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
12 Angry Men redux


Juror #10: Don’t give me that. I’m sick and tired of facts! You can twist ’em anyway you like, you know what I mean?

Juror #10: Six to six... I’m telling you, some of you people in here must be out of your minds.

Juror #10: [interrupting] You didn’t prove it at all. What’re you talking about?


What we we have here, folks, is an excellent example of what I like to call the Backfire Effect. Huh?, you ask. The Backfire Effect is a psychological phenomenon produced in the mind when one’s beliefs or long held ideas are challenged or contradicted. What frequently happens is that the more the person is challenged and the more evidence is presented the more tightly he holds on to his beliefs. The Backfire Effect is not exactly the same thing as stubbornness or refusal to admit defeat but is a little more subtle.

Rational wiki
“”What should be evident from the studies on the backfire effect is you can never win an argument online. When you start to pull out facts and figures, hyperlinks and quotes, you are actually making the opponent feel as though they are even more sure of their position than before you started the debate. As they match your fervor, the same thing happens in your skull. The backfire effect pushes both of you deeper into your original beliefs.”

That’s why you will never see a died in the wool naysayer say, “Well, folks, I finally tried such and such and it actually made quite a nice change to the sound. I admit I was wrong.” 😛 They’d rather fight than switch. It’s a scene right out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
“Well, folks, I finally tried such and such and it actually made quite a nice change to the sound. I admit I was wrong.”

Geoff, spot on bud! Nice reference to 12 Angry Men, great movie 👍


Paul McGowan President of PS Audio has a nice video discussing audio grade fuses and agrees they improve the sound.

http://www.psaudio.com/askpaul/audiophile-fuses/


David Pritchard
Sorry to dredge up an old post, but @geoffkait cracks me up sometimes.  This is just about the dumbest argument I've ever heard.  You are paying a manufacturer for multi-thousand dollar amplifiers, and you think they are too stupid to include a part that would be better sounding?  Just because they are too dumb to realize it?

Quite obviously it's a cost decision, and as someone else said, if it sounds great with a cheap fuse, why not let the buyer choose what they want?  I, for one, refuse to give money to an engineering firm that I think isn't too smart.

That said, I'm a doubter on the fuse thing, but I have just ordered a pair of Padis fuses to check it out.  The only way I'll know is to try.

geoffkait
13,144 posts
09-05-2017 5:09pm
In response to the previous post I would point out that the argument that Aftermarket Fuses are too high for manufacturers to use them is a little weak inasmuch as 80% of all Aftermarket Fuses actually cost $50 or less, according to the list of available Aftermarket Fuses on The Cable Company web site. And many Aftermarket Fuses can be bought at lower prices when they go on sale. For example the SR Black fuse, certainly not one of the less expensive fuses, was offered recently at the price of three for the price of two. So, in fact, amp manufacturers can’t really use the cost argument, assuming they even know about aftermarket fuses which, as I’ve already intimated, they probably don’t. 

There are really only two possibilities. The high end amp manufacturers are totally in the dark and blissfully unaware, as it were, regarding the whole fuse thing, including directionality, or they can’t hear. I bet they don’t even put the inexpensive stock fuses in the correct direction. At least not on purpose.