Fuse upgrade, audible benefit current usage relationship?

Power Components
1

By the amp manufacturer’s suggestion, I’ll be switching my amp’s fuse from a slow-blow 2.5A to a 5A one, a SR Orange to be exact.
The amp is a high-current dual monoblock with a peak current of over 80A and maximum output of 500W, starting from 100W into 8ohms and can drive down to 0.5ohms comfortably. It has two 650VA transformers.
To really notice the audible benefit of such a fuse upgrade with this amp, would I need to work the amp with more demanding loads than 8ohms, or is the benefit as apparent with any current draw?

Overall what to expect going from stock 2.5A to a 5A SR Orange?
Also, should I use a SR Orange for my dedicated line also?

2

If your amp’s fuse rating is 2.5 amps…

I would be very wary of going from 2.5 amp tp a 5 amp fuse…
I wouldn’t do this with my gear…

Having orange fuses in my gear…you can expect very nice improvements in the overall sound…but be aware that the burn
in time is long and marked with moments of wow that is good to
this is junk what happened …this phenomena goes back and forth
during the 300hr or so of the burn in time…

When you say use the orange fuse in your dedicated line…
do you have a pp regenerator or some such …where would place
the fuse on your dedicated line…need clarifying please

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3

Certainly no change in sound quality going to 5A. Just much poorer protection.

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4

Hmm. Then I wonder why Electrocompaniet, the manufacturer, stated the following of my amp:

“100W models have T2.5A on the back, but with time we have found this to be too small, so we recommend 5A (or at least 3.15A).”

Is there reason not to trust the original designers’ opinion?

5

Sounds like they under-rated it initially and have since revised the amp rating required.

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6

He’s probably saying that because there might be some premature blowing of the fuse, so he recommend a little higher rating fuse. But you have to be careful when you go beyond the recommended rating, you can damage your unit before the fuse blows. I would make sure the fuse is adequate for protection before changing it.

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7

So if it’s originally underrated, could I gain improvements to the amp’s actual current capability by switching to a (quality) 5A slow-blow. After all it’s a high-current amp (80A peak) As said, an SR Orange would be my choice since folks are praising its impact on sound after burn-in.

8

So if the manufacture say you can use a 5A slow-blow, then that is what you should use. It will not improve the amp’s current capacity because that is in the design and circuitry of the amp itself and not in the rating of the fuse. You will not hear the difference in the different amperage fuse ratings, but you definitely should hear the increased performance of the SR Orange fuse over stock. Give it some time to settle in and enjoy!

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9

Changing the fuse ratings from 2.5a to 5a defeats the manufacturer’s intent of having that fuse there. A slight increase in rating may not pose a problem, but increasing the fuse from 2.5a to 5a is playing with fire.

if the manufacturer approves the change to 5a…get that approval in writing in case of a problem down the road.