I never thought fuses could make a difference in sound, but they do...

I have an all tube setup and over time it seemed to get progressively noisier - lots of hiss on startup and some spitting and crackling of tubes or something. It would quiet down some as it got warm, but it still hissed. I just figured it was the nature of tube gear...

So today, I noticed the right channel of my amp was dead, which I traced to a blown fuse. So I replaced it with a run of the mill hardware store fuse of the same amperage and to my surprise, all of the hiss, spit and crackle was gone. I was like, is this thing even on? And it sounded way better overall. Bigger soundstage, better presence and of course much quieter. So I replaced the other channel fuse and it got even better.

I dunno why that is, and I'm still not gonna pay $90 for a single "audiophile grade" fuse. But it makes a difference, no doubt...

 

An old trick or whatever you want to put it is to clean fuses with metal polish , or the pins as well.
With my Leaks all connections including valve pins periodically cleaned wake a large scale improvement.

 

Sounds like oxidation on the fuse terminals that got cleaned off when you replaced the fuses.

 

An old trick is to paint the fuses with clear finger nail polish. The tech will never figure out why it doesn't work.

 

Uh no. What you had were cheap defective fuses which obviously never worked properly to begin with.

 

I have not tried "audiophile fuses" but I may do that one day. It does not seem to be an expensive experiment.

 

Ha! That one won't fool this tech. I also charge by the hour as most do, so it isn't a smart move in any case.
-Bill

 

@KT88 : I remember fixing a unit (not audio gear) back in the 1970s which had had the power cord replaced by the local maintenance man. He wired the transformer between neutral and ground, with the hot AC lead going to the chassis.

Bad enough, but the worst part? This was a cardiac monitor in a hospital! I'm not sure if they tried it on a patient before calling for service. I hope not.

 

Try audiophile SuperFuse with silver wire.

 

Much has been written about "audiophile fuses". I have tried them in a couple of SS amp systems, what I found is nothing definite. First fuses show up in usually two places. Line in as over current protection and in the audio output. At the line stage I have never been able to hear a difference. Where the fuse is in the audio chain....well maybe. Nothing definite for me. What I did find was that swapping the regular "glass tube" for a "ceramic" type gave the same sort of maybe change that the big cost item did. One possibility is that in the ceramic, the fuse element is surrounded by an insulator packing and it is postulated that this "reduces vibration". I my opinion the money spent on a full set of "audiophile" fuses can be put to better use. As in more quality records or CD's. If you are a tweaker then removing and reinserting your fuses may not be a bad idea. As with all connections a periodic removal and reinsertion helps keep the connection contact clean.

 

I discovered this back in the 70s. I physically bypassed the speaker fuses going to my tweeters and the difference was most definitely noticeable.

 

Not the same as an AC line fuse at all. An in-line fuse for tweeter protection is acting partly like a resistor. People don't like the thermal breakers there either with their contacts. I think the measurable part is largely in the megahertz range, but probably enough in the kilohertz range as well to be slightly audible when in-line with a good tweeter. More than likely though if it were replaced or bypassed without the listener being aware, it would go undetected. Hell, I had hearing that was a bit above 20khz when I was younger and knew what to listen for, and still I'd find myself fooled occasionally by an absent tweeter output or a mono switch, etc. We don't hear directly. We interpret what our ears pick-up and our brain isn't always the most objective interpreter. As far as the original intent of this thread, the question was concerning a high voltage DC line fuse for the HT tube power supply only. While that is more directly effecting audio output due to tube operation than an AC line input fuse, I think it was just down to intermittent connectivity from corrosion rather than any type of inferior metallurgy.
-Bill

 

I use so called audiophile fuses and have heard some difference, primarily in power amps. A couple of people whose ears I respect have also heard a difference of greater ease and transient accuracy. I have no explanation for it and don't want to get in any arguments here. But it is cheap enough to try a couple.

 

Audiophile fuses are not for everybody. First off, one has to be open minded to decide to try one. At this stage a half of prospects have given up, included most if not all EE's. Then if one really wants to see what these can do for his audio system, the ticket will cost $100 - $130, not $10. Another half of prospects have given up. What follows is a painful 100hrs burn in period. Again, a half of prospects will claim they did not hear enough soon enough to justify their investment. And this is not the end of the road either. Once burned in, one needs to check polarity of the fuse. So the fuse is reinserted and listened to. At this stage the jaw of the sole survivor hits the floor, but how many have reached this summit? Perhaps 5 or 6 fuse weirdos (myself included) in the whole of the forum.

Conclusion: it is much simpler, more comfortable and cheaper to spend this time giving advice to fellow audiophiles to reposition their speakers (as if they never thought of that).

 

Indeed. And not only is proper speaker placement more sonically rewarding, it keeps spiders out of their mouths from all of that silly jaw dropping to the floor from fuse experiments.

-Bill

 

I didn't notice any obvious corrosion on the fuse or fuse holder and the amp is relatively new. But there was something about that original fuse that wasn't right.

 

Once, on a scuba dive in Maui, the divemaster showed me how to remove my regulator underwater, and open my mouth to allow cleaner shrimp to go in and do a little periodonal work. The cleaner shrimp has a symbiotic relationship with groupers, who's gills they pick clean of parasites.
I did it, but nearly drowned from laughing underwater, when I felt them tickling my teeth.

 

Hopefully the guy that thought of that "trick" got electrocuted.

 

It could have had cracks in its metal structure that caused similar behavior. Usually a damaged element will heat-up quickly and the fuse will fail. That's called a nuisance failure as it is when some foreign material or gas causes the same in a vacuum tube, by many users. No harm done other than a burned fuse in those cases, so it's just a nuisance, especially if you don't have a spare handy!
-Bill

 

Very important, never remove a fuse that is good without a spare on hand. Nuffff said lol

 

That's the rallying cry of many members.

 

OK then. Well what if I bypass the MC/MM switch in my Vincent PHO-8 then phono amp, seeing I dont use the MC option? Should I expect any difference?

 

Maybe the higher quality fuses get out of the way a little better than standard ones?

 

this was a click bait thread title...