considering also that I wouldn't assume such specs to necessarily be precisely accurate.

The larger 6.3 x 32 mm fuses are rated at 500 volts, which would be fine.

None of this will matter under normal operating conditions, btw.  The only time the fuse will "see" the line voltage, and hence the only time the voltage rating will matter, is when a fault in the unit necessitates that the fuse blows.  If the voltage rating is inadequate, relative to the line voltage, the fuse may not "open" properly, and may continue to conduct current.  Or, conceivably, it may explode.

Regards,
-- Al
 

@charles1dad Thanks for the very warm welcome. I will make sure to post impressions WHEN i get the fuses :)

I will be installing the fuses in the IEC Inlets of both my DAC and Amp. From my amp's manual, i've managed to find out that I require a 4A Slow Blow fuse. Haven't been able to find out what fuse rating I require for my DAC though. Was hoping someone here had experience with the EE Dac and fuse rolling.

dbarger ...

The ARC REF-6 pre amp is on the bucket list ... as is the new ARC phono stage. The REF-3 and the PH-8 that's in the system now are great performers ... so good that I haven't felt the need to upgrade even to the REF-5-se.  But with the few reports I've seen on the REF-6 and the new phono amp, the upgrade bug is starting to circulate around the old brain again. I'm sure we'll see some demos of both pieces at the Newport Show. 

Speaking of Newport ... is anyone posting here besides Bob and David going?  Robert and I will be there Saturday and Sunday ... arriving Saturday, late morning.  

Almarg ...

Your posts are always very informative. You're a real asset to the site.  Thank you for posting here in this thread.  :-)

OP

Al wrote,

"None of this will matter under normal operating conditions, btw. The only time the fuse will "see" the line voltage, and hence the only time the voltage rating will matter, is when a fault in the unit necessitates that the fuse blows. If the voltage rating is inadequate, relative to the line voltage, the fuse may not "open" properly, and may continue to conduct current. Or, conceivably, it may explode."

If a fuse were to explode, if in fact that’s possible, who knows? Maybe you’re right, let’s hope to heck it’s not one of those Audio Magic beeswax fuses as it would be very messy and hard to clean up all the beeswax. But seriously you'd think that with all the companies selling aftermarket fuses to a large number of audiophiles, one assumes, that somewhere along the line houses would be burning down or amplifiers exploding due to uninformed impulse buying.

geoff kait

Can any of you explain why an item such as a fuse, which breaks the signal path, has such an impact on sound?

I'm not poopooin' it, just asking?

My amp, McCormack DNA-225, upgrade to a, (SMC Ultra 15), had the Hi-Fi Tuning fuses oriented for sound by a machine they have, in-house, for sonics.