Audiophile Fuses
- Thread starter MylesBAstor
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Suggest replacing on a like for like basis with the one your dac was supplied with however page 16 of Lampi manual gives guidance. Presumably pertains to slow blow type.
http://www.lampizator.eu/LampizatorDACUserManual.pdf
My first experiment with fuses was back in the late 70's early 80's.
Peter Aczill ,the Audio Critic stated that the speaker protection fuses were detrimental to the sound.
He advised to bypass them for better sound.
I have been doing that ever since, using chunks or speaker wire, solid and stranded in place of fuses .
Then I tried the Iso cleans and moved up to the HiFi Supremes which I use in all my gear.If there's a fuse in the system it's a HiFi Supreme.
I now have peace of mind besides better sound by going to upscale fuses.
I used to go at it with the non believer sceptics and offered to give some fuses at no charger for them to try.
No takers, even when they were for free!
The canuucks were so sure they wouldn't do any good, I guess they felt it would be a waste of time to even try them.
Their loss.
A few years later and things have settled down.
Some of us have moved on, enjoying the stuff that shouldn't make a difference, and others are still debating if spending anything more than 50(CDN)cents a foot for speaker wire will make any difference.
I am fortunate to have an open mind.
I like to try things and then decide if they do or do not make an improvement to my sound.
I don't make up my mind that they can't make an improvement because of something someone has said.
The show me the proof types feel that tube rolling is OK, but fuse rolling is not.
The real scientist's always do the experiment to prove or disprove theories.
Somehow I think the non believers missed the part of the science class that said "do the experiment" first and then post your findings.
Or maybe they felt back then that they already knew all there was to learn.
Peter Aczill ,the Audio Critic stated that the speaker protection fuses were detrimental to the sound.
He advised to bypass them for better sound.
I have been doing that ever since, using chunks or speaker wire, solid and stranded in place of fuses .
Then I tried the Iso cleans and moved up to the HiFi Supremes which I use in all my gear.If there's a fuse in the system it's a HiFi Supreme.
I now have peace of mind besides better sound by going to upscale fuses.
I used to go at it with the non believer sceptics and offered to give some fuses at no charger for them to try.
No takers, even when they were for free!
The canuucks were so sure they wouldn't do any good, I guess they felt it would be a waste of time to even try them.
Their loss.
A few years later and things have settled down.
Some of us have moved on, enjoying the stuff that shouldn't make a difference, and others are still debating if spending anything more than 50(CDN)cents a foot for speaker wire will make any difference.
I am fortunate to have an open mind.
I like to try things and then decide if they do or do not make an improvement to my sound.
I don't make up my mind that they can't make an improvement because of something someone has said.
The show me the proof types feel that tube rolling is OK, but fuse rolling is not.
The real scientist's always do the experiment to prove or disprove theories.
Somehow I think the non believers missed the part of the science class that said "do the experiment" first and then post your findings.
Or maybe they felt back then that they already knew all there was to learn.
I am a firm believer in I know what I know thru trial and error, and hands on experience.
Until you have done the experiment yourself, you really don't know what you know.
I see that I wasn't the only audio fool to replace stock fuses .
I also never had anything explode or catch fire or need repairs because I ran without a fuse.
I don't condone that.
You don't have to do that, now that there are alternatives to cheap stock fuses.
What I did learn from Peter Aczill was that fuses degrade the sound.
He said they did. I wanted to know if what he said was true or not.
It was easy to replicate his experiment, albeit with some trepidation.
I tried replacing fuses, and indeed he was correct.
Fuses degraded the sound.
Replacing them with chunks of wire worked for me.
The sound was cleaner, less diffuse, more solid , sonics over safety got the better of me.
Then I started to hear about upgraded fuses.
I was already a convert based on my and Aczill's similar experiences with fuses.
So I gave them a try.
The sound was better than a stock fuse, not quite as good as a chunk or wire or soldered bypass,but now I had protection.
If Peter was wrong about fuses, then is he also wrong about speaker wire ?
If you find him credible because his later views on all things esoteric mesh with your own,then consider what happened to change his perspective on all things audio.
It had to do with the audio community not heaping praise on his Fourier speakers.
That's just speculation on my part, but it wasn't long after that he became the Audio Critic myth debunker, and found he had a following of readers who were into the whole evil snake oil conspiracy mind set.
He had found a new audience.
Audiophiles who couldn't afford the stuff featured in Tas or Stereophile and who were resentful that they couldn't enjoy the stuff the writers were praising.
So if you can't join them then do what you can to discredit them as shills.
Suspect all reviews because they were bought and paid for.
Forget about improving the quality of your sound altogether.
Your ears are just fooling you, a wire is a wire and cheap is the way to go.
Only fools part with their hard earned cash spending it on speaker wires or power cords.
The whole hobby went from " here's a tip to get better sound" to " beware of snake oil, it's everywhere"
Aczill became fixated on debunking all things costly and related to the High End community that had abandoned him.
I will be forever grateful to the earlier Audio Critic reviews that turned me onto the relationship that fuses have with our gear.
The old (younger) Peter heard what they did, and was the first that I know of to even mention that a fuse can alter the sonics of the gear it's placed in.
But he didn't just speculate whether fuses can or can't make a difference.
He walked the walk and talked the talk.
He did the experiment for himself, and drew his conclusions based on what his ears were telling him.
He didn't think his ears were fooling him into believing an expensive(?) upgraded fuse made a difference,just to justify the expense.
He didn't believe that a fuse couldn't make any difference and dismiss it based on the knowledge of those who know.
He wanted to know for himself, and there's only one way to do that.
Until you have done the experiment yourself, you really don't know what you know.
I see that I wasn't the only audio fool to replace stock fuses .
I also never had anything explode or catch fire or need repairs because I ran without a fuse.
I don't condone that.
You don't have to do that, now that there are alternatives to cheap stock fuses.
What I did learn from Peter Aczill was that fuses degrade the sound.
He said they did. I wanted to know if what he said was true or not.
It was easy to replicate his experiment, albeit with some trepidation.
I tried replacing fuses, and indeed he was correct.
Fuses degraded the sound.
Replacing them with chunks of wire worked for me.
The sound was cleaner, less diffuse, more solid , sonics over safety got the better of me.
Then I started to hear about upgraded fuses.
I was already a convert based on my and Aczill's similar experiences with fuses.
So I gave them a try.
The sound was better than a stock fuse, not quite as good as a chunk or wire or soldered bypass,but now I had protection.
If Peter was wrong about fuses, then is he also wrong about speaker wire ?
If you find him credible because his later views on all things esoteric mesh with your own,then consider what happened to change his perspective on all things audio.
It had to do with the audio community not heaping praise on his Fourier speakers.
That's just speculation on my part, but it wasn't long after that he became the Audio Critic myth debunker, and found he had a following of readers who were into the whole evil snake oil conspiracy mind set.
He had found a new audience.
Audiophiles who couldn't afford the stuff featured in Tas or Stereophile and who were resentful that they couldn't enjoy the stuff the writers were praising.
So if you can't join them then do what you can to discredit them as shills.
Suspect all reviews because they were bought and paid for.
Forget about improving the quality of your sound altogether.
Your ears are just fooling you, a wire is a wire and cheap is the way to go.
Only fools part with their hard earned cash spending it on speaker wires or power cords.
The whole hobby went from " here's a tip to get better sound" to " beware of snake oil, it's everywhere"
Aczill became fixated on debunking all things costly and related to the High End community that had abandoned him.
I will be forever grateful to the earlier Audio Critic reviews that turned me onto the relationship that fuses have with our gear.
The old (younger) Peter heard what they did, and was the first that I know of to even mention that a fuse can alter the sonics of the gear it's placed in.
But he didn't just speculate whether fuses can or can't make a difference.
He walked the walk and talked the talk.
He did the experiment for himself, and drew his conclusions based on what his ears were telling him.
He didn't think his ears were fooling him into believing an expensive(?) upgraded fuse made a difference,just to justify the expense.
He didn't believe that a fuse couldn't make any difference and dismiss it based on the knowledge of those who know.
He wanted to know for himself, and there's only one way to do that.
I am delighted to know that Peter is still with us.
His earlier reviews in the Audio Critic always appealed to me, and in some instances they were the ones I relied on when in doubt when a component praised by TAS was dissed by Stereophile.
As far as our ears not being precision instruments, I have to disagree with you.
Mine may not be what they once were, and they may not be precise measuring devices, but they are excellent devices when used to listen to music.
His earlier reviews in the Audio Critic always appealed to me, and in some instances they were the ones I relied on when in doubt when a component praised by TAS was dissed by Stereophile.
As far as our ears not being precision instruments, I have to disagree with you.
Mine may not be what they once were, and they may not be precise measuring devices, but they are excellent devices when used to listen to music.
Yup, it's not worth it to argue about it and it is ironic that objectivists that cling to "science" won't experiment. IMO, that makes their beliefs more like religion than science. They look to their basic education as a religious devotee looks up to their imaginary god. Even as an engineer I realize my education just scratches the surface of the subjects I learned about, but some believe this is the end-all, be-all of technical knowledge when the truth is anyone good at memorizing information can get a degree these days. True understanding is not a requirement, I've had bosses that lead an engineering department who don't understand how calculus works...
I've made the offer to try cables many times and nobody will ever take me up on it and I don't expect that to ever change. This phenomenon of science turning to a dogmatic, religious-type of belief system sure is interesting and entertaining though.
As usual, folks at either extreme are often deluding themselves.
Both sides go too far at the extremes, with the audio science forum claiming audio science is special and subjective observations are not enough to constitute an untested hypothesis, which seems to be a rule made up just for audio and is not scientific or open minded. On the other end are those who implicitly trust their ears no matter what. If you look at the facts you understand that subjective observation is subject to possible biases and measurements do not describe all there is to experience in audio, so just like everything in life, the truth lies somewhere in the middle and designers are wise to follow a middle road where both measurements and subjective observation serve a purpose and add value to the design.
Here's an interesting article that fits right in explaining how "experts" become closed-minded:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/expert-closed-minded_563369bbe4b00aa54a4db53a
With audio this seems to happen when a person has just a passing knowledge of a subject.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/expert-closed-minded_563369bbe4b00aa54a4db53a
With audio this seems to happen when a person has just a passing knowledge of a subject.
Thank you for this so beautifully concise and yet encompassing statement. In fact I take it to e true for any endeavor in the fields of the sciences. As a great master of physics once told me: You have to sit on the fence and look at both sides.
Maybe the most interesting fact of all is those that are thee most adamant about simple principles applying that deny things like differences in capacitors, are typically participants on the forums but never the industry leaders despite their absolute resolve.
And the defacto defense is that everyone is an idiot.
And the defacto defense is that everyone is an idiot.
I have a highly resolving system. I decided to upgrade the stock fuses in my system with the Synergistic RED fuses. I put the first one in my ARC REF-3 preamp a week ago. It was an immediate improvement. What i didn't expect was the break-in period. It continued to improve over the week, and now the transformation is amazing. I'm going to do one piece of equipment per month just to get another audio "fix" over time and to judge the improvement in each piece. Here's what I'm hearing: Far less smear. A more organic texture to instruments. Better dynamics. A wider, deeper soundstage. Increased speed to the leading edge of instruments. The improvement from this ONE fuse change is NOT subtle at all, it is system changing. It's like going to a better preamp. I had a friend over last night who is very familiar with my system. He's a real cynic when it comes to tweeks. I told him in advance that I had made an improvement to the system, but I wanted him to guess what the change was. All he could say was that the improvement was dramatic. When I finally revealed that is was nothing more than a simple fuse, he was floored. He's ordering the fuses today. Nuff said. Now ... to change out the rest of the fuses in my system.
OregonP - which fuse do you use? There are a few out there that people recommend. Inexpensive tweaks are always fun. If they work, WIN. If they dont, no real loss. All the upside with none of the down (that is, providing they are properly manufactured to do what they were primarily designed to do which is protect the equipment!)...always a good thing. Thanks for any recommendations.
I'm using just one SR RED fuse in my preamp which gave me a really remarkable improvement. Highly recommended.
SR Red fuses
Just wanted to add my own 2 cents about the Synergistic Red Fuses. I've been following this thread recently and of course it piqued my attention. I've heard other posters elsewhere mention the benefits of Audiophile Fuses and to be honest my first reaction to it was very similar to my first reaction many years ago about audiophile powercords.
I thought it sounded ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Don't get me wrong...I've "believed" in plenty of tweaks over many decades in this hobby... I've exhausted most every type of footers from original tip toes and vibrapods to the much more pricier examples of each. I've done green pens, disc dampers, ultra purifiers and magic crystals...when it comes to any kind of 'gimmick' that might make a positive improvement I'm too embarrassed to mention how many more I've tried "Just for the heck of it... to find out for myself"... (I still have my VPI Magic Brick...) most items have delivered either minimal or negligible improvements while some have been worth their nominal asking prices.
Then there are those crazy powercords..."How could they possibly...?????" And besides; IF they really DO make an audible improvement in my system that's going to be another $$ PRICEY $$ can of worms I'm going to have to spend more money on if I want to 'fully' do my system justice.
Ugh. This hobby is really slamming my wallet. But lo and behold I eventually, grudgingly, somewhat kicking and screaming...decided to try a value priced over-achieving brand of after-market cable to replace the $11.95 generic OEM version that came with virtually every piece of equipment I've bought through all these years.
And guess what? It WAS better. Not just "Different"...as some will say the argument goes...it WAS BETTER. Noticeably, Obviously, Undeniably...better. And to those who say they don't want to believe me...I'm the first one to say "I understand, of course...". But you owe it to yourself to trust your own ears (they've been guiding you this far in the hobby right???) and stop saying to yourself "It Can't"...just do it.
Now, about this "Fuse" thing. Here we go again: First thought: "No way"..."How could a little piece of wire..."
Well, this time at least, IF it turns out to be true... they can't possibly cost that much...even if they're umpteen percent higher than a regular fuse...it won't amount to too much.
Well the one I've been reading the most about IS the Synergistic Research Red...I know there are other brands out there as the fuse wave is at least a few years old...but all I can attest to is the SR Red. I put one in my Dac (Lampizator Big 7) and one upstream from it in another Lampizator piece called the TranspOrt (which is essentially a highly modded Squeezebox Duet designed to act as liason for a hard drive music supply to feed into the B7 but was also modded to act as a "stepping-stone" [via S/PDIF feed] from my CD player [acting as a coax-out 'transport'] as well). Both units are seriously 'tube based'. Suffice to say they are both already remarkable performers and together excel in openness, resolution and transparency while also checking off the imaging and tangibility factors in spades.
Well, after a mere 12 hours of break in (they say they'll improve markedly over the next week): the SR Red fuses IMHO are THE best price/performance ratio tweak I have ever purchased. If it doesn't improve via more break in time at all...it's already exceptional...What's its key contribution? You won't believe me.
OK I'll tell you...
It's something everyone secretly learns to live without more of...especially when so many 'other things' are finally going so well...You know that "On Paper" it's something you should always be conscious of ... always strive for...but so often other 'good stuff' stands out more, like imaging, maybe dynamics, maybe frequency extension...lots of good qualities and you sometimes pay less attention to this particular factor. Well, word has it that upon break-in... after a few more days...?...
THOSE aforementioned 'attributes' are supposed to improve too but, even if they don't, you won't care because your system has just been infused with...or, should I say Rinsed Like a Summer Rainshower with a
C-L-A-R-I-T-Y you're going to finally have that you've never known before.
That's right. .. and you're going to smile...and be amazed...at what's coming through your most well known favorite recordings like you just didn't realize was there. I've been telling all my personal audio buddies. It's a no brainer. I kid you not.
Happy Lissn'n
Just wanted to add my own 2 cents about the Synergistic Red Fuses. I've been following this thread recently and of course it piqued my attention. I've heard other posters elsewhere mention the benefits of Audiophile Fuses and to be honest my first reaction to it was very similar to my first reaction many years ago about audiophile powercords.
I thought it sounded ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Don't get me wrong...I've "believed" in plenty of tweaks over many decades in this hobby... I've exhausted most every type of footers from original tip toes and vibrapods to the much more pricier examples of each. I've done green pens, disc dampers, ultra purifiers and magic crystals...when it comes to any kind of 'gimmick' that might make a positive improvement I'm too embarrassed to mention how many more I've tried "Just for the heck of it... to find out for myself"... (I still have my VPI Magic Brick...) most items have delivered either minimal or negligible improvements while some have been worth their nominal asking prices.
Then there are those crazy powercords..."How could they possibly...?????" And besides; IF they really DO make an audible improvement in my system that's going to be another $$ PRICEY $$ can of worms I'm going to have to spend more money on if I want to 'fully' do my system justice.
Ugh. This hobby is really slamming my wallet. But lo and behold I eventually, grudgingly, somewhat kicking and screaming...decided to try a value priced over-achieving brand of after-market cable to replace the $11.95 generic OEM version that came with virtually every piece of equipment I've bought through all these years.
And guess what? It WAS better. Not just "Different"...as some will say the argument goes...it WAS BETTER. Noticeably, Obviously, Undeniably...better. And to those who say they don't want to believe me...I'm the first one to say "I understand, of course...". But you owe it to yourself to trust your own ears (they've been guiding you this far in the hobby right???) and stop saying to yourself "It Can't"...just do it.
Now, about this "Fuse" thing. Here we go again: First thought: "No way"..."How could a little piece of wire..."
Well, this time at least, IF it turns out to be true... they can't possibly cost that much...even if they're umpteen percent higher than a regular fuse...it won't amount to too much.
Well the one I've been reading the most about IS the Synergistic Research Red...I know there are other brands out there as the fuse wave is at least a few years old...but all I can attest to is the SR Red. I put one in my Dac (Lampizator Big 7) and one upstream from it in another Lampizator piece called the TranspOrt (which is essentially a highly modded Squeezebox Duet designed to act as liason for a hard drive music supply to feed into the B7 but was also modded to act as a "stepping-stone" [via S/PDIF feed] from my CD player [acting as a coax-out 'transport'] as well). Both units are seriously 'tube based'. Suffice to say they are both already remarkable performers and together excel in openness, resolution and transparency while also checking off the imaging and tangibility factors in spades.
Well, after a mere 12 hours of break in (they say they'll improve markedly over the next week): the SR Red fuses IMHO are THE best price/performance ratio tweak I have ever purchased. If it doesn't improve via more break in time at all...it's already exceptional...What's its key contribution? You won't believe me.
OK I'll tell you...
It's something everyone secretly learns to live without more of...especially when so many 'other things' are finally going so well...You know that "On Paper" it's something you should always be conscious of ... always strive for...but so often other 'good stuff' stands out more, like imaging, maybe dynamics, maybe frequency extension...lots of good qualities and you sometimes pay less attention to this particular factor. Well, word has it that upon break-in... after a few more days...?...
THOSE aforementioned 'attributes' are supposed to improve too but, even if they don't, you won't care because your system has just been infused with...or, should I say Rinsed Like a Summer Rainshower with a
C-L-A-R-I-T-Y you're going to finally have that you've never known before.
That's right. .. and you're going to smile...and be amazed...at what's coming through your most well known favorite recordings like you just didn't realize was there. I've been telling all my personal audio buddies. It's a no brainer. I kid you not.
Happy Lissn'n
Last edited:
Hi,
What is the fuse spec for the ref 3? I own one and would like to have a punt at this.
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