Audio Horizons Fuses ?
- Thread starter Audio_Karma
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I use premium fuses and believe they are worthwhile for their apparent superior construction. That said, I can not confirm they impact sound in a meaningful and quantifiable way. YMMV.
A long time ago I bypassed the stock fuses in a lot of my gear with DIY ones.Mostly speaker wire,or solid core wire with the middle section covered leaving just bare ends to make contact.
Peter Aczel was the man who brought this to my attention back in the 1970's in his early Audio Critic reviews.
He felt all fuses degraded the sound.
Too bad he did a 180 somewhere along the way.
I'm sure he would be in the "fuse can't make a difference" tribe if he was still active in the audio community.
If he is gone ,he is certainly not forgotten.
Using DIY fuse bypass devices, always made the gear sound more open and solid sounding than the stock fuses did.
Luckily I never had any issues,but it wasn't a safe thing to be doing.I knew that.
When I heard about the IsoClean fuses I bought some, and yes,they were better than stock, maybe not as good as the DIY of solid or stranded copper,but they were safer.
Later I tried the HiFi Tuning Supremes and after that some AMR fuses.
I use them all my components,starting at the source and working to the amps.
Anyplace where there is a fuse,I upgraded the fuse.
I've had a couple of the designer fuses go out, and protect my gear just like they are supposed to.
I've gone back to the HiFi Supremes in my amps(Acoustat servo ).
They seem to sound the best to my ears with the gear I have.
Perhaps that's because all my other fuses are the Supreme fuses.Synergy?
If you are the type of audiophile who runs dedicated lines, upgraded power cords and swap tubes because you hear a difference, then you should add some of these upgraded fuses to your system.
If you are the type of audiophile who doesn't believe that power cables, dedicated lines, make a difference, or haven't heard a difference in any upgrades, then this one isn't for you.
I would add that most of this stuff is cumulative in respect that the more things you do, the easier it is to hear one difference or improvement from the last one.
In the end,the system should be more revealing of the information that is on the recording but also not fatiguing.You should want to listen more.
If not then don't blame the tweaks, the problem is elsewhere.
Peter Aczel was the man who brought this to my attention back in the 1970's in his early Audio Critic reviews.
He felt all fuses degraded the sound.
Too bad he did a 180 somewhere along the way.
I'm sure he would be in the "fuse can't make a difference" tribe if he was still active in the audio community.
If he is gone ,he is certainly not forgotten.
Using DIY fuse bypass devices, always made the gear sound more open and solid sounding than the stock fuses did.
Luckily I never had any issues,but it wasn't a safe thing to be doing.I knew that.
When I heard about the IsoClean fuses I bought some, and yes,they were better than stock, maybe not as good as the DIY of solid or stranded copper,but they were safer.
Later I tried the HiFi Tuning Supremes and after that some AMR fuses.
I use them all my components,starting at the source and working to the amps.
Anyplace where there is a fuse,I upgraded the fuse.
I've had a couple of the designer fuses go out, and protect my gear just like they are supposed to.
I've gone back to the HiFi Supremes in my amps(Acoustat servo ).
They seem to sound the best to my ears with the gear I have.
Perhaps that's because all my other fuses are the Supreme fuses.Synergy?
If you are the type of audiophile who runs dedicated lines, upgraded power cords and swap tubes because you hear a difference, then you should add some of these upgraded fuses to your system.
If you are the type of audiophile who doesn't believe that power cables, dedicated lines, make a difference, or haven't heard a difference in any upgrades, then this one isn't for you.
I would add that most of this stuff is cumulative in respect that the more things you do, the easier it is to hear one difference or improvement from the last one.
In the end,the system should be more revealing of the information that is on the recording but also not fatiguing.You should want to listen more.
If not then don't blame the tweaks, the problem is elsewhere.
Being an Acoustat fanboy since the early 80s,the very first mod to the Acoustats is to bypass the fuse, why ????? because the very best fuse is no fuse at all 
as for the equipment i have a friend that sent his Lamm preamp for repair and the miss Lamm blew her top when she saw a very high end fuse in there and simply took it out with a nice little note warning my friend to leave the original fuse in there.
as for the equipment i have a friend that sent his Lamm preamp for repair and the miss Lamm blew her top when she saw a very high end fuse in there and simply took it out with a nice little note warning my friend to leave the original fuse in there.
Being an Acoustat fanboy since the early 80s,the very first mod to the Acoustats is to bypass the fuse, why ????? because the very best fuse is no fuse at all
That's funny. My Lehmann SCR phono stage comes with an AMR fuse from the factory. Different manufactures have different ideas about fuses I guess.
I just purchased an AMR fuse for my Exasound DAC's power supply. Should get it Monday. They are UL ,SA, PSE, CE, and CCC approved though.
I am not saying that there aren't quality fuses i am just saying that in 31 years with Acoustat speakers i have never used any fuses in the interfaces.
Understood. I was commenting on the second half of your post.
Bypassing fuses in speakers all together could be risky, but if you do not push them too hard then it's probably OK. You obviously have not had any problems with your speakers.
You are right i never did push them to hard, when everything is there you don't have to.
Could it be that some folks view their creations as a work of perfection?
Everything can be improved.
Improving the fuse is a cheap upgrade.
If Mr.Acoustat's friend had upgraded to some parts in the amp from Dueland, I wonder if there would have been the same reaction?
Then again,why use something so cheap as a stock fuse in such an expensive amp in the first place?
Surely they could have used some type of thermal breaker.
Everything can be improved.
Improving the fuse is a cheap upgrade.
If Mr.Acoustat's friend had upgraded to some parts in the amp from Dueland, I wonder if there would have been the same reaction?
Then again,why use something so cheap as a stock fuse in such an expensive amp in the first place?
Surely they could have used some type of thermal breaker.
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