Synergistic Red Fuse ...

A couple of friends had their Sony and Oppo units modified by ModWright and the outcome was substantial improvement of the sound quality across the entire sonic spectrum. If the Sony HAPZ1 is similarly improved then I would say it's money well spent just as Bill (Brownsfan) states. 
Charles 

I spoke with Warren Gehl at ARC this morning and the conversation eventually got around to the directional property of fuses and why they sound their best in one direction and defused (no pun intended) in the opposite direction.  

Warren said that its a metallurgy situation and not an electrical one. According to Warren, when metal is extruded (drawn) to make wire it affects the direction of the grain in the metal. When the fuse is orientated in the direction of the grain, the sound will be the best. When the fuse is in the opposite direction, it will sound as though the system is out of phase.  That's certainly been the experience of most of us posting here. Its fairly dramatic in my system for sure.

I also asked him about the rotational position of the fuse, and he said that it has nothing to do with the wire. He said that each fuse has a position where the contact point of the end caps is best. Find that best position and the sound will be at its best. 

OP

According to Warren, when metal is extruded (drawn) to make wire it affects the direction of the grain in the metal. When the fuse is orientated in the direction of the grain, the sound will be the best. When the fuse is in the opposite direction, it will sound as though the system is out of phase.

Hi Frank,

If you have an opportunity to speak with Warren on this question again, you might ask him why any such effect is not completely swamped by the randomly oriented grain directions of the vastly longer lengths of wire that are in series with the fuse, that are conducting exactly the same current. Especially in the case of AC mains fuses, where the AC wiring in the component and in the primary winding of its power transformer, and the wiring in the component’s power cord, are all conducting that same current. Not to mention the wiring inside and outside of the house, which are also conducting that current in addition to other currents.

I also asked him about the rotational position of the fuse, and he said that it has nothing to do with the wire. He said that each fuse has a position where the contact point of the end caps is best. Find that best position and the sound will be at its best.

Agreed. See Atmasphere’s comments that I quoted on 8-3-2016, on page 49 of this thread, in which he indicated that he has found this effect to be both measurable and audible.

Regards,
-- Al

Thank you Al. I'll address your questions with Warren the next time we speak. 

As you know (hee, hee), I'm not technically inclined at all. EC's just look at me an shake their heads with disdain. Pity, really.  But, I was thinking about your comments above and I was wondering if the wiring leading into the fuse from outside of the house and through the wall outlet, would really have an effect on anything entering and coming out of the fuse and subsequently into the power supply. Also, is it possible that a manufacturer such as ARC could/would determine through R&D the directionallity of the wire they use internally in the equipment? In other words, would the proper direction of all of the internal wiring inside of a preamp or an amp improve the sound of the finished product? 

Just some random thoughts ...

Hope this makes sense. 

Thanks ...

Butler,
The stock HAPZ1 is indeed very good.  The stock HAPZ1 was on a par with my ModWright Sony 5400 ES player, which I found  very surprising. The ModWright upgrades are a no-brainer if you want a one box plug and play music server with excellent performance.   The big question is going to be, at 5K, what else is out there?  For me, I really like having my entire library at my fingertips.  No searching for CD XXYY that I didn't put back in its proper place.  I've never had a regret about buying the HAPZ1 and doing the upgrade.