2. cables
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Direction of aftermarket fuses (only for believers!)

It is with reluctance that I start another thread on this topic with the ONLY GOAL for believers to share their experience about aftermarket fuses.
To others: you can call us snobs, emperors w/o clothes,... etc but I hope you refrain posting just your opinion here. If you did not hear any difference, great, maybe there isn’t.

The main driver for this new post is that I am starting a project to mod my NAD M25 7 ch amp for my home theater. It has 19 fuses (2 per channel, 4 on the power supply board, 1 main AC) and I will try a mix of AMR Gold, SR Black and Audio Magic Platinum (anyway that is the plan, I may try out some other brands/models). As it is reasonably difficult to change them, esp the ones on each channel module that requires complete disassembly, I would like to know what the direction is for these models mentioned and of course, others who HAVE HEARD there is a difference please share your experience on any fuse model you have tried.

Fuses are IME directional:
Isoclean is one of the first to indicate the direction (2008/2009) on their fuses. Users of HiFi Tuning (when the awareness rose quite a bit amongst audiophiles) have mostly heard the difference.

As an IEEE engineer, I was highly skeptical of cabling decades ago (I like the speaker design of John Dunlavy but he said on many occasions that cables nor footers matter at all, WRONG!). Luckily, my curiosity proved me wrong as well. I see the same skepticism that I and many others had about the need for aftermarket cables many, many years ago now on fuses and esp on the direction on fuses.

Another example is the direction of capacitors (I do not mean electrolytic types). Even some manufacturers now and certainly many in the past did not believe it can make a difference sonically. Maybe some do but it takes time in the assembly to sort and put them in the right direction/order (esp as some of the cap manufacturers still do not indicate "polarity") so that maybe is one argument why this is not universally implemented.








jazzonthehudson
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
Thanks Geoff. Your mention of the XLO Breakin Test CD reminded me that I need to get one of those for regular maintenance. Audio Advisor and Music Direct both have the Ayre Test CD so I think I'll give them a look.

All the best,
Nonoise
jazzonthehudson's avatar
jazzonthehudson OP
277 posts
 
Nonoise, thanks for the links. I just contacted PADIS in Germany and will report back.

Al, as always, I appreciate your input and great to point out to put things in proper perspective, which I always try to do at the end. The rationale for pimping my M25 is to get my home theater system closer to my main system (both have Dunlavy/Duntech speakers). Next year, when junior is out of the house, we will relocate as our property tax is very high, thereby very likely downsizing from 3 to 2 audio systems. I tried my HT system with expensive HFC cabling and it sounded terrific, but not for my wallet’s liking to keep HFC both in the main and HT system. So for the M25 I will just upgrade the 3 main channel fuses and the main fuse, the rest will get the AMR/Little Fuse upgrade. The processor gets 2 new fuses as well.

As for the best value/money, my home office setup beats all but then again, sometimes one needs a bit higher SQ.
davidpritchard's avatar
davidpritchard
866 posts
 

When downsizing I found a second system based on a premium headphone (such as the Sennheiser 800) and a dedicated headphone amp to be a source of great pleasure.

The degree of progress in headphone systems over the past 7 years has been staggering and worth exploring.

David Pritchard

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,980 posts
 
If downsizing don't underestimate the potential of newer Bluetooth speakers and systems as well. 
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
Just wanted to say that after ordering the Ayre Enhancement Test CD I poked around and found an old Stereophile CD and played the test tones and pink noise and boy oh boy did it wake up my system. The CD only had a 1Khz test tone and the rest were 200 Hz and down to 20Hz but with that and the pink noise it did something and did it well. It's like it blew all the grunge out of my system. I can't wait for the Ayre Test CD and it's full spectrum sweep and other test tones to see what it does.

I've read where people use it once a week or at least once a month and now I'm a believer in it's efficacy. I can't say whether it negates built up magnetism or whatever but it works. Talk about simple remedies.

All the best,
Nonoise
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