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HiFi tuning Foo-uses

Mike Reed said:
As with RONTOOLSIE, it doesn't take 20-20 hearing to hear the improvements in dynamics (and, ergo, the s.q.) from uprating a case fuse, even in a humble CDP. However, very few people would do this, purely from a safety aspect rather than an ingrained scepticism.

Mains fuses are there to protect the cabling, I understand; they perform no other function, and are laboriously slow to react compared to RCDs and MCBs, though I admit this is received wisdom rather than academic knowledge.

I neither use mains fuses nor plugs and sockets, as I believe these all degrade the dynamics of a good system, probably by increasing the impedance at each contact.
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I happened to read this old thread yesterday and it got me really curious about what audiophile fuses can do. Is this audiophile fuse thing a pure bullshit? Are these people who shared the positive effect of audiophile fuse on weed?

So I called up one of my dealers and ask about it. He told me to go down to his shop and collect some audiophile fuses (Furutech T-13A. http://www.furutech.com/2013/02/01/3478/). When I was rising my doubt, he assured me that he will give me these fuses for free if I do not hear any positive difference. So I went down to collect the fuses and install it into my system.

When I played the first track, my jaw just drop. The difference is truly positively amazing! As Mike Reed simply said, it really doesn't take a 20-20 hearing to hear the improvement. It is really obvious. The cost of this fuse upgrade is just a small fraction it cost me to do a Dynamik upgrade for my Linn KCT, but the amount of improvement is way higher that the Dynamik upgrade!

I called up my dealer and share the result with him and he told me, "The audiophile fuses did not cause the improvement. Its the old fuses that prevent your equipment from performing at the level they should be performing. So you will hear even more improvement if your equipment are of a higher level. Audiophile fuses do not cure crappy audio equipment. Audiophile fuses allow your equipment to perform at the level that they should be performing"

Now, I am a convert!

I think I will start re-arranging my mains arrangement. I will most likely work on a main system without any fuses, sockets and switch.

Thanks for the sharing guys! This is really an amazing upgrade! :)
 
This is all about as silly as saying you replaced the 'Play' button on the front of your CD player with an audiophile one and the sound improved by leaps and bounds.
 
naimsg said:
be performing"

Now, I am a convert!

)
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I'm glad somebody else on this forum trusts their own ears, I'm using Hi-Fi Tuning fuses in my system as I heard an improvement when I tried them.
Not huge but slightly better than tube dampers, where I only noticed that they improved SQ when I removed them, and had to quickly replace them as I was missing something.
No, tweeks are not addictive, but worth trying, as you don't know what you're missing until you try.
I just laugh when I hear this term 'foo'.
Simon
 
I've had the full RKR - pure placebo, perhaps cleaning a few contacts as its done (I'm on RKR's death list now). Changed back to crappy fuses later - Wow!!
 
It's absolutely impossible for mains fuses to have any effect on sound.
Sometimes one would be ill advised to trust ones ears!!

Where they will have a degrading effect is in loudspeakers (not so much when only protecting tweeters) and at the output of amplifiers, for the same reason(if not included in the feedback loop). Even then audiophile fuses are foo!
 
It seems that the effects of better/different fuses are one of those things that shouldn't work, but some how do. I remember the first time I replaced an old wall socket with a new one and made sure that wires were screwed up tightly, how much more life and rhythm the sound had to it. And yet the old one surely had sufficient reserves to provide all the current the system needed without dropping any voltages on the supply rails. The very mechanical nature of the fuse/fuse holder (fitting a rounded profile fuse into a straight edged holder, or a rounded one with different curvature) ensures a point contact, and IMO is the weakest part of mains delivery.

It would be interesting to put some high frequency, high current square waves through different fuses going into a capacitive load and see if there is any change in waveform. I have a sneaking suspicion that there would be.
 
Instead of dismissing those that hear diffences as idiots , perhaps its prudent to assume the difference they heard was real and engage in explanations of what could have caused it ? - For instance Jez , what if a person liked your modified 640p and also audiophile fuses are we to discount both opinions ?



Additionally , i think the debate needs to seperate the so called effects of fuses of differing values and those of same value but made of exotic materials .

In respect of the latter , this confuses me as it must still have a bog standard piece of fuse wire running along the solid gold fuse case ?
 
Some of the fuses use something else rather than standard fuse wire internally. Others are cryogenically treated.
 
paul auster said:
Instead of dismissing those that hear diffences as idiots , perhaps its prudent to assume the difference they heard was real and engage in explanations of what could have caused it ? - For instance Jez , what if a person liked your modified 640p and also audiophile fuses are we to discount both opinions ?



Additionally , i think the debate needs to seperate the so called effects of fuses of differing values and those of same value but made of exotic materials .

In respect of the latter , this confuses me as it must still have a bog standard piece of fuse wire running along the solid gold fuse case ?
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Not idiots. Just gullible in the extreme.

Chris
 
rontoolsie said:
Some of the fuses use something else rather than standard fuse wire internally. Others are cryogenically treated.
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What do they use? , it will still have to blow if more than 13 amps went through it , what material is as reliable and consistent as fuse wire ??

this is a serious question , cause i could'nt find anything but marketing bullshit .
 
rontoolsie said:
And argument from personal incredulity seldom convinces anyone but the person making that argument.
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If the incredulity is at, say, an expressed belief that smearing gorgonzola cheese on your front door handle will give the guy who made your front door indigestion, then incredulity is the correct response.

Chris
 
rontoolsie said:
Some of the fuses use something else rather than standard fuse wire internally. Others are cryogenically treated.
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Do we need to know what is inside? Our ears are the best test. If its good then its good.

Just like if we are eating pasta, do we care what flour they are using? If its delicious then its delicious. For me the end result is the most important thing.

Being a scientist for a few decades, I find it ridiculous that some people think that science can explain everything, that scientific facts simply cannot be wrong, and that scientific knowledge does not change with time. Let us not forget that 150 years ago, most physicist are so proud of their achievement that they think that all physics in the universe are know. Yet in a short span of 20-30 years later, they could not explain the trend exhibit by the black body radiation, the speed of light being constant regardless of the reference frame, the photoelectric effect, and etc. And later Relativity and Quantum Physics was invented to explain these phenomenon. As the result of these new knowledge, facts that are certainly viewed as absurd by physicist 150 years ago are now embraced as facts by current physicists. For example, which physicists 150 years ago will believe in wave-particle duality?
 
naimsg said:
Do we need to know what is inside? Our ears are the best test. If its good then its good.

Just like if we are eating pasta, do we care what flour they are using? If its delicious then its delicious. For me the end result is the most important thing.

Being a scientist for a few decades, I find it ridiculous that some people think that science can explain everything, that scientific facts simply cannot be wrong, and that scientific knowledge does not change with time. Let us not forget that 150 years ago, most physicist are so proud of their achievement that they think that all physics in the universe are know. Yet in a short span of 20-30 years later, they could not explain the trend exhibit by the black body radiation, the speed of light being constant regardless of the reference frame, the photoelectric effect, and etc. And later Relativity and Quantum Physics was invented to explain these phenomenon. As the result of these new knowledge, facts that are certainly viewed as absurd by physicist 150 years ago are now embraced as facts by current physicists. For example, which physicists 150 years ago will believe in wave-particle duality?
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Are you a physicist?

Chris
 
naimsg said:
Do we need to know what is inside? Our ears are the best test. If its good then its good.

Just like if we are eating pasta, do we care what flour they are using? If its delicious then its delicious. For me the end result is the most important thing.

Being a scientist for a few decades, I find it ridiculous that some people think that science can explain everything, that scientific facts simply cannot be wrong, and that scientific knowledge does not change with time. Let us not forget that 150 years ago, most physicist are so proud of their achievement that they think that all physics in the universe are know. Yet in a short span of 20-30 years later, they could not explain the trend exhibit by the black body radiation, the speed of light being constant regardless of the reference frame, the photoelectric effect, and etc. And later Relativity and Quantum Physics was invented to explain these phenomenon. As the result of these new knowledge, facts that are certainly viewed as absurd by physicist 150 years ago are now embraced as facts by current physicists. For example, which physicists 150 years ago will believe in wave-particle duality?
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Not really , but it helps .

full disclosure is better , knowledge is power and it stops bullshit markerting .
 
I extolled the virtues of upgrading fuses on another forum and got canned for it, so I'm saying nowt..
 
naimsg said:
Do we need to know what is inside? Our ears are the best test. If its good then its good.

Just like if we are eating pasta, do we care what flour they are using? If its delicious then its delicious. For me the end result is the most important thing.

Being a scientist for a few decades, I find it ridiculous that some people think that science can explain everything, that scientific facts simply cannot be wrong, and that scientific knowledge does not change with time. Let us not forget that 150 years ago, most physicist are so proud of their achievement that they think that all physics in the universe are know. Yet in a short span of 20-30 years later, they could not explain the trend exhibit by the black body radiation, the speed of light being constant regardless of the reference frame, the photoelectric effect, and etc. And later Relativity and Quantum Physics was invented to explain these phenomenon. As the result of these new knowledge, facts that are certainly viewed as absurd by physicist 150 years ago are now embraced as facts by current physicists. For example, which physicists 150 years ago will believe in wave-particle duality?
Click to expand...
I simply refuse to believe that you have ever been a scientist. If you ever were it is surprising that you should come across a bit like someone with a very tenuous grasp of scientific history based on ill-remembered tv documentaries combined with something someone once told you in a pub.

Nevertheless do go on. I'm particularly interested in hearing
a. about the scientists who believed "all physics in the universe are know" (a few names and preferably references for these pronouncement would be interesting)

b. the role you believe that anecdotal reports by consumers played in the development of quantum physics.
 
When I built the extension I am sitting in now the downstairs room was due to be for the hifi (and the old lounge for the piano).
Because I had heard that a dedicated mains circuit for the stereo was a potential improvement, and it was no problem to do, I installed one, also using more expensive sockets.
I can not tell which socket any part of my system is plugged into, the dedicated ones or the other ring main.
 
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