Audiophile Fuses

[ferrox]

Well I put a Red into the GG and burnt that in also over night. I am seriously impressed with what they have brought to my system - I would describe it as increased purity - I am getting more resolution, deeper soundstage and a layer of grain removed. I am hearing more of the acoustic in the classical venues that I have been listening to. Great stuff and highly recommended.

I should agree with you on the SR fuse. I used the black for two separated power supply of Aesthetix Eclipse linestage. However, I wasn't aware of lower tolerance on all audiophile fuses. I purchased exactly the same value stated in the manual. As a result, within few months, all SR black fuses blew. They gave me amazing results echoing what you mentioned above. According to Glenn of Aesthetix, the stock fuse has higher tolerance to surge. Thus, if we want to use audiophile fuse, we need to use higher value say 25% more.

Mark Coles also gave me the same explanation on the value of audiophile fuse. So now waiting for Padis fuses to replace SR Black and will be ordering AM Beeswax for the GG (replacing SR Black) and a pair for Atlas mono amps.

 

[ferrox]

Hello Cuntigh, just an update.
I followed some discussions and recommendations, ordered 2 AM Beeswax SHD fuses and gave them about 20 hours of listening.
I was inpatient to share my findings with you and other forum members.
It is unbelievable how much the fuses are critical in the chain.
The AM replaced 2 AH Platinum Reference fuses in my DAC and transport.
Improvements in each and every aspect !!!
Very expensive but does a real noticeable positive difference, in my system.
Best regards.

Hi amiglick,

I read some articles about Audio Magic Beeswax fuse and certainly, they're directional however, the manufacturer claims, it is not. So how to tell the correct direction? I know we can try that ourselves but to save time from trying, perhaps we can have your opinion as someone who has been playing with it.

 

[Stump]

Would the true test of changing a fuse be to hear NO difference between the new fuse against a bypass (No Fuse test only) ??
Stump

 

[amiglick]

Hi amiglick,

I read some articles about Audio Magic Beeswax fuse and certainly, they're directional however, the manufacturer claims, it is not. So how to tell the correct direction? I know we can try that ourselves but to save time from trying, perhaps we can have your opinion as someone who has been playing with it.

Hi ferrox,

I didn't change the direction because it is too much messing and I prefer to have the manufacturer advise.
I just placed both fuses (in PS Audio Directstream DAC and PS Audio PWT transport) in the same direction and at the same time.
The improvement was immediate and very clear.
I am waiting for 3 more fuses to replace SR RED & SR Black - 1 in the Power Regenerator and 2 in the dual mono power amplifier and I will post my findings.

It is very much system dependent but based on my past experience, fuses have very high VFM.

 

[ferrox]

The best fuse is no fuse.I replaced the fuses and mains switches on my amps with thermal magnetic circuit breaker mains switches.
Take a look on the RS Components website for ETA branded said switches , these are available in ratings from 1 amp upwards;not cheap but solve the fuse problem.

I guess that's why my ATI 6007 signature only has two switches at the left rear. No fuse at all.

 

[ferrox]

Hi ferrox,

I didn't change the direction because it is too much messing and I prefer to have the manufacturer advise.
I just placed both fuses (in PS Audio Directstream DAC and PS Audio PWT transport) in the same direction and at the same time.
The improvement was immediate and very clear.
I am waiting for 3 more fuses to replace SR RED & SR Black - 1 in the Power Regenerator and 2 in the dual mono power amplifier and I will post my findings.

It is very much system dependent but based on my past experience, fuses have very high VFM.

Hi amiglick, sorry for misleading you. I meant, since you already been using this AM Beeswax, how to distinguish its direction? I try searching on google image, there's no clear indication.

 

[amiglick]

Hi amiglick, sorry for misleading you. I meant, since you already been using this AM Beeswax, how to distinguish its direction? I try searching on google image, there's no clear indication.

There is a printed text on the fuse, at the first time you can place it either way, no difference.
Take a picture of it so you will be able to remove it, if needed and then replace it at the same direction.
I hope I made it clear.
Please see the picture below.

 

[ferrox]

There is a printed text on the fuse, at the first time you can place it either way, no difference.
Take a picture of it so you will be able to remove it, if needed and then replace it at the same direction.
I hope I made it clear.
Please see the picture below.

View attachment 28783

Thanks, I will try that when they arrive here.

 

[Air Between The Notes]

Just removed the fuse/s & holder/s to use a good hookup wire & decent solder in it's place? I have & do for the most part. If you think that is how I keep my hair curly weeeeeelll....no, but the increase is great & better than any fuse. I've found great improvement by just putting a good piece of wire in with the fuse, as in the length of the fuse jammed down into the holder along side the fuse but loss of it all is better. Now before you start reeling this is not for the faint of heart but if you have a piece of equipment that's been around for a while & never blown a fuse or one step further....think now, how many fuses or in what have you ever blown fuses & why? Then maybe you might start thinking about the sonic improvement from bypassing them, their power constraining teeny weeny thread of a wire open to vibrations & the lesser quality metal in the caps & holders in various pieces of gear? Maybe? Allow for wire burnin as per usual.

 

[Fiddle Faddle]

Hi all,

I bought a Synergistic Research Red fuse for my Rega CD player about 5 weeks ago. At first I was not really impressed but over time (perhaps 60 more hours have been put on the player since then), the sound has noticeably improved. To the point where I have decided to bite the bullet and purchase an SR Black fuse for the Musical Fidelity headphone amp. Yes, this is definitely overkill, however the prices of these fuses has just changed (both have gone up) and the relative prices are now closer to each other than they were before. Or to put it another way, the Black is now arguably better value than the Red given the reivews of people who have experimented with both.

I am actually anticipating a larger gain on the amp versus the CD player because the 1 amp fuse I pulled out of the former looked like the sort of wire you'd use to tie chicken wire together - not to use in the power path circuitry of a reasonably decent piece of hi fi kit!

Anyway, so far as the Musical Fidelity is concerned, it is not the easy job that the Rega was to install the fuse, since the amplifier must be opened to change it. That being the case, I am asking about fuse orientation. I am not necessarily asking for which specific alignment is correct (since I doubt anyone here would have put one of these in such a relatively modest piece of kit), but rather how long should I be experimenting in one orientation versus another?

My concern is that the fuse is probably in some way, shape or form already optimised "out of the box" to work in a particular current flow direction and that should I mount it contrary to that, I am concerned I might be compromising the future performance of the fuse. SR don't really seem to say anything about orientation so far as I can tell and I am actually quite concerned about this - this fuse is quite an expensive purchase for someone like me and I regard it somewhat as an "investment" of sorts.

Thanks

 

[Sablon Audio]

In my experience, you simply need to have a short listen with the new fuse in each direction to determine whether there is any significant directionality and which orientation you prefer. With some fuses, Padis for example, the sound was noticeably more open and timed better in one direction however I did not hear a significant difference with the orientation of the SR Black.

 

[Fiddle Faddle]

In my experience, you simply need to have a short listen with the new fuse in each direction to determine whether there is any significant directionality and which orientation you prefer. With some fuses, Padis for example, the sound was noticeably more open and timed better in one direction however I did not hear a significant difference with the orientation of the SR Black.

Thank you. From what I have gleaned since posting, apparently the preferred "default" setting for initial listening is current flow in the same direction as the writing on the fuse. But I will try both and hopefully I will hear a difference. If I do not hear a difference I will stick with having the fuse oriented as per above.

 

[Sablon Audio]

That is indeed the received wisdom though there are clearly subjectivities involved (Blue58 and I preferred different orientations in our SGM servers) and presupposes that the equipment iec inlet has been wired in correctly phased. Is worth spending the extra 5mins to double check though you won't go far wrong with this particular fuse.

 

[Fiddle Faddle]

That is indeed the received wisdom though there are clearly subjectivities involved (Blue58 and I preferred different orientations in our SGM servers) and presupposes that the equipment iec inlet has been wired in correctly phased. Is worth spending the extra 5mins to double check though you won't go far wrong with this particular fuse.

Based on this knowledge I decided to do a listening test today that involved reversing the SR Red fuse in my Rega CD player. When I bought the fuse I paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to orientation thinking it did not matter. Anyway, after performing this listening test today, I was actually quite surprised by how much difference there is to the sound when the fuse is reversed. It isn't really subtle at all. With the fuse in one way the sound is relatively smoothed over, the timing seems a bit flaccid and there is not as much inner detail - this was particularly noticeable when listening to my vinyl to CD transcription of the Speakers Corner Mercury Living Presence LP SR90347 - the Lalo Cello Concerto. In that piece, there is a lot of mezzo-forte very fast passagework by the cellist and it is very easy for it to get lost in the overall orchestral balance, especially the explicit detail of the "rosin-y" (is that a word?) bow changes on the strings. With the fuse in one way, they were noticeably less delicate and detailed compared to the other orientation.

Luckily for me, that latter (better) orientation was the one I had all along. Well I had a 50% chance of getting it right during the initial install. But getting out the multimeter, I then found that this "correct" orientation was actually the opposite to the "default" fuse orientation of current flow = lettering direction. So my CD player seems to be one of those devices that needs the "opposite" orientation = current flow is against the lettering direction.

It will be interesting to see if the amp follows suit. I now have the amp connected into the system with the top removed so changing the fuse and orientation will now be very easy (though I doubt I will get the fuse until some time in the new year as it has to come from overseas). I wasn't going to be bothered with all of this mucking around because pulling out components, unplugging them, taking panels out and doing A/B listening tests at the same time, etc isn't really something I like doing unless there is a very good reason for it. But based on this test today with the SR Red, it is definitely worth the effort as you say to test in both directions. I never thought just a simple fuse would make much difference, let alone it's orientation. But there you go. The audio hobby continues to both amaze and frustrate!

 

[TBG]

I have spent a good deal of money on fuses and heard improvements and I have checked directions on all of them and never found any that don't have a better sounding direction. Of late, however, I have stopped assessing fuses. I have four Synergistic Research Black fuses and they have allowed my system to reach heights were I've never been. I would never use solder to connect fuse. Solder is a very poor conductor. I cannot imagine using anything but ones ears to make fuse judgments.

 

[Custodian]

I've always been sceptical about fuses but following a friend's experience with SR black fuse in his Ayre KXR, I decided to give it a go (30 days free trial made it a no brainier).

Results: following my friend's experience with blowing these fuses, I went for a couple of steps higher rating for my Ayre KXR. Initially a noticeable improvement to sound which continued to improve for a few days. Better soundstage and depth.

I decided to try in my DCS DAC with initial mixed results. Not so obvious change as with Ayre KXR so a little disappointing. However reversing the fuse in the holder improved sound and was noticeably better than stock fuse.

Next I plan to change power amp fuses (Halcro DM88 monobocks). I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[Fiddle Faddle]

I've always been sceptical about fuses but following a friend's experience with SR black fuse in his Ayre KXR, I decided to give it a go (30 days free trial made it a no brainier)

I ended up with SR Black fuses in both my CD player and amplifier. The company told me what I should listen for when determining the correct orientation and their advice was right on the money (one direction will sound relatively smooth and euphonic, the other direction will sound focussed, etched and a bit bright). The latter direction is the correct one and the excessive etch and brightness that results disappears after around 20 - 25 hours use or thereabouts, leaving a very focussed and clear sound relative to the stock fuse.

I will certainly be putting these fuses in any component I buy in the future, assuming it is of course practical to change the fuse. Incidentally, I just used stock values, however perhaps I have a bit of leeway given they are both slow blow types.

 

[Lee]

I've always been sceptical about fuses but following a friend's experience with SR black fuse in his Ayre KXR, I decided to give it a go (30 days free trial made it a no brainier).

Results: following my friend's experience with blowing these fuses, I went for a couple of steps higher rating for my Ayre KXR. Initially a noticeable improvement to sound which continued to improve for a few days. Better soundstage and depth.

I decided to try in my DCS DAC with initial mixed results. Not so obvious change as with Ayre KXR so a little disappointing. However reversing the fuse in the holder improved sound and was noticeably better than stock fuse.

Next I plan to change power amp fuses (Halcro DM88 monobocks). I'll let you know how I get on.

Curious what you find...SR Blacks improved the magnepan speakers in my place.

 

[Audiocrack]

I have spent a good deal of money on fuses and heard improvements and I have checked directions on all of them and never found any that don't have a better sounding direction. Of late, however, I have stopped assessing fuses. I have four Synergistic Research Black fuses and they have allowed my system to reach heights were I've never been. I would never use solder to connect fuse. Solder is a very poor conductor. I cannot imagine using anything but ones ears to make fuse judgments.

Hi Norm,

Have you ever listened to the AM beeswax fuses and compared them to the SR black fuses?

Recently bought an AM beeswax fuse for my Kondo preamp. However, I am using some top fuses from Germany and they sound really great with the Kondo preamp so I am not in a hurry to try the beeswax fuse.

 

[Tango]

I also have SR Black fuses in my monos. My agent put them in for me to replace blown fuse. IMHO there is minor improvement in sound. I would not notice it if someone take them out without me knowing and I listen in the next morning. May be I dont hear much difference because I didnt have to pay for them and my agent did not lead me to listen to what I suppose to hear from these fuses.

Kind regards,
Tang