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Why don't amplifier Companies use high end fuses?

My equipment - Raven Integrated Reflection MK2 tube amp 58wpc. / Lumin A-1 DAC Streamer / Synology NAS / Isotex Aquarius Power Conditioner / Furutech Rhodium Plug / Sonus Faber Amati Homage Tradition speakers.  

I have read thousands of comments on upgraded fuses improving the performance of sound.  I am very open minded but not sold either way.  So, the question I have is....if fuses were so important, than why don't Amplifier companies all install them as OEM equipment?  To me, if they are as good as people say, that would provide companies who use them a competitive advantage?  

Every High End Audio store I go to in Phoenix have told me it does not make a difference and is a waste of money.  For the record, I have fuses purchased at an automotive store for under $10 and I think my sound is awesome.  The Company that built my amp tested the Synergistic Fuses and he emphatically said there was no difference.  

If I were to try a fuse for fun, given my equipment, what would your recommendation be to try?  
willgolf
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Costco, I see no reason for you to refer to me as God. Explosion proof? Maybe, but audiophile outlets and power cord plugs are still better sounding than hospital ones anyway. Just like audiophile fuses are better sounding than military ones. So who cares?

Have a nice hair day

teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
From a quick scan of military fuses it appears anyone can buy them from at least two sources, our old friends Littelfuse and Bussmann. I think the problem for audiophiles - aside from the obvious one, what they sound like - is that they are apparently all super fast blow fuses. If I’m not mistaken almost all aftermarket audiophile fuses are slow blow.

A good aftermarket fuse is slow blow or very long time lag, in basic design.

IIRC, it is SOC that came up with the best time lag element design?

To this day, Japanese audio gear comes equipped with SOC brand fuses, and I opened up a 1973-4 manufactured Yamaha CR-1000 receiver the other day, and inside of it were original...SOC fuses.

That's at least 43-45 years of Japanese audio companies using SOC fuses. There's a reason for that.

All that being as it may be, we know that we are probably invalidating our given house insurance when we put the wrong fuse type or value or both...in the given gear, just because it sounds better (to us). (I don't play that game, personally, I use my own fuse designs)


mrdecibel
3,027 posts
 
A test, for anyone who is interested. Take a 1 1/2 inch piece of painters tape ( I use the blue Scotch 3M 1 inch width size roll ), cut this piece the long way, to get yourself a 1/2 inch wide strip, and apply it on the glass of the fuse, leaving a bit of the glass showing on each end of the fuse, and put the fuse back. Of course, make sure the equipment is off, when you are doing this, clean the ends of the fuse of fingerprints, reinsert the fuse, and listen. Keep in mind, the equipment needs to warm up ( restabilize ). Do 1 fuse at a time. Can do this on any fuse. Let me know what you hear ? And yes, I am a tweaker. 
mrdecibel
3,027 posts
 
Maybe, just maybe, keep the fuse in the same direction as before removing it.
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