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  3. 166612-1565

So done with audiophile fuses

The journey started with a medium priced ($50) fuse in my power supply.  A failed rectifier tube blew that one out.  Not a fuse problem.  Next up was a blue fuse in my pre amp.  It blew and was not caused by a pre amp problem.  Apparently they sometimes are more sensitive and it was replaced by an orange fuse two values higher.  Things were going along fine.  I replaced the pre amp with a newer version of the pre amp and it has the same fuse value.  Five months latter (today) I turn on the pre amp and nothing.  it's a five month old pre amp so I suspected that it was the fuse.  Sure enough, I replaced it with a ceramic Littelfuse of the lower correct value it works fine.  No more wasting my money on unstable fuses for me.     
goose
pedroeb
493 posts
 
Let's get this straight. Pure and simple; a fuse is there to stop drawing more current that is desirable.

How can a fuse ever be better than the wire into the holder and and the wire out? It's a physical impossibility and it's all in the mind y'know.

Even when the fuse holder is soldered onto a circuit board, it can't be better than the material used for PCB. It's a physical impossibility and it's all in the mind y'know.
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,636 posts
 
Excellent.
Nice slice o life.
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 
A fuse Is a fuse. It does one thing, it blows if there is an issue to prevent the rest of amp from turning into toast. I would never open anything up and screw with it. You are just asking for problems. No one is going to differentiate one fuse from another as far as sound Is concerned, it's pure bs.
goose OP
711 posts
 
jimob,

The first failure was with a fuse in a pre amp that I bought at the stated value.  After that on failed I installed a fuse that was two values higher in the same pre amp.  It worked fine until I sold it (about 6 months).  I removed the fuse before I sold it and installed it in my new pre amp that had the same value.  It worked for about 4 months and failed.  So my test was with two different pre amps from the same manufacture.  I never had an issue with the stock fuse for years in the original pre amp.  
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,489 posts
 
I would never be comfortable using a fuse larger than what the manufacturer recommends.
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