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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
jea48
4,323 posts
 
Tonywinsc,

Since you opened the door,....

Several years ago I experimented with a bulk tape eraser and compared the final product to that of a CD spun on a Bedini Ultra Clarifier. (Both sides spun and treated.)

I preferred the final sound product of the Clarifier over the bulk tape eraser.

Here is the simple explaination of how a Bedini Clarifier works.

http://www.google.com/patents/US5487057?printsec=abstract&dq=bedini
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Post removed 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Jea48, thanks for posting the Bedini patent. Makes a lot of sense. ;-)
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,936 posts
 
" Mapman, you see everything! :-) "

I'll take that as a compliment.

But, not how demagnetizing a CD, which has no materials capable of producing a magnetic field TTBOMK would add any value and if it did, why it would not be more common.

I used to use a tape head demagnetizing device on cassette decks periodically. Seemed to make sense it would have some effect there and results good or bad could be clearly be heard no doubt. Such devices for that purpose were common and relatively inexpensive.

On the bright side, I like how my CDs sound already so I will not loose any sleep pondering how to fix what isn't broken to start with.

If I'm missing something, it won't be the first time. :^)
jea48
4,323 posts
 
Mapman,

Here is an IAR article on the Furutech RD-1 CD Demagnetizer. Scroll down the page to Furutech RD-1 CD Demagnetizer.
Long but an interesting read.

http://www.iar-80.com/page53.html

Here is an article by 6moonsfor the Furutech RD-1 CD Demagnetizer.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/furutech/rd1.html

Here is a 6moons article for the RD2.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/furutech/rd2.html
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