Before you close this thread, I wonder if there’s any way to measure a fuse why it can make a change on how a system sounds.
There’s a sale on SR Purple fuses and I’m thinking about getting it to see if it sounds any different than the Beeswax Ultimate Premier fuse I am using now on my P20. I know when I was comparing the Beeswax to the SR Orange, the Beeswax was the clearest more veil free sounding fuse, next the SR Orange, the stock, the most veiled.
Can this be measured, or is it only in my head and I’m imagining these differences.
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Hey weymanchen…
Purely visual and subjective but here we go:
JC5 with stock, Orange then Purple fuse.
P15 with Purple fuse the entire time no changes there.
When powering up my JC5 from cold start my at times the P15’s
power meter would swing to the extreme right and hold if too
long P15 would auto protect to off with stock fuse.
With Orange fuse this happens as well just less frequently.
With Purple…in the same scenario as with Orange fuse cold
start…It appears that my JC5 will swing the power meter as
far but recovery is much faster…from full right swing to middle
of P15 power meter range…then down to JC5 idle mode.
P15 not going into self protect.
It seems, again subjectively visual; that the Purple fuse is
less restrictive in allowing power to flow.
Just my .02 in what I have seen
Best wishes
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Just a guess, but you can measure the voltage across the fuse with different currents going thru it, i.e. its resistance at different currents and pick the fuse that’s 1) lowest resistance and/or 2) lowest change in resistance over the expected changes in current.
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The wire material (silver,copper,etc…) and the EMI absorbing or other materials like beeswax that they put around the wire in the fuse also can affect some differences. Maybe it changes the capacitance like in interconnects.
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The purple’s graphene that SR uses in affects system sound similar to what the AQ Dragon High Current PC with Graphene does when put on the P20 . That is what I hear with my ears and my system.
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The ultimate premier and ultimate are both similar except one they claim push pull. Both are thicker mid bass than purple SR fuse. Thee beeswax gives more wide soundstage.
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Sounds like the difference between tubes and solid states sound. I will see if I like it when I get my Purple fuses.
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I’ve always wondered about these type of fuses, but aside from listening, is there any testing or actual experience that shows that the fuses protect at the specified threshold - ie. a 3 amp fuse actually protects at 3 amps.
I know it’s too expensive just to test by the average user, and I know the situation is different, but the reason I ask is that it is known, for example, that there are a LOT of automotive fuses out there from “off brands” and being sold in bulk on Amazon, Fleabay, etc. that do NOT meet the specified protection - they allow far more current than the rating. There are also videos documenting the problem.
So if one uses one of those fuses, there could be catastrophically expensive damage from an over current situation to the car’s ECU, for example.
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My experience is these audiophile fuses tend to be under specced than over. I have blown a few as well as others but have never heard anyone complain about
a fuse not blowing. Usually from the Synergistic Research brand. If these audiophile fuses didn’t make any audible difference, I certainly wouldn’t waste my
time and money to bother with them. Only I do hear the difference so I’m hooked on getting them.
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I am thinking of trying them too but was just concerned about the possibility that it would allow more current than rated.
Of course even if it was excessively rated, one could just buy a lower rated fuse.
I think you don’t have to worry about these audiophile fuses being over rated any more than any other regular fuses on the market. I’m pretty sure they go by exactly the spec indicated by the amperage for each fuse. They don’t want to deal with any complaints and lawsuits any more than any other companies,
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It might be possible to measure the minuscule difference the fuse makes on the very signal we hear but it would require extremely sophisticated equipment. It might actually not be possible at this time, as in we wouldn’t know what to measure for.
Since the ears are adept at “measuring” these differences, does this need measurements? We don’t need them as consumers but the fuse manufacturers would surely benefit in furthering their R&D if they knew what their fuses are doing outside their shells.
Wouldn’t you think they know? After all, what are they striving for in their designs? (Said by an audiophile who has come to be indifferent to fuses)
Maybe. Maybe not.
Most likely what comes to how the fuse works in its shell and how their ears pick up how it affects things. I doubt fuse manufacturers alone would know how a fuse could affect a very complex music signal in the end. I mean, no one seems to know and fuse manufacturers don’t have singular special privileges to sophisticated laboratory equipment that could be used to find out. Maybe others with the equipment just aren’t interested? Who knows…
If fuses don’t make any difference, then why did a lot of high end amp manufacturers stop using rail fuses. The idea of fuses in speakers seem to have been scrapped also.
Of all places, that is where I was thinking of trying them first, as I have 1.6QRs, so the fuse is directly in the signal path (versus protecting power). This was also why I was extra concerned about the “accuracy” of current rating.
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Hey tak1313
You lost me there. Are you speaking of replacing the
regenerator’s fuse?
If so …as the regen provides power for the entire system
upgrading the fuse there does make a very nice difference.
Best wishes
No. Maggies actually stick a fuse in the path - ala old school protection scheme). Some people bypass them, but I prefer not to myself.
This is what it looks like to the right of the jumpers (not an actual pic of my speakers - I don;t have access to them right now).
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Now I capiche…you are right…those fuses are there for
a very important reason…protection!!!
Were you thinking of upgrading the fuses on your speakers?
Best wishes
Yes. I figure any improvement will be even more noticeable there of all places.