Fuses that matter.

Al,
Silver vs steel - could there be some other explanation such as susceptibility to noise, audiophile fuses could be better constructed, merely changing the fuses will wipe/clean the contact points and reduce resistance.
An old trick is to replace the fuse with a hardwired, ie soldered, fuse wire so there are no mechanical connections.

Hi Dover,

I'd imagine that improved contact integrity resulting from merely changing the fuse is the explanation is some cases, but not in many others.

I can't see how noise pickup could be an explanation, considering the short length that is involved, the much greater length of the associated wiring (both internally and externally to the component), the considerable amounts of noise that are presumably present on the incoming AC, the noise rejection provided by the power supply, and the noise rejection resulting from the power supply rejection ratio of the circuit stages in the component.

Better materials and construction are often cited as an explanation, but IMO that is a non-explanation, because it doesn't explain (in a quantitative manner, if at all) why the supposedly inferior materials and construction of the standard fuses would degrade the sound.

As you may have seen earlier in this thread, e.g. in the first of my posts dated 5-14-12, and also in the post by Rogermod (the distinguished amplifier designer Roger Modjeski) dated 5-11-12, pretty much all of the other commonly offered explanations do not stand up when analyzed quantitatively, at least for AC line fuse applications.

A point I made earlier in the thread is that all of the comparisons that are reported seem to be between the stock fuse and one or more expensive fuses. But without a good understanding of the reasons for the sonic differences that are claimed, how do we know that a thorough comparison between a variety of ordinary fuses wouldn't result in comparable differences? Perhaps sonic differences would even be found between multiple examples of supposedly identical fuses.

Best regards,
-- Al

"Perhaps sonic differences would even be found between multiple examples of supposedly identical fuses."

Good point (again)!

Hopefully, someone out there convinced expensive fuses are a good deal might listen this time.

As pointed out earlier, fuses are "Sacrificial" resistance devices. Their very purpose is to fail under certain circumstances. There is no rule that says the failure is a binary event. Intermediate states of degradation is likely. Periodic replacement with any good quality fuse of the proper specs may be a wise move if sound quality is suspect in some way.

Any fuse in good condition may sound similarly better compared to an older fuse, regardless of cost or how constructed. It all depends!

This is my last post about fuses! It's been real.....

Mapman wrote,

"This is my last post about fuses! It's been real....."

Thank goodness.

:-)

I have taken the hifi tuning Supreme fuses and directly compared them in my system to the synergistic research fuses,they both are very good.
I have found the Hifituning fuses have great clarity and resolution without being bright, where the Synergistic fuses have very good balance but have more meat on them great presentation.this being the case .i went with what
I learned long ago,you want the absolute most resolution and detail going to your dac or cd player and preamp,that being said the Synergistic research fuses are a great match for the power amp .
The combination is excptional now.my ayon Skylla -2 dac preamp
Has 11 fuses and directional ,getting the layout from the company was a big plus.One thing needs to be mentioned .Ayon mentioned this to me
Steel fuses can vary more then 15 percent that is why if all possibly
I go up one size if possible from 500 ma to 650, 1A to 1.25. The 3.125
For he rectifier they even recommended to go to a 4A that is a big jump
For I cooked a 3.125 A fuse to the output tube on startup .i am sure others
Have encountered this.pretty expensive at over$50 bucks a pop.