To Fuse or Not to Fuse... That is the question!


Ok.. I think I understand that no fuse is better than a cheap fuse. And a good fuse is better than a cheap fuse. But is no fuse better than the best fuse?

One person on Audiogon said that he achieved better sound by using a Blue fuse over no fuse. I guess my question is... Do these new, high dollar fuses just allow the current to flow better with solid protection or do they actually due to quantum physics or something, actually improve upon the signal by eliminating errant bad electrons and thereby actually improving the music over no fuse at all?

I gots to know!


captaindidactic
captaindidactic
Oh, the irony. If you get the meaning. Of didactic, I mean.

Forget the wire. When I said you will have a hard time I was being generous. You will in no way ever find a wire that will sound even anywhere near as good as a Blue Quantum Fuse. Let alone Orange. As whacky unlikely as it seems, they are only expensive compared to the ten cent fuse. For the improvement in sound you get compared to other components they are a bargain.

Maybe- "maybe" - you will find a wire that sounds better than your stock crappy factory fuse. Problem then, what's the value? Me personally, could hardly care less. But then I understand enough about components and electricity to know fuses don't work the way the fraidy cats imagine. Rather than explain, a lot easier to just say any time you see the writer using "UL" as justification you can safely disregard whatever comes after. They are worse than clueless.

And the $2700? This is what we call a "straw man" ie fake argument, ie nonsense. No one requires you buy one for everything all at once. Of course if you do, you will be amazed. It will be like putting new high end power cords on everything. Or if not no worries, money back guarantee.

But you don't have to do 16 all at once. I would start with just two. Orange. I would look at all my component fuse requirements, pick the highest value, double it, and order that. Then when they come I would try them in every position. Two in the preamp. One in each amp. Move the one in each amp to each location. Almost at this point want to think you're trolling, that no one could possibly be bone dense enough to build an amp with SEVEN fuses, but then again there's a lot of nutty design theories and even more gullible audiophiles out there seem to think the more Rube Goldberg the better. Whatever. Beside the point: Try em and see.

Until you do you will never know just how amazing they are.
Like what was said, a standard, ceramic bodied fuse with filler and decent end caps will stand heads and shoulders above any glass bodied, throw away fuse. They're know as high rupturing fuses and have been around since time immemorial (not really, but long enough).

I've tried four different brands and the aftermarket ones were demonstrably better than the bog standard fuses in my Marantz Reference integrated and SACD player. 

They all had their own flavor, their own pluses and minuses, but no two fuses sounded alike.

The kicker is, the standard, ceramic bodied, high rupturing fuse that came with my Kinki Studio EX-M1 integrated bested all the aftermarket fuses I had on hand, and that one cost under $2.00. 

That could be a testament to the design of the Kinki product or some perfect storm of variables but it just goes to show that you won't know until you try.

All the best,
Nonoise
Millercarbon, One can only be didactic when one knows what they are talking about! 

Yes, 7 in each amp. One ceramic and the rest cheapies. I just had all of them replaced with ceramic. NAD 2600's if you care. I also had the old 16 gauge power cords replaced with receptacles so I can get real power cords. Thinking Audioquest Monsoons. 

Also doing the Schroeder Method, with combo AQ earths and waters from the Cambridge 851c into the NAD1700. AQ Oak speaker wires, Bi-wire, Bi-amp to Acoustic Research AR 910's completes the picture. Each addition sweetens the sound. So, no trolling here. 

Power cords, maybe a AQ 1200 soon to come. 

My highest value fuses are 10 amp. Are you saying I should order 20 amp??

Thanks! Michael
I have used solid silver wire in my fuse holders. Then used the red and black fuses. The red and black to me were noticeably better that the audio magic solid silver wire. I am very glad I got the fuses. I will not get the orange but get other items first.
If you are going to get some fuses and need to watch the budget I would put them in you power amp and source component first.  
Thanks Marqmike! I knew there was someone who tried silver wire. I thought you meant that you had bypassed the fuse but I think what you just said is that you used fuses with a silver wire. 

Thank you for your input!