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Hi-Fi Fuses - SNAKE OIL? - or something in it?

There's a lot of chatter about the benefits of those high prices gold plated fuses with silver conductor etc. etc. all over the web and the consensus ranges from FANTASTIC!!! to much more subtle observations.

It makes sense to me, epseically in light of spending lots of $$$ on good power cables, that having a skinny piece of aluminum conductor in a glass tube (i.e. a cheap fuse), in the power loop would be detrimental to the performance of the components.

I decided to revamp my DIY power supply I'd built for the Cambridge Audio 640p phono stage and DACmagic in order to test this out - and since it's a DIY project there is no UL Certification to void.

First, I bypassed the fuse link completely to confirm there would be an improvement and give me the best benchmark to compare against - YEP - BIG DIFFERENCE - much more this, that and the other :-)

So then I started looking for hi-fi fuses - WOW!!! - talk about pricey.

Two fuses for the power supply was going to cost $120+ AND I thought I'd probably have to buy a better quality fuse block to make the most of those fuses.

Then a moment of enlightenment - most power supplies and conditioners are protected by pushbutton breakers and not fuses.

I found breakers of the required current rating and installed them into the power supply. I imediately noticed that there was no deteriation in fidelity when compared to the same unit with the fuse link bypassed - GREAT!.

On reflection, the fuses I had in place were rated at 3 amps - so they use a pretty thin fuse wire in them. If I had used a fuse of a higher rating, i.e. it uses a thicker conductor, then I believe that there would be less of a difference between the fused and bypassed implementations

SO - do the expensive fuses work?

Well the empirical evidence out there would suggest they do
- I do know the cheap fuses are not good!

I know bypassing them does improve the sound - a lot in my case
- BUT THAT'S NOT SAFE FOR ONGOING USE

I know breakers work as good as bypassing the fuse
- BUT MESSING WITH A POWER SUPPLY VOIDS UL CERTIFICATION - NOT GOOD!
- FYI a couple of licensed technicians I know WILL NOT change the design of a power supply at all.

I believe the amount of benefit is related to the fuse rating
- but don't go replacing 3 amp fuses with a 20 amp fuse - that's not safe either.

Whilst looking for fuses I discovered AMR Gold fuses priced at $20/fuse.

Now that's definately more affordable than most others at 3-4 times their price.

One supplier I know of in the US is Avatar Aacoustics

If you have had experience with quality fuses please share - especially if they are "modestly priced" i.e. $20-$30 per fuse. And please provide a source :-)

Also, can anypne confirm that Slow blow fuses are better than regular?

And Remember - IF YOU AIN'T LICENCED - GET A TECHNICIAN!

Many Thanks
williewonka
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,911 posts
 
Willie,

I hadn't thought about the chips like that....kinda a band aid of sorts? OR maybe more like a nicotine patch?

That's fine but I am not a fan of blindly applying performance enhancing tweaks all over the place, especially potentially expensive and/or poorly understood ones. I still have too many other important things to spend my time and money on. :^)

OF course, proponents of the chips might argue that they take even a highly optimized reference system even further perhaps? I kinda doubt that, but ya never know.

When I read about trusted agoner's or other audio buffs that own widely recognized reference systems and that clearly have no vested business interest in esoteric tweaks reporting good things about applying chips, I might take more notice.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I suspect other WA Quantum Chip customers will agree with me that the chips are much more than band aids, inasmuch as they obviously reduce noise and distortion in audio systems. Better analogies might be variable valve timing, cryogenically treated piston rods and pistons, low mass wheels and low profile tires.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,911 posts
 
"I suspect other WA Quantum Chip customers will agree with me that the chips are much more than band aids, inasmuch as they obviously reduce noise and distortion in audio systems. "

There may be other ways to accomplish that as well so in that sense they might be compared to a band aid, though the defect they address might never actually heal itself and most likely would get worse before it gets better.

IF that were the case, which is better, applying more band aids, or addressing the root cause of the issue? Equipment might not be operating up to par, flaws in gear might be showing, pieces might be mismatched.

ITs certainly easier to apply more band aids I suppose, but which approach is more effective over the long haul?
lacee
811 posts
 
I've posted before that way back when Peter Aczel when he was an Audio Critic, first enlightened me that fuses can degrade the sound.
I bypassed fuses in all my gear or used chunks of wire,mostly solid core copper and enjoyed better sound,but... it was walking on thin ice.

I was lucky , I had no disasters.
I bypassed or used fuse replacements in speakers and power amps,just about anywhere.

So when news of the newe fuses came out I decided to try them.

First up was the IsoCleans.
Yes they were an improvement over a stock fuse sonically and still did the job that a fuse was made to do.

I posted my findings in another forum and it got quite nasty.
Definitely that was a place where the evalgelists against audio shamans definitely ruled the roost.
The Iso Cleans were branded as snake oil and I branded as a fool with more money than brains.
I was no longer welcomed there so I moved on.

And I moved on to the next set of fuses , the HiFi Supremes which are quite costly close to $100.00 for the ones I need and from where I live.

They were great as well.
Never was able to do a direct comparison, as I sold the IsoCleans with the gear they were in.

Somewhere there is a denier who is listening to the Iso Cleans work their magic and he doesn't know it.

Next I read about the AMR fuses on this great site, which is not so sensitive to silencing those whose opinions are different from the mainstream.

The AMR's are what I am using right now, the HiFi fuses are my spares.
The price to performance ratio of the AMR is hard to beat, except of course bypassing a fuse.

The company in North amarica, Avatar have been great to deal with.

The sound of the AMR fuses and the cost of ownership has made beleivers in this snake oil out of some of my more reluctant friends.

I am on my second order of fuses,for a total of 18 AMR fuses in my system and my audio friends who decided to join in.

I should add that I feel the QA chips enhanced the sound of the Supremes and the AMRs, but they've been a tougher sell to my friends.
Oh well, it's their loss.

The low cost of the AMR and the professionalism of the distributor makes these fuses a no brainer for anyone looking for ways to improve their sound without resorting to "mods" that can be costly and become a drawback when reselling gear.
Plus anyone can make a fuse change,not many skills required.

In fact the only skill sets required is an open mind, a few extra bucks, and a desire to improve the sound of what you have.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,911 posts
 
I have no doubt that all fuses are not created equal and can affect the sound at least in some if not all cases.

What I am not as sure about is if high priced fuses marketed to audiophiles are required to do the job.

I suspect there are well designed and constructed general purpose fuse products out there that might do the job well and cost less due to the nature of the product and its target markets (ie not audiophiles willing to spend whatever all in the quest for better sound).

After all, fuses have been around forever, are used in a myriad of applications. THere should be lots of really good ones out there for common market prices I would suspect.

That's just my gut feel. I have no special knowledge or experience with various fuses in audio gear to say for sure.

If the audiophile fuses seem to do the job better (and still protect the gear as they should) then more power to them and their users. The extra money might be worth it if it makes the task of finding a good fuse to use easier. But I do suspect that if a study were done, it might find that audiophiles payed a premium for a good product for the job compared to others. WOuld not be the first time they did that, for sure! :^)

Agoner BryanCunningham, who's opinions I respect, recently graciously did some testing of various fuses, including the more generic kinds as I recall, and reported findings in another fuse thread here. My recollection is he heard some differences fuse to fuse but his findings were inconclusive in the end.

So in the end, one's gut feel or educated opinion perhaps on the issue is probably the only real thing that one can rely on.
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