And, ummm, if your amp blows a fuse more than once, it's trying to tell you it doesn't feel so good inside. The engineers who designed it did lots of math to determine how much current the thing should draw, and how much is too much, then they put a fuse in there to burn up before your tubes, transistors, and worst of all, your transformers burn. For cripes sake, DO NOT short it out, or put anything else but what the engineers calculated! TAKE IT TO THE AMP DOCTOR!!! Putting a higher amperage fuse is saying, "Something's wrong with this machine, it's using more power than it can safely handle. Maybe if I feed it even MORE power, I'll never need to have it serviced," and you might end up being correct. And the engineers who built it will be sad, and the salesperson you buy it's replacement from will be stoked. And that's really what this game is about, right? Happy sales people.
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 I replaced the pre amp with a newer version of the pre amp and it has the same fuse value.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.
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What kind of disclaimer comes with the "audiophile" fuse supplier denying any subsequent damage caused by installing a fuse value that is higher than recommended by the audio component manufacturer. Will the manufacturer gladly replace the 50 cent fuse sold for $hundred$ that blew up a $100,000 Boulder amplifier? Yeah.... |
Will the manufacturer gladly replace the 50 cent fuse sold for $hundred$Not if they're smart, they won't. They should have an official policy of not recommending anything other than the manufacturer's rated part, which is always clearly marked on the device. Even if I was selling 50 cent fuses for 75 cents, I'd have literature clearly stating that using the wrong value voids any warranty. Maybe I'd send you a coupon, two fuses for only $1.65, and better looking, I mean, better luck next time, kid. |
molingus14 posts05-18-2021 12:33amWill the manufacturer gladly replace the 50 cent fuse sold for $hundred$Not if they’re smart, they won’t. They should have an official policy of not recommending anything other than the manufacturer’s rated part, which is always clearly marked on the device. Even if I was selling 50 cent fuses for 75 cents, I’d have literature clearly stating that using the wrong value voids any warranty. Maybe I’d send you a coupon, two fuses for only $1.65, and better looking, I mean, better luck next time, kid. I agree. The problem arises when the seller/"manufacturer"(actually repackaged in a fancy box with graphics) recommends going up in value to "get an improved performance/sound". Not a big deal...right? HA! |
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