Fuses

@georgehifi I am not selling these fuses to myself....I am making my own. How are my findings snake oil? No one is making a profit in this transaction.... there is no transaction. 

Yes fuses affect sound. Very much at times.
welcome to the dark side, enjoy your stay.
Fuses filled with wax, or mineral oil/silica composites sound the best. Lowest distortion by far.
It has something to do with heat dissipation of the medium that touches the filament. 

I make my own fuses, that compete with all the 250 dollar ones,  with exotic  waxes and stuff. 
if you remove the caps off a fuse, pour out the sand in the cylinders.... and then fill the fuses with a  a Silicon Dioxide/Mineral Oil mix, lab grade sio2 is a fine powder and it make a liquid paste  when mixed  with the oil. Seal it back up  with an oil resistant epoxy.
Distortion with a fuse like this is practically nonexistent. 
Excellent clarity/resolution. Really nice liquid highs, and expressive voices that sound live. 

Cost me about 4 dollars a fuse to make my batches. so about 40 dollars for 10 of them. 

well technically not my own, like from scratch.
Aucharm fuses from China are 2 dollars a pop. I use them for my amp... The easiest thing to do is buy double than what you need, break half of them, and save the end caps.
Take the other half, and carefully use wire strippers or another cutting instrument and remove the caps off the end. They are not very thick...
Ditch the cut caps, fill the cylinder with the sio2/oil mixture, a syringe works best.
 Let cap on one side dry and harden before filling with oil, and sealing the other cap.

The aucharm fuses have snap holders on each end, so the wire is not soldered, the caps press down on these inserts and make a connection with the fuse wire.

The wire on these fuses is a Silver Alloy, and sounds fantastic. Caps are pure copper, Gold plated.

For my DAC I bought a Gustard fuse (5x20) from aliexpress, and after the oil treatment, it sounds better than an SR Orange/ All the Hifi Supremes, and on par with Audiomagic wax fuses.

I think materials definitely play a part in the sound fuses impart on playback, but the biggest change comes from thermal management, and filament dampening.
The SIO2/Mineral oil mixture provides both .

It’s worth a try, you might be surprised how well it works.

Also if you have a HiFi Supreme copper fuse, you can drill a small hole into one of the end caps, and fill it with the oil mix as well, and solder the end cap to seal it.
The Supreme copper, has zero dampening inside the fuse, unlike the Supreme SilverGold. Copper is just a bare  wire soldered on both ends, the tube is empty. SilverGold has a plastic tube around the filament. 
I found this out the hard way, sometimes you have to tear open things to find out how they work....chalk it up to experience.

All the good replies get deleted :)

All components would benefit from a quality fuse. Every part of the Audio chain matters.
I would start with the DAC first, and work on downwards. 

The ones yelping the loudest are also the quickest to tattle to the moderators.
Delete whatever offends is their motto. . .
Even if they are the ones to start the "Argument"/name calling.

@avitacom  so basically what you are saying is....don't do your research, trust the experts....
I have been hearing a  whole lot of that lately.....

You came in here and attacked everyone that doesn’t believe what you want them to believe  ( "I’m one of the few contributors to this thread thinking scientifically." ), and are now blaming them for what you have been doing in all your posts.
Can you not see the blatant hypocrisy on your part?

Enjoy your MD from 1984......very appropriate year by the way.

Hands on experience is different than Education, which is different than critical thinking.
Some of the dumbest people I know are Doctors, 2 in my immediate family (neither one can change a flat tire, or tie their shoelaces properly).
And by the way, your education never ends... and an MD from 1984 doesn’t mean squat as it pertains to the subject that is being talked about.

Appeal to perceived authority does not transcend hands on/applied understanding. 

@nonoise Sorry Sir, I had to pull you over, looks like you have been doing....Too much Thinking and Driving. It is illegal on this, and many an Audio Forums.
Thinking and Driving, might lead you to discover things previously thought impossible, and we just cannot have that now can we... :)

Now please go buy a new expensive piece of gear every other month. That distorted fuzz on your music playback is just part of the charm, and can be upgraded away, Some Day, in a far away land, eventually.. maybe. 

To some geniuses "Science" only means some corporations hiring a team of "experts", who do a bunch of measuring, poking, prodding....etc etc etc.
when they scream science, they mean "Mega Corporate Science"... Unless you have Billions of dollars backing up your point of view, that view is not valid, no matter how much anecdotal, or personal evidence you might have.
It’s a religion of "Mega Corporate" Science worship, only extremely well funded Priests in white robes need apply, and their proclamations can never be challenged by the likes of us non sanctioned fools.
Corporations are the Church....and Science is the new Holy Spirit. One cannot exist without the other.

They forget that nearly every major invention of the 19th and 20th century was made by some dude in his garage. with the mindset these people have, planes, telephones, computers, radios, TVs, cars, phones, lights, electricity would never have been invented or discovered.

"If you cannot measure it....it does not exist."
Albert Einstein


Actually these are the real quotes

„The mere formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and makes real advances in science.“ — Albert Einstein

„One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike—and yet it is the most precious thing we have.“ — Albert Einstein

I am more of a Tesla guy.
Modern Astronomy.... Let’s not even go there :)
But yes, people that think all Fuses are the same, shouldn't insult others that have found that not to be the case.
Commander Locke: Damnit, Morpheus, not everyone believes what you believe.
Morpheus: My beliefs don’t require them to.
Matrix.

Agreed. Path are the best resistors for a crossover. 
MRAs are more appropriate for amplifiers, and other electronics. 

why don't you buy one and find out for yourself. It has a 30 day money back guarantee. 

Then get a better system. It’s no fun having to listen to a hunk of junk.

My system can resolve waiters dropping off drinks to customers on Live Recorded Jazz albums (glasses clanking on tables, footsteps, small talk in the audience). Every little detail comes through with perfect clarity. Any changes in the audio chain stand out immediately.
It didn’t start out that way, took a couple of years of tuning to get to this level.

I’d say by the lack of resolution of whatever cheapo stuff you are listening to, you have your work cut out for yourself.

Time to leave the toys behind, and graduate onto the big boy leagues. 

Quick question,  what is your guy's experience  with bypassing caps? 
Does it add anything to sound? or just smear it, and cause coherency issues? 
Say Duelund bypass caps, .01uf Silver foil, bypassing bigger caps on a tweeter, or even mids. 
Thanks. 

Thank you. @georgehifi
You just saved me some money, much appreciated.

Also  I am making some fuses with Gold Plated OCC Copper wire from Neotech (3x).1mm strands, and some OCC Copper fuses .2mm strand. Each coming out to about 7.5-8 amps.
Quick question, again if anyone knows, are there any commercial fuses that have this wire construction? Gold plated copper wire.

@mitch2 https://www.powerstream.com/wire-fusing-currents.htm

Solid copper has specific Wire Fusing Current ratings in air.
So I am doing basic calculations to figure out what the rating of my fuses would be and adding on another 10% based on the SiO2/Mineral oil mix I am using inside the cylinder for filament heat management and dampening.

I am all for going DIY, 250 dollars for a fuse is kind of outrageous, multiply that by 10 for the total number of fuses used in my system, and that adds up very very quickly.
I should have the wire this week, and will make sure to report back on how it all goes.

I have found fuses to be directional, wrongly installed fuses can sound etched and tilted up in the treble (I didn’t find directionality in cheap glass fuses for whatever reason).
The metals used to build the end caps and filament make an audible difference in the timbre of instruments and voices, to where I can pick them out very reliably in A/B tests.

The filament Dampening has the biggest influence on the resolution of the fuse. I have tried two of the same fuses, back to back, one that is in it’s stock form (filled with sand) and another filled with the SiO2 oil mixture, and they sound nothing alike. The fuse with the mix has a higher resolution, lower distortion, and has micro details that create an audio image with a bigger deeper soundstage. It’s not a small difference by any means.

I don’t think you need exotic waxes or other super tunneling treatments to make a fuse sound better, you can get the same results with a little bit of at home experimentation.

You can believe whatever you want, it’s a free country (I think). I am just reporting what I am hearing.
Dam/ water/ whatever else, I have all these fuses on hand, and it takes less than 30 seconds to swap them out on my DAC. I am hearing what I am hearing, and it has been confirmed by all my friends that have come over to listen to my system as well.
I don’t pretend to understand the physics behind any of this, and honestly.... I am not all that concerned about it either. I have a few theories, sure, but I can’t conclusively prove anything.

And power cables just bring AC to your equipment, and conditioners are just useless junk.......
we can do this all day :)
Try bypassing your fuse for 5 minutes and see if the sound coming out of your speakers changes. (try a 26/28 gauge of copper  wire)
It’s a very quick easy experiment.

@femoore12 Got it. 
Sorry for the confusion. 

@millercarbon yes 100%. Thermal stress on the filament has a very direct effect on sound.  wax, oil, graphene, and nano copper that these companies are using probably act as a heatsink. Your explanation makes quite a bit of sense. 

Unlike you George, I am okay with trying new things out.
If you are right about bypassing capacitors, Trust me I will be the first one to come back here and tell you that.
As I have already said, the .1uf caps did not sound good as bypasses, they muddled up the sound on my speakers, I was not expecting that to be the case.
I am not interested in being right for the sake of being right, I am only interested in things that are true. So if what you are saying is true, I will readily offer my apologies for not believing you.

In my experience parts in the signal chain affect sound just as much as parts in the power chain.
There is no difference between the two, we think there is, but the reality is much different.
Power cables, fuses, capacitors make pretty remarkable differences in tonality, resolution, soundstage, transparency, treble/bass balance.
At least this what I have found to be the case.

P.S. one of the biggest changes to the sound of my amplifiers (i rebuilt them with all boutique parts) came not from changing the capacitors in the signal path, but from swapping out the safety capacitors after the fuses. I tried 3 different capacitors and finally settled on the mundorf supremes. 
Go figure.

Good luck with your brass rods. 
I am finished with this conversation as well.
Thank you

George you are an ideologue.
You are talking to people that have already done all the experiments.
The best fuse is no fuse, we already know this, but most equipment does not allow for the installation of breakers (and breakers also have their issues)
There are space constraints, it’s much easier to just use a treated fuse, that gets you nearly all the way to the benefits of a bypass.

Sorry George,
I can’t take anything you say seriously. You have blown all your credibility with me, and at this point I am more inclined to thinking that bypassing capacitors is a good idea just because you stand so vehemently against it.
I’ll wait for @millercarbon to chime in.

@millercarbon  what is your opinion on bypassing crossover capacitors?

I can't take George seriously anymore, would love an answer from someone that has actually tried the stuff they are talking about. 

I am thinking of bypassing a tweeter cap with a .01uf Duelund Silver foil cast. 

Thank you for the reply. @millercarbon 
I have some Mundorfs Silver in oil on my tweeters, so I should stick with Duelund Silver foils? Or maybe add a bit more color and go with Tinned copper?
I have tried bypassing with. 1uf caps, teflons, and Duelund Copper foils on the mids, didn’t work out that well to be honest.
But from what I gather .01uf is the best value to go with, no matter the value of the crossover.

They were 0.1uf
I tried 3 different capacitors.
From everything I have read, .01uf is the value that is best used for bypassing.
Larger values can cause coherence issues, which is exactly what I experienced.
I’ll give them a shot, hopefully they work out.
Thanks for your input.

P.S. @millercarbon Take care of yourself and your family, things are about to get pretty rough out there. 

Thanks for the info. Much Appreciated.
I just got (4) .01uf Duelund Tinned copper foils. I’ll bypass both the mid and the tweeter caps on my speakers.
Sadly no Duelund Silver foils were available anywhere, they might have been the better match with my Mundorf Silver in oils.
All the capacitors in my mids crossover are 600v, tweeters are 1200v and Duelund bypasses are 600v.
Fingers crossed. 

So just put the Gold Plated OCC Copper Neotech fuse into my DAC.
3 strands .1mm (5x20mm) Filled with SiO2/mineral oil mix.
Early report, the pianos and Cymbals really stand out to me, timbre is like a romantic Jazz club vibe, sweet and full, but not lacking in resolution one bit.
I really like it at first listen, but have to do many A/B tests before I can make any final judgements.

The Fuse not exploding in my face is a win to say the least :)

I work in industrial Automation (or used to).
I also have a ton of experience working on Audio equipment, and my comment about the fuse blowing up was just a silly attempt at forum humor.
I can build/repair anything.... so not really worried about that.
Having said that, I have kept the fuse at the lower end of my required rating, and I might have played it a little too safe. My next prototype will be a thicker filament.
The fuse rating of copper that I am using as a template is in open air, the ceramic fuse cylinder also acts as a heat trap. .
It’ll be interesting to see if it sounds different than the one I have already made.

@noske  Most Solid state amps have inrush protection, it is tube amps that you have to usually worry about, and that is why people use slowblow fuses for them.
If a ceramic fuse blows on your solid state amp, it  won't damage the amplifier, you  would just have to go a size up and test it out to get to the required functional rating. 

Okay.....soooo I am in the camp of not bypassing signal capacitors. At least in my application, they caused issues in both positions.
Sound got smeared in the mids, and the timbre change in the tweeter position came with a similar smudging of sound. The bypass capacitors really affected transparency in my system, and affected depth of stage.
I only had them in for 3 or so hours, but I didn’t enjoy any part of this installation and have taken them back out.
@georgehifi you were right, at least as it happens to be the case in my application.
I am now in the camp for installing the single best possible quality cap that you can use in the signal path.

Now having said that, I had voltage imbalances in my tweeter position, 1200v vs 600v (big cap vs bypass)
and mids 115.8uf capacitors bypassed with a .01uf foil capacitor.
Neither position sounded good.

So I replaced all the capacitors on my Matrix USB H card for some AudioNote Kaisei ones.
The caps were a hard fit, but got it done somehow....
If you guys are using a PC as a source, do not look past that dedicated USB card.
The caps took a certain hardness out of the sound, and are extremely dynamic. Background is jet black, dead quiet. A massive bang for the buck upgrade. Very highly recommended.

I think I am finally ready for this Winter’s Lockdown ;)

Bring it on.

A better fuse will make a difference in every piece of equipment that uses a fuse. 
Filament dampening and heat management play a very big part in audio quality. 
Materials used in the construction also affect timbre. 
Sounds crazy, till you try it out for yourself :)

Correction. I only have them bypassing the tweeter cap. 

They sound very very good :)

@millercarbon and @oldhvymec So I reinstalled the bypass capacitors.....and they sound incredible. Sorry 🙏🙏 I was too quick to judge them....they sound open, crystal clear, and wonderful in both position on my speakers.

Just needed a bit of burn in time.

The Tinned Copper bypass capacitors have a wonderful tone, all the microdetails are still here... I'll add in more impressions after I get some solid listening time with these. 

Finally found the block feature 🙏

I am very surprised how much of a difference that these little bypass capacitors made.... makes me want to get the 10uf full size tinned copper capacitors from Duelund.

These things are amazing.

I'll save those for my Magnepan 20.7s  🎅

So I installed the other .01uf Tinned Cooper Duelund on the mids capacitors, 115.8uf. The mistake i made the first time around was installing them at the furthest point away from signal output, after reinstalling them in the 1st position, they also sound amazing. 

Resolution, timbre, coherency, and soundstage all saw quite amazing improvements. My speaker system was absolutely nothing to sneeze at before the installation, but these have been a a extremely nice surprise. 

I am now solidly in the camp of bypassing crossover caps with small foil types 🙏 Sorry George. 

I still have 100's of hours before they fully settle in, can't wait to hear the final end result. 

 

And I am definitely getting my 20.7s before the zombie apocalypse starts :)

The .01uf Tinned copper has been an absolute revelation.

I was up till 7 in the morning listening to album after album, non stop.

Everything sounded like I was hearing it for the very first time..... I am dumbfounded by how much of a difference these little capacitors made in my setup.....just dumbfounded.

Burn in has been especially crazy, at one point the sound lost all color, I have never experienced that before...and it came back after a while, and the sound became so incredibly liquid, and the soundstage became the most holographic I have heard on a speaker as of yet. Sadly that phase only lasted for a few hours, and I am hoping maybe they settle in eventually something close to that.

But either way, the clarity, coherency, and timbre are just exceptional.

This experience has convinced me, when I get my Magnepan 20.7s, I am building my whole crossover with just Duelund capacitors. Not settling for anything else. 

Sounds like it is a single capacitor? If it is, you can just bypass it normally. Make sure that on the bypass capacitor the outer lead is connected to the side between the resistor and the capacitor. (Duelund bypass capacitors have directionality)

From Duelund "The outer lead out, closest to the edge of the capacitor, is connected to the outer foil and as such should be connected to the lowest impedance path to ground, generally the signal output."

 

 

Your signal is going out towards the driver, So Negative, to capacitor, to resistor.---> That is the direction of the signal, output is from capacitor to resistor, input is negative to capacitor.

Hope that makes sense.

 

 

@gererick I would go that route for sure. Good quality caps installed in a parallel configuration would work very well  👍

@gererick the 115.8uf capacitors are parallel capacitors installed as (3x)33uf+(1)10uf+(1)6.8uf Mundorf Supreme evo oils, all adding up to 115.8uf.

I first installed the .01uf foils at the furthest point away from signal output, and they completely muddled up the sound, they just sounded bad.

After taking them out I reinstalled them on a whim, but this time around I moved them to the front position, so they were in the closest position to the signal output, and my audio image just instantly snapped into focus.

It was like going from 1080p to 4k. (I am still going through burn-in, and they haven’t settled in completely as of yet).

I don’t know how a value as small as .01uf can have such a difference in my application, but it did, and they are staying in for good.

 

If you have the bypass capacitors on hand, try them out, you can find out for yourself if they work for you. They are pretty easy to take back out if you do not like what you are hearing.

I am bypassing both my tweeter caps 10uf, and mids 115.8ufs.

Also to add:

I can’t tell you if 1uf would be a better value to use in my case either, I haven’t tried a capacitor that big, but I am sure others can guide you in that regard.

 

I wonder if anyone has bypassed the bypass? :) Tinned Copper and Silver foil together?