Direction of aftermarket fuses (only for believers!)


It is with reluctance that I start another thread on this topic with the ONLY GOAL for believers to share their experience about aftermarket fuses.
To others: you can call us snobs, emperors w/o clothes,... etc but I hope you refrain posting just your opinion here. If you did not hear any difference, great, maybe there isn’t.

The main driver for this new post is that I am starting a project to mod my NAD M25 7 ch amp for my home theater. It has 19 fuses (2 per channel, 4 on the power supply board, 1 main AC) and I will try a mix of AMR Gold, SR Black and Audio Magic Platinum (anyway that is the plan, I may try out some other brands/models). As it is reasonably difficult to change them, esp the ones on each channel module that requires complete disassembly, I would like to know what the direction is for these models mentioned and of course, others who HAVE HEARD there is a difference please share your experience on any fuse model you have tried.

Fuses are IME directional:
Isoclean is one of the first to indicate the direction (2008/2009) on their fuses. Users of HiFi Tuning (when the awareness rose quite a bit amongst audiophiles) have mostly heard the difference.

As an IEEE engineer, I was highly skeptical of cabling decades ago (I like the speaker design of John Dunlavy but he said on many occasions that cables nor footers matter at all, WRONG!). Luckily, my curiosity proved me wrong as well. I see the same skepticism that I and many others had about the need for aftermarket cables many, many years ago now on fuses and esp on the direction on fuses.

Another example is the direction of capacitors (I do not mean electrolytic types). Even some manufacturers now and certainly many in the past did not believe it can make a difference sonically. Maybe some do but it takes time in the assembly to sort and put them in the right direction/order (esp as some of the cap manufacturers still do not indicate "polarity") so that maybe is one argument why this is not universally implemented.








jazzonthehudson

Showing 5 responses by stevecham

So, what’s the question or point here? I mean, you have a position on this issue and are convinced that it holds scientific or quantitative value. Therefore, the combination of correct fuse orientations across all 19 fuses in your NAD must have some predictive outcome. Put them in their correct orientation, and enjoy.  Emotional states, i.e., belief systems, can bear greatly on the listening/hearing experience.
With 19 fuses and either direction the choice, if my math still works correctly, I think that would be 2e19 combinations, which would be fun to perform and see what the optimal combination was by listening.  Could be a hobby for lifetime and then some.
jazz, i like the way you increased the number of independent variables with brands of fuses in various places in your nad, in addition to the large number of orientations possible.

well done sir, well done!

in fact i'm beginning to believe
Geoffakit,

Maybe half the fuses will in the correct orientation at the outset by chance.  But how would you know which ones?

And, I am not an English major.

Also, how can directionality of a fuse be a factor where alternating current operates requires both directions simultaneously?
I have a new product to introduce to the market called Dehyde. It’s a dehydrated water product and it comes in small packets that you open, pour into a glass and just add water.