FUSES, Finally!?

The truth is folks, fuses in general, are bad for sound. They limit current, and are a band aid for the purpose of the protection of gear. This is the fact. As theaudiotweak pointed out with transformers, they produce mechanical vibration ( and other things ). Take any amplifier design, and isolate the power transformer ( s ) from the chassis ( cork and rubber, a simple mouse pad ) can do wonders. I use sheets of Dynamat, if I have the room within the chassis, and it is incredible the cleanliness of the sound, with this one tweak. Of course, I dampen the entire chassis, including those horrible heat sinks, which ring like hell ( they all do ). Everything makes for sonic improvements, as I have done for myself, and many others. Doing and listening, is the only way to know. And back in the day, when components did not have IEC inlets, I replaced the cords ( soldered ) to better, heavier gauge cords by the big cable manufacturers ( Belden, Southwire, as examples ), and incredible sonic improvements, every time. If anyone opens their gear ( inclusive of fuse replacement ), I recommend to be careful, and hope you know what you are doing. I take zero responsibility ( if anything bad or dangerous is to happen ) for recommending these things to anyone who wants to tackle them. I have nothing more to say, at this point, on the fuse topic. Enjoy, and be well.

Like I said, I bite my tongue and move on. 

Fuses do NOT contribute to the sound in any way AT ALL.  They will keep your insurance company happy however.

Do not believe the superhumans on this thread who claim they can hear a difference.

For courtesy to the believers, I have tested them many times.  Not even the most sophisticated measuring equipment saw any difference.

Just keep the fuse contacts clean (otherwise, it generates heat, and still does NOT make any difference to the sound) and spend your money elsewhere.

There is only resistance, capacitance & inductance in everything electronic.  There is no other magic.

What I find funny, is there is a lot of truth on both sides of this silly argument.

A simple fuse pull and reverse the direction after 20 or so turn ons.
IF you can hear a difference, chances are a fuse change will change the sound, (FOR YOU). If you don’t save your money. Clean the fuse pocket, check for any ARCING and replace the holder if there is.

I found the same thing with power supplies. The physical mounting and dampening of a chassis, night and day. The quality of the power supply. I found that PS that have WAY to much in the way of filter caps are a SUPER pain in the rear. For surge cold starts.. I had one pair of mono blocks that were tough to start. After you threw the power switch you, lifted the knife edge bypass, the fuse was all that was left in the circuit.

Once started, NEVER had a problem.. They were modified and built by a guy named James Bongiorno. Gas M Giant (mighty not mono block, he would say). Those things had a circuit breaker in them too. I had 1 pair of 4 or 6 ever made. 40 years ago maybe.. I don’t think they ever saw production.. Pimp Daddy.. That’s what they use to call the dude.. Good on the keyboard. Jazz fella.

So I have seen a fuse make a difference in power amps for valves, more so than SS. Chassis dampening, I use a Cary V12r. That is one of the quietest chassis I’ve EVER used.. Almost like pot metal it’s so thick..DEAD quiet.. High temp, med soft silicone mounts for the transformers.

The Cary likes SR orange or blues. My Mark L.. they could give a hoot.. My Brain 565s, they could give a hoot, Nord NC500 with stock fuse holders, they could give a hoot. My Macs MC225-275.. LOVE SR fuses...My C2500 could give a hoot.. My MX120, loves ONE fuse the rest inside could give a hoot...(4 total). My Sony ES SACDs LOVE SR fuses. Most of the TT stuff, they don’t, that’s right "Give a hoot" The RtR I haven’t listened. BUT I bet it makes very little difference, GREAT PS and the IC just serviced..

SO THERE.... The Hoots and Hoot nots. You all need to learn to "Ponder" just a bit.

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Mr cakyol, Do not believe the superhumans?

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I do believe in being respectful, and understanding others can do things better than me.. Paying attention to detail. Being able to run faster, type faster, talk faster, listen BETTER or have better hearing, in spite of what I can or cannot hear.. I still respect the fact others are BETTER... I guess that is tough for some folks to hear... They can’t hear the difference.. I’m glad when some one can.. My heart doctor in particular.. :-) GOOD set of ears on that guy...

Regards

audio2system  Thanks to all for replies.  The only reason I am considering fuses, is that Paul from PS Audio, suddenly came out with his take, and supposed surprise, that they sounded better.  Of course, that might just be part of his sales pitch, since he mentions using them now in his amps,etc.  If hey are not in the audio path, I am totally skeptical again, especially for my old amps with chip-regulated power supplies. Only one chip per channel, and all it does is meter the electrons from the transformer to the great big filter caps.