Fuses have NO affect upon sound quality. Electrons flow the same through any fuse, regardless of cost. There is NO "bottleneck" effect.
Aftermarket fuse to tame a bright system?
Been reading all the interesting posts here, I've recently switched over to Audioquest silver interconnects and speaker cables, the improvement is easy to hear over OCC copper - lower noise floor, more clarity, greater transient snap, larger soundstage etc.... BUT.
I would say my system still has body, but the top end is now bright/harsh. Could an aftermarket fuse tame this, so that I can still retain the clarity and other benefits of silver? I'm concerned that this potential solution may make my system more dynamic, and potentially give it a U or V shape sound profile - which is definitely what I don't want.
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I experimented with three different brands of pure silver cables that I bought used for a couple hundred dollars each. At first, I was impressed, but eventually decided that the top end was detailed, but too bright. Changing tubes in my preamp helped, but didn't solve the problem. I'm now using a Harmonic Technology RecTa oc between my amp and preamp and a DH Labs Air Matrix between my dac and preamp. I also use the DH Labs Air Matrix between my sacd player and preamp. I'm happy now. |
@sls883 the Harmonic Technology RecTa interconnect seems to use Neotech OCC Copper bulk cable. Did you retain the same clarity, details and soundstage when you switched over to this? I’ve tried some copper interconnect in place and it does indeed cure the the brightness, but I loose all of the other benefits of silver and the sound is comparatively murky. |
@gavin1977 Yes, the Harmonic Technology cable gives me all of the sound qualities that you mention with my current gear. Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL preamp, Coda amp, Innuos Zen Mk3 streamer, etc. It was recommended by a rep with the Cable Company. The first time I tried it with my previous preamp, I didn't care for it. I felt that I was missing some top end. On a whim, I got it out along with the DH Labs cable and tried it. I'm very happy with the results. |
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For now, do nothing. You need to get accustomed to the new sound. A lot of the break-in process, I suspect, is the listener breaking in, not the gear. Also, try not to move the new cables at all; let them rest in their current position so that static charges in the insulation stabilize and become evenly distributed. After that, you might need to tune the system if it still doesn't please you. Any new addition is not something that you can drop in in place of something else; you have to make adjustments. The first adjustment would be speaker placement or listening chair placement because these are free changes. Sometimes it is a shockingly small movement of the speaker will do it. In particular, change the toe-in of the speaker to primarily alter the energy delivered by the tweeter. Moving the speaker may allow you to find a placement with more bass reinforcement--more bass means the relative balance has shifted downward so the perceived brightness is reduced. I doubt that a quick and easy hardware solution, such as fuse swap will really do the trick if there has been a substantial change. Perhaps the best hardware solution might be to put back one of the interconnects, or the speaker wire, s that the entire system is not cabled with the Audioquest stuff. |
@gavin1977 I have two Synergistic Research cables (Kaleidoscope and Looking Glass) and an older XLO Ultra cable. I do seem to lose some sq with those. I also have a Morrow Audio MA-5. No real complaints about it. I have Core Power Technology Diamond cables. They aren't bad. I think it's all about system matching. I thought I had wasted my money on the Harmonic Technology cable. It's been sitting in it's box for a while. The DH Labs Air Matrix is very good, too. At least it is in my system. I haven't tried any super expensive interconnects. My speaker cables were $1500, but I haven't spent nearly that much on ICs. I like how my system sounds now, so I probably won't try more cables. |
[to @gavin1977] As a quick test and self reminder of what just happened, try re-inserting a pure copper interconnect head of stream, back at the source, ahead of the downstream silver cables. You can move the cable up/down the stack and find a balance sometimes. As @jtcf noted it can be leaning you in a new direction with all silver cables in your system. Give it time or try testing a few ideas... I do this some times with my current pure copper stack reinserting a silver-over-copper cable back in to the system to remember how silver can make things more tipped up depending where you locate it within your system. You can also try letting it sit for a while, letting it go as-is, see if it will mello out some in time, yet I always found my former all silver cable loom a bit more bright and tipped up than I liked fwiw. A buddy of mine has my all-silver cable loom now in his very mellow tube system with a mello tube dac in the mix and it sounds quite nice. Just a matter of finding a balance perhaps. |
I definitely agree that you need to get them fully broken in before concluding there is a problem. Several hundred hours. I would only start getting concerned after a couple hundred hours.
What are your components? If they are budget oriented components then they may require warm interconnects… like Cardas to keep the system balanced. |
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Speaker placement/toe-in changes that will make a substantial difference can be quite small and may even help with other aspects of performance. This is the cheapest, and probably the best fix; if it doesn't work out, just undo the "fix." I don't believe one needs to use the same cabling throughout, so swapping in one or two other cables to see if that is the fix is a good approach too; it will cost you nothing if you kept the old cables. The last thing would be spending money (although that can be fun anyway). Power cord changes probably won't do the trick--good power cords tend to help with dynamics, clarity and sometimes soundstaging, but rarely fix brightness--but, then again, they are not likely to make the sound worse, so that it not so much a gamble.
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@gavin1977 Adequate break in is a good idea. It enforces a measure of discipline against rapid changes. Have you considered adding an Equalizer? Either analog (Loki) or digital (miniDSP)? An EQ will yield more predictable results than using cables for tone control. And possibly cheaper in the long run. |
I remember back in my younger years purchasing the kimber kgc, pure silver Interconnects. Out of the box best cable I ever heard. Then after breakin they went bright on me. Stayed away from silver ever since. I find a good hybrid seems to be the ticket for my ears. I have acoustic zen absolute speaker cables and it’s the first cable after many to sound perfect in my system. I get all the air, fabulous midrange and very articulate bass. These became a game changer in my system.
As far as fuses go, I have used some that tamed brightness, but…. They also sounded dull and lifeless. I would not recommend that route. Break in might help, but often I cannot tell if the cable broke in or my ears adjusted. From my years of experience I can tell you suggestions and opinions are not going to get you satisfied. Unfortunately you are just gonna have to try different things and that cost money. Everybody’s ears and systems are different. I still have all the fuses I have purchased. If I knew which one cut the highs I would give it to you for free. |
Before using the cables you should soak them in a mixture of eye of newt… not the new that you’re probably thinking of that is on Fox News. Then here’s where the magic is call them out of the warm mixture and hang them over a small fire. Then take and sprinkle flying monkey pubic hair into the flames and let the smoke go all over the cables and that will remove the harness and make them as smooth as a flying monkey. You can get these products at one of those cable store they sell about every pokey mythical product you could think of. Good luck it worked for me |
@rhg3 - I recently did a lot of experimentation with miniDSP (SHD). It is a good DAC, but not great. Adding it in analog chain may not be a good idea since EQ is digital so the path will involve AD conversion and back. Now, I also tried adding SHD in pure digital path, between my PC and Terminator DAC (trying Dirac and PEQ). Well... I cannot say SHD was transparent. Some quality was lost with PEQ on. |
I took possession yesterday of a pair of Audio Magic Masterpiece M2’s to grace the Audion Mk3 monoblocs. These fuses have been just the ticket for the last bit of settling down of the Cornwall 4’s. They get a soft grip on the treble and high mids without lessening detail at all. Even though they are nowhere near break-in yet it is already quite obvious that they are a perfect match for my set-up. First thing noticed was that diction of the sung word was quite a bit more intelligible. This may be because instrument separation is handled better which then de-clutters the music. The music is also less in your face but with no diminution of musical information - more relaxed, more natural sounding. This is as close a sound to my tube set-up as I have ever gotten with a SS system. I am just starting out - more later. |
Fuses have a standards-based rating. Manufacturers of electronics rely on these standards to protect their equipment. You can rely on industrial suppliers like Bussmann or Littelfuse or Eaton to deliver product according to the accepted standards. One option is solderable fuses. I use them in the power supply for my DIY phono/pre, and there seems to be an audible difference between the solderable fuses and the cartridge fuses. IMO I’m an ignorant man, and I prefer to use industrial suppliers when I can. YMMV |
Yeah, they will help.. I have Synergistic Research fuses in every fuse holder in my system, streamer, DAC, amp etc... They do help with a more analog and smoother sound .. not sure how but they do work and I'll always use them going forward.. I have titanium tweeters which used to be a little fatiguing but the fuses helped, also get a Nobsound Schumann wave generator on Amazon, it's like $50 and also smooths out the system.. and the last tweak that ended my harshness issues was supertweeters, mine are JMR from Japan but they don't make them anymore |
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