Audio Magic Nano-Liquid Fuses---mikey likey :)

[cjfrbw]

Don't have to buy the darned things, just use some silver bypass wire and trust your components for a session or two. If you can't hear those, you certainly are not going to hear a "nano" fuse.

 

[microstrip]

Don't have to buy the darned things, just use some silver bypass wire and trust your components for a session or two. If you can't hear those, you certainly are not going to hear a "nano" fuse.

I would not be so sure ... I do not have details about the composition of the specialty fuses, but I would not be astonished if they use some type of material that has a behavior different from a typical metal, such as silver. Metals have a positive resistance coefficient - the resistance increases with temperature. If I would want to manufacture a fuse sounding different my first approach would be making it using constantan, an alloy that has almost low temperature resistivity coefficient. Or I would dope the metal with some semiconductor - they have negative temperature resistivity coefficient and would be a nice justification to use the words nano and quantum in the marketing. All my imagination, I never measured any fuse and do not know of any work in this area.

 

[Steve Williams]

Francisco

You might be onto something. Perhaps you could manufacture one of these uber fuses and bring it to market.

 

[microstrip]

Francisco

You might be onto something. Perhaps you could manufacture one of these uber fuses and bring it to market.

Perhaps when I have some time I will try to get some of these special fuses and assemble a jig to perform some non destructive tests of dynamic behavior of fuses. But then the main question is that no one is prepared to correlate the obtained data with sound quality.

cj and VTL use special fuses for the B+ line of their amplifiers. They cost a lot more than a normal fuse, and when I change the tubes, during the tube initial non stop burn-in phase (100 hours) I replace them with a very cheap fuse of lower current rating, because sometimes a few of the new tubes suffer from infant mortality. Once I forgot to put the good original fuses and a few days after started complaining about the bad quality of the new tubes, checked all the system, put the old tubes again in place - and no improvement. Only a few days later I found the box with the good fuses and realized my mistake. I re-inserted them, and voila - great sound again. Please do not ask me to prove it, and yes I know what is a placebo!

 

[cjfrbw]

I'll make my fuses of "Higgsbosonium". It will accelerate the flow of electrons through the component to give that ethereal, spacey quality.

Dilithium fuses would be a nice handle, draw in the Trekkies and give the component warp drive.

Maybe Quantum Tunnel fuses, creates an energy sump that packs in more electrons per cubic centimeter.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em and make a buck!

 

[TBone]

Don't have to buy the darned things, just use some silver bypass wire and trust your components for a session or two. If you can't hear those, you certainly are not going to hear a "nano" fuse.

Yeah, I thought of mentioning this earlier, but decided against it considering the obvious risks. That said, it certainly makes one wonder what these "special" fuses could possibly bring to the sonic table that a good quality / direct connection wouldn't? If it's noise based, a PLC would suffice.

tb1

 

[TBone]

I'll make my fuses of "Higgsbosonium". It will accelerate the flow of electrons through the component to give that ethereal, spacey quality.

Dilithium fuses would be a nice handle, draw in the Trekkies and give the component warp drive.

Maybe Quantum Tunnel fuses, creates an energy sump that packs in more electrons per cubic centimeter.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em and make a buck!

Yeah, why the hell not ... off course, when they ask you about the technology, you can always claim ... magicians don't give away their secrets.

tb1

 

[cjfrbw]

Yeah, why the hell not ... off course, when they ask you about the technology, you can always claim ... magicians don't give away their secrets.

tb1

Yes, I notice that the proponents are so utterly critical of the technologies involved, it must be complete hell for the fuse marketers. NOT~

 

[microstrip]

I'll make my fuses of "Higgsbosonium". It will accelerate the flow of electrons through the component to give that ethereal, spacey quality.

Dilithium fuses would be a nice handle, draw in the Trekkies and give the component warp drive.

Maybe Quantum Tunnel fuses, creates an energy sump that packs in more electrons per cubic centimeter.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em and make a buck!

The Higgs boson is a particle with no spin or electric charge, people are used to lithium in batteries and most audiophiles are not Star Trek fans - I would only pick the fantastic Quantum Tunnel fuses. But you have to get a better explanation - tunnel diodes are now trivial components and most people will understand too easily you are not being serious in your marketing terms.

 

[cjfrbw]

The Higgs boson is a particle with no spin or electric charge, people are used to lithium in batteries and most audiophiles are not Star Trek fans - I would only pick the fantastic Quantum Tunnel fuses. But you have to get a better explanation - tunnel diodes are now trivial components and most people will understand too easily you are not being serious in your marketing terms.

Well, you just flunked your marketing director interview.

 

[mep]

Sometimes this forum reminds me of my formative years growing up in Catholic schools. From grades two through six, I went to a Catholic school where they had a big yellow line painted down the playground dividing it in half-girls on one side and boys on the other. We weren't allowed to cross over that line at recess. If our basketball or football went on the girl's side, we were at their mercy to give it back to us. If we crossed the line, the nuns gave us a beating. Those bells the nuns rang at recess time were a bitch when they were clanging off the side of your head. Sometimes I think we need the same thing with the objectivists and the subjectivists. I actually recommended that before, but I guess it's too much fun to pick on each other.

 

[treitz3]

That bell could come in very handy with regards to some audio discussions. The two sides constantly getting at each other sometimes prevents folks from learning about our hobby. It can get frustrating at times. Sometimes, very frustrating.

Tom

 

[garylkoh]

Sorry to rain on anybody's parade, but you need to be careful when changing out fuses and trying to design your own. I hope that you are aware of the dangers of fuse swapping beyond your credibility on the forum and sound quality.

I had to select fuses to include all the products that I produce, and it's not a trivial task. There are several things you need to know.

1) There are two major standards by which fuses are rated. An IEC rating means that the fuse can continuously operate at 100% of the rated current. A UL rating means that the fuse can continuously operate at 75% of the rated current. This is important because if your piece of equipment has a UL rated fuse, and you replace it with an IEC rated fuse, you could be operating at 33% over-current without the fuse blowing - which might mean expensive repairs if your power transistors are overloaded by a short circuit and the fuse doesn't blow. If your product uses an IEC fuse, and you replace it with a UL fuse, it could blow easily and you wonder why.

2) Every fuse has a "Breaking Capacity". This is the maximum current that a fuse can safely blow without a catastrophic failure such as fire or explosion. If the fuse has too low a breaking capacity (for example short circuiting a power amp), the surge could cause the fuse to explode and things could catch fire. The short circuit behavior of any product is a difficult thing to calculate - and the only way to do it might be to do some destructive testing. Blow up a couple of amplifiers, and see if the fuse explodes.

3) Slow blow fuses are used when there is in-rush and peak current at start-up. They are designed to start working from cold. For example, that is why sometimes when you have been playing your system for some time. Turn it off, and then turn it on again the fuse blows. What could be dangerous is that "slow blow" fuses come with different speeds and react to different patterns of the surge. Technically, this is the I2t value - current squared times time - the heat energy needed to blow the fuse. If you use a fuse with too high a heat energy value, you could be damaging your amp/component while waiting for the fuse to blow in a short circuit situation. Too low a heat energy value, and the initial surge blows the "slow blow" fuse.



4) Pulse factor derating of the fuse wire. As a fuse wire is subjected to pulses of high current (everytime you turn your system on for example), the fuse wire ages. Here's a picture:



Obviously an aged fuse wire will break more easily, but we might also conclude that it won't sound as good.

5) Heat dissipation factor. All fuses heat up under operation. If the heat dissipation of the fuse is greater than the designed capacity of the fuseholder, the fuseholder could melt.

No risk, no gain. But please know your risks before you play the game.

 

[Steve Williams]

Great informative (for me at least) post Gary

 

[Orb]

Interesting Gary,
how many of the specialist fuses have you seen that show their rating/approval?
The only one I can find the information easily for is the AMR fuse; ?Approval: UL SA PSE CE CCC

Cheers
Orb

 

[Steve Williams]

BTW, I just checked the Nano-liquid website and there is no rating given

 

[Orb]

Steve,
try to find them for any fuse, interesting that AMR does provide such information and the one difference is their background being an actual audio equipment manufacturer as well.
They even have their mains cable tested-approved.

Curious if the other fuses do provide said rating and just difficult to find, or its not considered.....
Cheers
Orb

 

[microstrip]

(...) No risk, no gain. But please know your risks before you play the game.

Gary,

Your warning is particularly important because most of the specially fuses are not "fast" of "slow" labeled. As they do not blow at turn on I admit that they are mostly slow blow types. This means they will not protect properly semiconductor output stages. I know at less one amplifier where using anything either than the specified Fast fuse is dangerous, as it is the only protection of the output transistors and speakers.

Advertisement time - as cj, ARC, my old Fluke meter and most of my laboratory equipment comes with Cooper Bussmann fuses I have faith in this fuse brand ...

 

[garylkoh]

The danger is that if the audiophile fuses are not properly certified or have any ratings, they will be over-rated so that they don't blow. Imagine how many disgruntled customers there would be if you bought a $100 fuse, put it in and it blows the first time you turn it on. Then, if the fuse if over-rated for your application and it doesn't blow when it needs to protect your gear........

 

[garylkoh]

Gary,

Your warning is particularly important because most of the specially fuses are not "fast" of "slow" labeled. As they do not blow at turn on I admit that they are mostly slow blow types. This means they will not protect properly semiconductor output stages. I know at less one amplifier where using anything either than the specified Fast fuse is dangerous, as it is the only protection of the output transistors and speakers.

Advertisement time - as cj, ARC, my old Fluke meter and most of my laboratory equipment comes with Cooper Bussmann fuses I have faith in this fuse brand ...

Cooper Bussmann make some of the best fuses. Schurter is another brand that I trust for fuses. Even within their fuse families, you can find fuses ranging from $1 to $20 each, and it isn't the most expensive that is the best fuse to apply.