Jea48, thanks for posting the Bedini patent. Makes a lot of sense. ;-)
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
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
- ...
- 220 posts total
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" 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. :^) |
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 . |
I actually rip all my CDs to music server these days. I never play a CD directly, so there is no music making occurring anywhere near the actual CD. Lots of bad things can happen in theory reading an optical disc in real time to make music. I also use Wifi networked players with external DAC to make the music. No wired connection to a music server computer. This provides very good noise isolation between source computer/music server and hifi system. VEry straightforward, functional, and always sounds great. Not that there are not potential snafus with any approach, but this one that works well, its easy to understand why, and really leaves little to want sound quality-wise. |
- 220 posts total