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Audiophile Fuses - Are We Certain They Provide Protection?

This thread isn't posted to debate whether sonic benefits can be recognized from audiophile/after-market fuses.  That topic has been well debated through numerous threads already.  What I'm curious about is whether today's audiophile fuses are certain to provide protection to your gear - afterall, that is the absolute main function of a fuse in a circuit design.

I was struck recently reading a thread dating back to 2014 on the Audiocircle forum where the late Roger Modjeski was absolutely beside himself and angered by professional reviewers and manufacturers alike for leading consumers astray (in his opinion) towards use of these fuses, from a first-hand account of damage inflicted on one of his amps.  

Re-posting his message below:

I had several email exchanges with the maker of Tuning Fuses and got the same Red Herring responses. My first experience with his product was in an RM-9 MKII that came to me for service with eight tuning fuses (one for each tube) in place of my specified HIGH BREAKING ceramic fuses. The tuning fuse's inability to do their job properly had blown the wirewound cathode resistor, which I had never seen before. I study every failure and this one caught my attention because it takes a lot of energy to blow that resistor. Its wire is much stouter and of a very high melting material, any fuse should go first.

Of course I opened up the fuse and looked at its construction. It was made in such a way as to be the worst possible fuse for that application. I called the distributor here and asked is it was a high breaking fuse and suitable for a tube fuse. He didn't know what that was. I said well the fuse specified for my amp is high breaking and ceramic. He said that because his fuse was ceramic also it must be OK. This is very naive. He doesn't know and perhaps the maker doesn't know that a high breaking fuse is made a different way, though from the outside it looks the same.

These fuses are totally inappropriate for any high voltage DC application such as a tube fuse in an amplifier. What also amazed me is that these fuses cost more than most tubes. I felt sorry for the owner who had been led down this path by irresponsible magazines like Positive Feedback. Not only did this fuse not protect his tube but it did not protect his amplifier.

The maker of these fuses, like many makers of tweaks will certainly get no admiration from me. What gets me is why so many people want to play with tweaks rather than make real improvements in their system like bi-amping, adding a good subwoofer and simplifying the signal path.

As this experience is now 7 years old I wanted to survey our forum to see whether high-end audio fuse manufacturers are providing data that would give the audiophile community assurances that use of their fuses first and foremost provide adequate protection.  I welcome any input.
three_easy_payments

Showing 4 responses by cleeds

cleeds
6,275 posts
 
three_easy_payments
... I will take your advice and reach out to the manufacturers of these fuse makers to see if they have information to quell my concerns. I will report back on this thread once I get hear back from them.
Thank you! I'll be interested to hear their responses and I suspect others will, as well.
cleeds
6,275 posts
 
three_easy_payments
... This led me to doing some online research on fuses ...
Why not do real "research" and go right to the source: the manufacturer of the fuses that interest you. Anonymously posing questions in a public forum seeking anonymous responses isn’t "research."
I’m just asking a question that shouldn’t be controversial.
No one has said your question is controversial, so there’s no need to act like a victim here. But it seems you have an agenda.
This advice from MC to test every fuse is wholly unacceptable and impractical - even "silly" as you put it.
That wasn’t MC’s "advice," but his sarcastic response to your concern.
I just want to know if they are proven to work like a fuse. If the answer is "yes, here’s the data" then that answers my question and it will make me feel better that the public is protected.
That’s very nice that you want to "feel better" and protect the public. Good for you! I guess you are really concerned about fuses.

I think most fuses work just like a fuse. I’m sure once in a while that a defective one slips by here or there, or that a user may install an improper fuse. But I applaud your effort to do more so that you can "feel better."
cleeds
6,275 posts
 
three_easy_payments
The whole intention of my OP was to inquire into what assurances the manufacturers of high-end, audio fuses are providing consumers that their fuses indeed meet spec to provide protection ...
You’re being more than a little cagey here. If you truly seek what you claim, you’d ask the sellers of whatever fuse you’re interested in, rather than rely on second-hand info from this group. Most audiophiles don’t make their own measurements of equipment they buy, be it a fuse or a preamp.
cleeds
6,275 posts
 
three_easy_payments
Is it reasonable to expect consumers of fuses to spend hundred of dollars on an accurate power supply in order to test and trust the fuses ...
Don't be silly. I don't think anyone has that expectation. But audiophiles buy all kinds of stuff, such as digital stylus force gauges, elaborate phono alignment jigs and room correction software. But you don't necessarily need most of that if all you want to do is enjoy the music.
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