Who’s up for a $2800 fuse?

[itaintwhy]

Its difficult to comprehend a $2800 fuse. I can think of other places that the money would be better spent, from my perspective.

Mikem53 - Judging by the gear in your signature we appear to have a similar amount invested in our systems. I too have a First Watt - the J2. I'm jealous of your SIT3.

The QSA fuses are NOT $2800. That's only the most expensive one. They start at $28... with a 30 day money back guarantee... and an opportunity to trade up.

Nelson Pass sells amps for, I believe, $160K. Your SIT3 cost a fraction of that. I hope you get my point.

Without exception the naysayers here and elsewhere have been those who haven't heard the fuses. While those who have purchased and heard them are uniformly praising them.

I initially bought 2 QSA light blues ($71 each) - for my DAC and pre-amp. Listened for 2 weeks, swapped back the originals, and knew immediately that my initial impression was right. They made a significant improvement to my system.

Thereafter I ordered one for my First Watt J2. After a week I'm less convinced of the improvement with the amp but time will tell.

Nonetheless, the modest $210 investment I've made in fuses has had a profoundly positive effect upon my system, far beyond what I would have expected.

 

[Cellcbern]

Barry im almost 100 % sure if somebody handed you a painted ordinary fuse without knowing you d hear a difference .
Do me a favour put the old one back in after a month , same thing

You are "almost 100% sure" - what does that mean? Does that mean you have tried audiophile fuses and heard no difference or that you are speculating about something you haven't tried?

 

[Willgolf]

So that likely equates to £700 in the uk , I would hope there would be exceptional backup with these from the dealers since the SR fuses are renowned to blow quite easily from what I have read and would hope their rating are spot on as it could be a very expensive affair indeed !

I have owned every SR fuse that they have made and never once had a problem with a fuse blowing. I have since gone to all QSA yellow in my system and am considering the QSA Red for my my Lampi Pacific.

 

[Cellcbern]

I have owned every SR fuse that they have made and never once had a problem with a fuse blowing. I have since gone to all QSA yellow in my system and am considering the QSA Red for my my Lampi Pacific.

I also have not had a problem with SR fuses blowing. My system is all SR Orange now. Ordered QSA yellow to try. Plan to compare it with the new SR Purple.

 

[Music and Wine]

Hello Everyone

I decided to try something.

As you all know I am critical about the price of QSA most expensive fuse and believe it is too expensive at $2800 for a fuse ,it does not matter how good it actually is.!

I also mentioned,I believe everything can my a difference.

I took the main fuse on the AC side out and cleaned it and just put normal black insolate tape around the fuse on my power amp,just on the glass section.

I could hear an immediate effect ,the sound is more centred in the midrange and the high frequencies are not as shimmering.We all know the effect,we sometimes change something,but don’t know if it is our imagination or not.I am sure many people know this very well.

My wife,she thinks,all this Hifi stuff is madness,but she sees me daily doing something,different tubes,taking things apart and soldering.She always tells me,I am crazy.Maybe I am

Her comments were,translated into English.”It sound very different today,the sound is duller”.I did nothing else ,just put tape around one fuse in a power amp.It can’t change the electrical properties of the fuse in anyway,whatsoever.It only changed the vibration spectrum of one fuse and it is very easy to hear.

Is it quantum science,in a way yes,would my colleagues agree,Nope, without a study and proof and other qualified people verifying the results,I wouldn’t have a chance in hell .How do you proof something you hear but cannot measure.Iwill be extremely difficult and most scientists will not even try to get recognition for something like it ,it will just damage their reputation.Other scientists will immediately,think you lost it and believe me scientists are like sharks and will take any chance to put you out of business or cripple your reputation.

Well later today,I am going to my lab and going to analyse the with a ceramic piezoelectric sensor and a optical laser accelerometer,the difference between a normal fuse and one with tape around it.I suspect,the tape just changed the vibration behaviour and damped some vibration frequencies,nothing major but very easy to hear.Try it yourself,costs nothing,but will only work if your fuse holder allows it.

Just a joke,maybe I should use instead of the black tape,red tape,maybe it will change the sound.Honestly It can,because the difference in colour can make a difference,because vibration energy are changed into heat energy and the colour black transfers heat better,everything can make a difference,but I suspect the difference will be very small.

Let us all enjoy our music and have fun
Cheers

 

[andromedaaudio]

As you all know I am critical about the price of QSA most expensive fuse and believe it is too expensive at $2800 for a fuse ,it does not matter how good it actually is.!

My wife,she thinks,all this Hifi stuff is madness,but she sees me daily doing something,different tubes,taking things apart and soldering.She always tells me,I am crazy.Maybe I am

I guess in the Quantum world we live in everything is possible .

 

[matakana]

I also have not had a problem with SR fuses blowing. My system is all SR Orange now. Ordered QSA yellow to try. Plan to compare it with the new SR Purple.

Well congratulations you won the lottery! I unfortunately did not , with my SR fuse , and it lead to frustration/time and cost. How can you be sure the ratings are accurate ? what happens if the £ 70 - £ 2800 fuse pre maturely blows, or takes out the ancillary that its potentially protecting, is it under warranty ? WHAT YOU D’ONT KNOW YOU D’ONT MISS. IMHO.

 

[Music and Wine]

Hi Andromedaaudio

You are correct,in the small world of quantum mechanics everything is possible and everybody is sober and drunk,- crazy and completely normal at the same time.

In any case,I am ,or think I am , an audiophile and that makes me by definition crazy or drives me insane.

Please share your experience with all your fuses

Cheers

 

[spiritofmusic]

Oh, the trick in the high end is not to listen to 99.999% of what's out there Lol.

 

[Music and Wine]

Yes,you are 100% correct,but listening to all the bla….bla and nonsense is sometimes big fun.I don’t want to be too serious in life and take only my wife seriously,she is German,if you know what I mean,I try to be different and a free spirit.

Hifi is too subjective,right or wrong does not exist but I really enjoy people’s opinion and how seriously they live/ take their hobby.

Just read ,just this thread,people go mad about a fuse.The question that comes to my mind is,We are too fortunate,we worry about fuses and 1 billion people are starving.Who’s got the biggest problem or real problem.

In any case I love it,the different options and especially the technical explanations or no explanation at all,still completely valid
Cheers

 

[spiritofmusic]

M&W, I've certainly drunk plenty from the Kool Aid in my time. FWIW, hifi pricing is accelerating at Zimbabwean hyper inflationary rates, for some time now, and whatever the pros and cons of these fuses, their pricing is totally consistent with where the rest of the industry is going.
If you look to see where $2800 is justified, you're gonna be seriously disappointed, there'll be nothing in its make up that can be justified.
Maybe if the inventor had blown 000s of SR fuses in his research, and needed to recoup his outlay.
For me, the whole escalating price of tweaks as a phenomenon was first made visible to me by Troy groundbox pricing, especially the $70k Signature NG, and I see this fuse in a similar light.

 

[Music and Wine]

Hi Spirit of Music

agree 100%.The pricing is getting out of hand,but we are all too be blamed for it,definitely myself.
We are willing to pay these prices.I just promised myself,I am out of the rat race,because I just can’t take it anymore.Even if I got the financial means,but adding more fuel on this fire is not for me anymore.I decided I will build everything myself,sometimes with help from experts,but I won’t support this anymore.

 

[Willgolf]

I also have not had a problem with SR fuses blowing. My system is all SR Orange now. Ordered QSA yellow to try. Plan to compare it with the new SR Purple.

I will really be interested in your analysis of QSA yellow vs SR Purple.

 

[Willgolf]

Well congratulations you won the lottery! I unfortunately did not , with my SR fuse , and it lead to frustration/time and cost. How can you be sure the ratings are accurate ? what happens if the £ 70 - £ 2800 fuse pre maturely blows, or takes out the ancillary that its potentially protecting, is it under warranty ? WHAT YOU D’ONT KNOW YOU D’ONT MISS. IMHO.

I guess you might also say, how can you be sure the 50 cent fuse the manufacturers put in is the right rating. I once did a forum on A'gon titled why don't manufacturers use upgraded fuses. It turned out to be an interesting read. Most people thought it was the cost issue. Companies did not want to start adding cost to the components. My take was if an upgraded fuse really works and the sound is better, they would sell more units. In my case, if a fuse were to ever blow, I have plenty of SR fuses in reserve.

 

[Music and Wine]

I am going or are busy analysing,2x 3,15 amp Hifi tuning supreme 5x20mm fast and 2 x5 amp Hifi tuning supreme 6.3x32mm slow fuses only on the vibration behaviour and if normal black tape changes anything.I was able to hear something on my system but would I be able to measure it.Only used the larger 6.3x32mm fuse in my amp,were the differences were very audible with or without tape around the glass section of the fuse.

Small fuse,5x20mm,50hz ,100hz and 200hz spike and one at 550-570hz
Small fuse with tape,same 50hz ,100hz and 200hz spike but 26-29% lower in amplitude and83% lower at 550-570 hz
Larger 32x32mm fuse ,50hz ,100hz and 200hz and two spikes very large spikes at 430 and 710hz
Large fuse with tape,50hz ,100hz and 200hz spike but 46-51% less in amplitude and the 2 spikes at 430 and 710hz 88% lower .

With tape the small 5x20mm fuse still had around 19-20% less vibrations



the 50-100-200hz vibration spikes are from the Alternating Current AC ,we use in Switzerland 230Volt ,50hz but I want to examine the higher frequencies spikes closer,I think they are from the resonance frequencies from the different fuses.Everything got one or more resonant frequencies.

I only spend 2 hours in my lab and these machines are normally in constant use.I have to fight for time.My employees got priority,they making my money and I just presuming a hobby ,but I will try to find out where the higher frequencies vibration come from.Even if I have to go one day late afternoon,when everybody is at home,I will try to get to it.

I could not measure any difference,regarding the impedance and dc resistance on the fuses with or without tape as expected

This is what I was able to measure and I could hear the difference in my amp with one 6.3am fuse with or without tape around it.

Maybe and just a suspicion,maybe the whole fuse differences are only the difference in vibration or vibration control,I don’t know,just a guess.

I took black tape,normal isolatebtape ,cut the tape to fit just on the glass section of the fuse,just one turn.

maybe two or more turns will be better.I don’t know.I haven’t tried it.

It is very easy and anybody can try it and if please let us know if you tr

Please see the results just as guidance and nothing more with different make of fuses the results may differ and it was just a 2 hour stunt for now
Cheers and let all the different fuses give you pleasure and make your Hifi experience even better
Enjoy,a hifi nut

 

[Music and Wine]

Hello

Please don’t point a gun at my head and this is not the beginning and end off anything and I am not a fuse specialist or a fuse Doctor,I am just a hifi nut and like to find out if differences in a fuse can be measured, nothing more and I only used the Hifi tuning fuses because I had them,no specific reason whatsoever.I use them and like them,whether they the best ,I don’t know.

Cheers and enjoy

 

[spiritofmusic]

M&W, you make a very valid point at the pitfalls of trying to discern if a change is a substantive one, or just "change for change's sake".
One could propose as you have done that the very simple execution of a swap is more than just the component swapped out and the component swapped in. Maybe the very act of the change alters some aspects irrevocably, as in shifting dirt from a connector. I'm sure it's possible.
In my particular case, I got a massive uptick installing Entreq in my system. Upon moving to this new room w new power grid, my Entreq then seemed to be deletirious, out it came, but 12 months later I reinstalled it, found it beneficial again although at nowhere near the levels I did initially. And it just deserves its place in my system.
Was my initially overwhelmingly positive reaction an over reaction? Pure positive bias?
Or was the change as moderate as it is now, but it seemed bigger because it was the first real tweak in my system?
Or was it as you propose, simply a change that sounded like a change, my mind doing the rest?

 

[Music and Wine]

To be very honest,I don’t know if the fuse with tape sounds better.I need more time.You got a very valid point.If it is different,it is not always better and I know the unconscious mind can take anybody for a ride.Sometimes I believe we want to hear and want it to sound better.
I can only say the fuse with the tape sounds different,I am not sure it is better,my wife doesn’t like it and believe me she hardly ever gives her opinion.She always tells me she can’t hear a difference but the fuse with the tape in my power amp,she heard the difference immediately,without me saying a word or asking her opinion.This normally never happens,but the difference is big and very easy to hear.

I know from my own experience.The first day I got Stax009s headphones I loved them and I wanted to like them,they and the headphone amp cost a lot of money for a headphone hobby but 2 days later I could never listen to the again and sold them after 10 days for half the price.Nothing wrong with the headphones but I expected something else and the sound was not what I like.
I think sometimes we want something to sound good,or maybe it is just me,especially if I have spend a lot of my hard earned money .
Most people will never admit,whatever they bought was a bad move and I understand this fully.Nobody wants to admit failure,we just people and most of us are men and many men got an ego and have a big problem admitting they made a mistake .

whatever right or wrong ,we must never forget it is just a hobby,maybe a dam expensive hobby

Enjoy your Hifi and music

 

[Cellcbern]

Hello

Please don’t point a gun at my head and this is not the beginning and end off anything and I am not a fuse specialist or a fuse Doctor,I am just a hifi nut and like to find out if differences in a fuse can be measured, nothing more and I only used the Hifi tuning fuses because I had them,no specific reason whatsoever.I use them and like them,whether they the best ,I don’t know.

Cheers and enjoy

The best tool for determining the differences that fuses make (like everything else when it comes to audio) is your ears. In my experience the thinner fo.Q damping tape on a fuse is more effective at damping vibrations than just regular tape. I use a hole punch to make a small fo.Q disc and put it on the fuse - sometimes over one of the WA-Quantum, Akiko, or Telos tuning discs. I have used Acme, Brimar, Isoclean, Telos, Hifi Tuning, Synergistic, and Audio Horizons fuses over the years. All but the Acme have made small (only) improvements in liquidity and clarity compared to stock fuses in my components. Brimar fuses have been the best value, SR (Orange) the best performer to date (waiting on the QSA Yellow and SR Purple). If the QSA fuses make more than a small improvement that will be a first in my experience. Haven't had a problem with any of them blowing.

 

[LL21]

The best tool for determining the differences that fuses make (like everything else when it comes to audio) is your ears. In my experience the thinner fo.Q damping tape on a fuse is more effective at damping vibrations than just regular tape. I use a hole punch to make a small fo.Q disc and put it on the fuse - sometimes over one of the WA-Quantum, Akiko, or Telos tuning discs. I have used Acme, Brimar, Isoclean, Telos, Hifi Tuning, Synergistic, and Audio Horizons fuses over the years. All but the Acme have made small (only) improvements in liquidity and clarity compared to stock fuses in my components. Brimar fuses have been the best value, SR (Orange) the best performer to date (waiting on the QSA Yellow and SR Purple). If the QSA fuses make more than a small improvement that will be a first in my experience. Haven't had a problem with any of them blowing.

Wow...good to know. I have never A/B, tested fuses. As a result of moving all of the power cables to Sablon Audio (all of which use SR Orange), I now am the beneficiary of a number of people's extensive work (thank you, Mark Coles of Sablon!).

Look forward to hearing what you think of QSA Yellow and SR Purple...what is your estimated arrival date on those?