Aftermarket fuse to tame a bright system?


Been reading all the interesting posts here, I've recently switched over to Audioquest silver interconnects and speaker cables, the improvement is easy to hear over OCC copper - lower noise floor, more clarity, greater transient snap, larger soundstage etc.... BUT.

I would say my system still has body, but the top end is now bright/harsh.  Could an aftermarket fuse tame this, so that I can still retain the clarity and other benefits of silver? I'm concerned that this potential solution may make my system more dynamic, and potentially give it a U or V shape sound profile - which is definitely what I don't want.

gavin1977

The Audio Magic Masterpiece M2 fuses have now been through what must have been a pretty good burn-in. All I can say is that everything now sounds "right," and this is the first time in my 4 years working with this system that I can say such a thing. I would also particularly recommend these fuses for horn systems like my Cornwall 4's and for class D GanFet amps like my Audions.

Reading thru this thread I find it entertaining that after introducing pure silver ICs and speaker cables, all in a signal path, that made the system bright, there are those who believe a fuse that’s not in a signal path can help reverse the effect. 
Analogy to this will be if you replaced the wheels on your car with super low profile wheel/tire combo and the ride became a lot rougher, you’d be hoping to smooth that out by replacing an air filter. 

Only way you can tame a bright system with fuses is if you wrap the fuses in cotton balls and insert them into your ears. Common guys…

I think that's fair comment @audphile1 

What is interesting though is that interconnects seem to be the most important piece of the chain, silver in this position provides an upwards tilt to the frequency response - silver in other positions seems to have less effect (just more transparency).  What has surprised me though is that power cables can really change the frequency response as well (let's ignore silver or copper issue at this point), with some power cables providing more open and extended treble.

Anyway, I have concluded that an aftermarket fuse may well change the sound, it might help - but fundamentally it's the interconnect which needs to be switched out because the upwards tilt I have with this silver interconnect will likely always remain and I'd end up trying to over/incorrectly compensate for it elsewhere.  Some good suggestions on alternative interconnects given here and I will likely try an aftermarket fuse at some point, but I think I need to sort out the fundamentals first. 

@gavin1977 well yeah if you send garbage into the amp nothing will stop it from passing it on to the speakers. If the amp is transparent enough that is.

Power cables make a difference for sure. Driving factors are gauge, quality of conductor material, different dielectric, different lengths, connector material and plating, shielding…all make a difference to various degree and that depends on how good the power supply design is in the component. Power cables will also act as filters to reject noise going into the power supply and into the ac line.
The fuse on the other hand is a 1” long safety device with a hair thin piece of wire that melts when the amperage criteria is exceeded. Unless the caps are made out of 24k gold connected with unicorn pubes, the difference in sound quality this device can make is negligible at best and will never offset the shortcomings in a signal chain. I tried fuses long time ago and learned my lesson.
When it comes to power cords and signal cables I use the best I can afford.

Good luck!

@audphile1 

Paul McGowan On Audiophile Fuses

Paul of PS Audio describes his astonishment at what a difference audiophile fuses made in his system. His first experience was a blind test during which he didn't even know what the tweak was. We also learn that PS Audio has been using such fuses in some of its equipment since then.