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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
22,198 posts
 
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.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Mapman wrote,

"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."

It happens during the ripping process, too, I'm sorry to report. You know, what with the laser reading the data on the CD and everything, just like reading the disc in real time.

You wrote,

"I'll take that as a compliment." OK, let's say it was a compliment.

:-)
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
"It happens during the ripping process, too, I'm sorry to report. You know, what with the laser reading the data on the CD and everything, just like reading the disc in real time."

There is more to making music/sound than just reading the data off the disc. SO the two are not the same even though that step alone may or may not be in each case.
lacee
811 posts
 
I also have been using a Hammond bulk tape eraser, which was given to me by a friend who changed his studio to all digital before he passed away.

I have yet to find anyone who can't hear an improvemnt after a disc has been demagnetized.

I'll ask a friend to bring over a fave cd.

We'll listen to a single cut.
Then I demag the cd, pop it back in and we listen again.

Just like a parlour magic trick, my friends start asking what else I may have done to the settings on my system, like did I add more volume?

They hear the difference but can't wrap their heads around the fact that all I did was to zap both sides of the cd for 20 seconds each.

If you can find them,and they are working up to speed, the old pro bulk erasers work their magic everytime, on lp's and dvds.
I never play any discs that haven't been zapped, and I can tell when someone brings over a cd that sounds diffuse and jangly that this is a fine candidate for a demag.

I don't care about the how or why,only that it works.

Now about the "expense" of upgraded fuses, I think they keep you from spending a great deal more money on endless upgrades and swapping of components.

Fine tuning a system seems to be out of fashion in the new disposable age.
Don't like or have grown too acquainted with a component, then sell it and buy somethingelse,use stock fuses and then sell it,never knowing how good both pieces could really sound because both were compromised by that cheap stock fuse.

I think losing and spending thousands of dollars(as I have)looking for the next big audio junkie fix is an endless journey into frustration, and ultimately leads to burnout.
Then you sell off all the good stuff and settle for mediocre stuff, convincing yourself that it should only be about the music afterall.

The sad story is that if you always ran stock fuses, wires etc, and never really got into the Tweakiness" of this hobby, you've never heard how good that frustrating system really was.

The blame lies not with the system, the snake oil or the evil High End and all their minions.

The reason for someone's displeasure ,frustration with this hobby rests with them.

But then it's always the easy way out to blame someone or something for one's misfortunes.

For what it's worth, I've found that what you get out of this hobby is only as good as the effort you put into it.
krell_man
827 posts
 

Lacee,

I think that you said it well and nailed it on the head!

Thanks!
Chuck
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