fuse damage

Roger Modjeski of Music Reference and RAM Labs received one of his excellent RM-9 Mk.II amplifiers for repair. The owner had installed in it eight Tuning Fuses, and they had failed to perform the main task of a fuse, resulting in damage to the amplifier. Roger inspected the fuse, and to his utter amazement discovered that it does not possess "high-breaking" construction, absolutely essential in a fuse installed in a power amplifier. In his contact with a Tuning Fuse principle, Roger became aware of the fact that the man was unfamiliar with the concept of the high-breaking characteristic of fuse design and construction. Read Roger's discussion of the fuses in the Audiocircle Music Reference Forum, in the "Tuning Fuses" thread, and install a Tuning Fuse in an amp at your own risk!  

It doesn’t take much effort to find and read what Modjeski has to say about the Hi-Fi Tuning Fuses he examined, and on the design and construction of fuses in general. And after having done so, one is free to dismiss or disregard Rogers findings and opinions. There is no design flaw in the Music Reference RM-9 MK.II amplifier that would result in it being damaged by insertion of the fuses; a Google search will prove that to any skeptics. Again, what harm can come from reading what a very knowledgeable and highly-regarded electronic circuit designer has to say on the subject? I realize Modjeski is not a 'high-end darling" designer (he does not "believe" in audiophile speaker wire), but ya'll do at least acknowledge he is an expert in his field, right? Just one more source from which to obtain information to consider, right? Unless one simply doesn’t want to hear anything that contradicts one's own opinion, or even the widely-held common wisdom, on the subject of "audiophile" fuses!

Geoff (and anyone else who feels Modjeski’s views on the topics Geoff quoted renders his opinion of the Hi-Fi Tuning Fuses questionable, if not downright invalid), allow me to suggest that even if Roger is "wrong" about any other topic (as I feel he is about acoustic room treatment, specifically bass traps), that does not necessarily mean he is wrong about the fuses. It’s easy enough to read what he has said about them, consider what he has said, and make of it what you will. I realize his opinion of some of the "sacred" audiophile beliefs calls into question amongst audiophiles his credibility---if he doesn’t hear evidence of burn in, for instance, how good can his designs sound? (very good; read Michael Fremer's review of the Music Reference RM-200). It reminds me of the reaction owners of the Audio Research SP-3 had to Frank Van Alstine---himself dismissive of "tweaks"---when he dared to find fault in that pre-amp and offer a mod to correct what he claimed were it’s design weaknesses. Bill Johnson was held in far higher esteem by 70’s audiophiles than was Frank. Yet Frank was proven to be correct, and his mod did indeed improve not only the bench test results of the SP-3 (it’s linearity, RIAA equalization accuracy, overload margins at low frequencies), but it’s sound as well. That’s right---a traditional conservative, non-audiophile approved electronic engineer improved on a design by the at-the-time undisputed king of audiophile designers. Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day ;-) !

I think installing a single fuse in, say, a pre-amp, would be worth the $50 price, even if it were not returnable. Installing eight of them in a power amp running eight output power tubes, at a cost of $400 (!), maybe not! But if one can audition them with a money-back guarantee, why not? I would insure the tubes have no shorts before doing so, that's for sure!