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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
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Mental, sounds like you need one of them new-fangled outboard fans; can I suggest the batty powered O 2 Cool fan?
lacee
811 posts
 
Everyone has opinons and all are equally respected, just the opinons from those who have experienced the fuse are a bit more respected than the opinons from those who have not.

One opinon is based on experience the other on speculation .

The fuse god told me this.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
I've heard a lot of fuses over the years. I'm pretty sure most of the gear I have listened to had one or more inside. :)

I've even seen a few first hand opening up units that had problems like channels out, etc. for customers.

They all sounded pretty good to me. Except the blown ones, of course.

Its been a while though. Maybe fuse technology has made great strides since. A lot of newer stuff that I think sounds really good probably have fuses inside doing their thing.
rodman99999
6,131 posts
 
@Lacee- I believe it was Ivor Tiefenbrun(founder of Linn), that was quoted as having said, "If you haven't heard it; you have no opinion." Of course; that was just his opinion. BTW: Having already upgraded everything that you mention in your previous post(except my tube sockets); I'm still trying to find those upgraded(metallugically) fuse holders.
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