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Audiophile Fuses - Are We Certain They Provide Protection?

This thread isn't posted to debate whether sonic benefits can be recognized from audiophile/after-market fuses.  That topic has been well debated through numerous threads already.  What I'm curious about is whether today's audiophile fuses are certain to provide protection to your gear - afterall, that is the absolute main function of a fuse in a circuit design.

I was struck recently reading a thread dating back to 2014 on the Audiocircle forum where the late Roger Modjeski was absolutely beside himself and angered by professional reviewers and manufacturers alike for leading consumers astray (in his opinion) towards use of these fuses, from a first-hand account of damage inflicted on one of his amps.  

Re-posting his message below:

I had several email exchanges with the maker of Tuning Fuses and got the same Red Herring responses. My first experience with his product was in an RM-9 MKII that came to me for service with eight tuning fuses (one for each tube) in place of my specified HIGH BREAKING ceramic fuses. The tuning fuse's inability to do their job properly had blown the wirewound cathode resistor, which I had never seen before. I study every failure and this one caught my attention because it takes a lot of energy to blow that resistor. Its wire is much stouter and of a very high melting material, any fuse should go first.

Of course I opened up the fuse and looked at its construction. It was made in such a way as to be the worst possible fuse for that application. I called the distributor here and asked is it was a high breaking fuse and suitable for a tube fuse. He didn't know what that was. I said well the fuse specified for my amp is high breaking and ceramic. He said that because his fuse was ceramic also it must be OK. This is very naive. He doesn't know and perhaps the maker doesn't know that a high breaking fuse is made a different way, though from the outside it looks the same.

These fuses are totally inappropriate for any high voltage DC application such as a tube fuse in an amplifier. What also amazed me is that these fuses cost more than most tubes. I felt sorry for the owner who had been led down this path by irresponsible magazines like Positive Feedback. Not only did this fuse not protect his tube but it did not protect his amplifier.

The maker of these fuses, like many makers of tweaks will certainly get no admiration from me. What gets me is why so many people want to play with tweaks rather than make real improvements in their system like bi-amping, adding a good subwoofer and simplifying the signal path.

As this experience is now 7 years old I wanted to survey our forum to see whether high-end audio fuse manufacturers are providing data that would give the audiophile community assurances that use of their fuses first and foremost provide adequate protection.  I welcome any input.
three_easy_payments
turnbowm
353 posts
 
"Andy Wiederspahn at SR wrote to me indicating that all SR fuses are UL certified. I tend to assign a high level of validity to that and suspect the search criteria or database info isn’t correct. A company is unlikely to make performance claims in writing that are fraudulent."

The Synergistic Research website does NOT indicate that their fuses are UL-listed. There's a reason for that, but believe what you want.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments OP
2,097 posts
 
@turnbowm This is what inspired me to start the thread in the first place - I couldn't find any information on any audiophile fuse maker's website indicating a UL certification.  @cleeds made the very good suggestion that I just start reaching out them directly and that's what I'm doing. Failure to find a spec on a website is not proof positive that the spec doesn't exist.  I do however find it curious that high-end audio fuse manufacturers wouldn't put a bit more effort into marketing UL certification more broadly simply as a selling point.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,226 posts
 
When HiFi Tuning came out with their fuse lines, some thought they "had" them because when corresponding with them, they had no idea what the breaking point was for their fuses so, ipso, facto, they were snake oil.

Turns out that in the EU, they don't refer to it as breaking point but rupturing point, and they comply with the standards over there that match our standards. It all boiled down to semantics and who you pay to get certification. 

As for other brands, I can't say but it would behoove one to determine where they're made and what certifications they meet in their homeland, which should very closely parallel what we have here, stateside. It may all boil down to just whether they want to pay for certification or just sell online.

All the best,
Nonoise
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I was using SR Blue in my Herron almost from new. It was left on 24/7 in the beginning but then the first time it was turned on after having been off a few days the fuse blew. Fearing for my new phono stage I called and talked with Keith Herron about it. Learned quite a lot.   

This is all written up multiple times, the usual suspects should know by now by heart but here we go again. Keith never had a fuse blow on the bench even in testing. He also has no problem with going up in value. So I run 2A instead of 1A. Also fuses do not do what everyone thinks they do. But if you think I am gonna waste my time repeating the explanation of that one think again. DYODD. Anyone obsessed with breaking points needs to get a new hobby, or come to terms with reality. There are no tests for breaking point other than to blow the fuse and then you know. Hence my joke.   

Sorry but it really is by now a running joke. UL is maybe the biggest joke of all. Once you are in on it, anyway.  
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments OP
2,097 posts
 
I just heard back from VH Audio - the makers of HiFi Tuning fuses.  Their fuses carry the CE designation. On commercial products, the letters CE mean that the manufacturer or importer affirms the good's conformity with European health, safety, and environmental protection standards. It is not a quality indicator or a certification mark.  

What's interesting is that unprompted, VH Audio wrote "...whereas the Synergistic don’t have any designation that I am aware of. That said, the SR fuses are known to actually blow quicker than stock glass fuses…"  I didn't ask them about SR fuses or any other brand other than HiFi Tuning. 

Anecdotally what VH Audio writes matches very well with MC's experience with his Herron.  Yes, a single data point - but perhaps there is something to the statement beyond slinging mud at the competition - which I truly don't care for. 

 

 

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