I think they're around $39/ea and they DO make a difference! |
Sure they do. Almost as much difference as the Shakti Stones and Clever Little Crock.
Gimme a break...
-RW- |
Rlwainwright can you give the rest of us a little more information about the HiFi Fuses you used, and the gear in which they were employed, so the rest of us can gain from your experience and understanding? Most people have not tried these fuses, as you obviously have...
Thanks for the insight... |
I would also be interested in hearing this info. Please explain for us what you found . Thanks
Scottht |
Do fuses make a difference?
It's deja vu all over again.
PS. Also see "is there a difference in interconnects, speaker wire, and power cords".
Have fun. |
They are also advertising the neat new outlet covers for only $199.00
Has anyone tried these yet? Very curious to know. I might try these. |
I have tried the HI FI tuning fuses in my Audio Aero Capitole MKIISE and my Audio Aero Trans Trac tube amp.
While they do make the sound more clear and cleaner sounding in my system it was too much and reduced the warmth and beauty of the music into....well something my ears didn't like.Some systems need some opening up. Mine is very musical and tweaked to the limit so it doesn't take much to screw things up, but then cables ,power cords ,etc.can also kill a good thing even very expensive cables.
That being said YMMV.
For $25 they are still worth a try. |
Well since I am the last entry ,I'll give the fuses thread another crack.
After some cabling changes that worked out very nicely ,I figured I would give the fuses a go again and 'never say never' they work out very well with this configuration.
So I have come to the conclusion that everything is a tweak except for equipment changes.Only took 30+ years to figure that out.
Cables , isolation devices , power conditioners all fall into the tweak catagory.
Course if I had kept all the power cords and ic's I bought and sold over the years.... |
I use these fuses with my preamp and i noticed a darker background and slightly clearer sound. As peterd said, this is just a tweak so dont expect major changes. I wish i could try them with my cdp and amps but the fuses are internal and I do not feel like opening them up. |
I tried these fuses and they do make a difference, although I am not sure if it is an improvement.
I actually gave up using them after a while...not because they don't work....but because I found they kept falling out when I moved around. (BTW, the directional fuses sound best with the arrow pointing towards the ear drum and lightly touching it. I'd also recommend some Q tips before installation; the first time I tried this, one fuse got stuck for a week and my wife couldn't understand why I kept ignoring her at the dinner table!) |
Dear Friends: I just receive four HIFI fuses that I already installed in my ML amplifiers. I was really in doubt that these stuff could make a quality difference/improvement in my system and when I ordered I think ( for my own ) that I'm crazy to pay 40 dls. for a fuse!!!!!!..
Well, these HIFI fuses work and work for the better ( at least in my system ): less distortion and better clear/tranparent sound, the bass notes are more tight and with better pitc and the highs are " clearer " and precise. At the beguining I wonder if only was my inmagination but over time I can tell that is real.
Worth the price !!!!!!!!, a very welcome tweak. I will try with our Essential 3150 Phonolinepreamp and " see " what happen.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul. |
I recently put two of these in my processor and after letting them burn in a week I did an a/b two different times. The results where nice with the overly expensive fuse.
Things are just more polished...smoother overall.
Is it worth the price. It was for me, but are the excessive price for cables worth the price. Well, that makes these fuses in my system a good deal, at least compared to these ludicris prices for cables we are made to pay to have good sound
Happy listening |
>>prices for cables we are made to pay to have good sound<<
Expensive power cords are only as good as the ac power and grounding systems in place.
After market power cords can provide a tremendous improvement in some applications and do absolutely nothing in others. |
I agree audiofeil.
The powercords I put in my system are good. If I wanna uprade from what I have I now have to spend 3 plus thousand a cable...just to much for any common man. Not sure if cable companys know we have other lives, like spending money on home repairs/upgrades, children, car expenses, with a continued long list.
Point is, if I wanna be in the arena of high end audio and upgrade, its just not phesable for a common man and still live a normal life. So the cable companys in my opinion have just left out a huge part of the audio people. This is just my opinion, but it seems practical to me.
We all know these cables are so overpriced!
Sorry guys. Yes, I am venting cause it leaves me SOOOO frustrated at this overpriced industry.
Happy listening... |
I have replaced the stock fuses in my system with the Hi-Fi Tuning fuses in my Ayre C-5xe, Aesthetix Calypso, and my YBA Alpha2 amplifier.
The result of changing the fuses in the Ayre and the Aesthetix resulted in greater detail and upper end extension without added etch or glare. The effect was subtle but still worthwhile. Please note that the fuses needed to be burned in for about two days (before the burn in...etch/glare!).
When I finally changed the fuses for the YBA amplifier, the effect was definitely more noticeable: much wider soundstage, more air and transparency...The overall effect was a much greater sense of three dimensionality (again, without added etch or glare).
Would I recommend the fuses. YES!
calgarian5355 |
I bought one from FatWyre (the Cable co.). I'm a big skeptic about some of this HiFi "magic". BUT I did think it made a difference....clarity, definition...better sound overall. Can I prove it? Probly not...but I still think it sounds better and for 30 bucks, that's good enough. |
I recently purchased 3 of them, 1 for CDP, 1 for integrated amp & another for Marantz A/V receiver. The most change was in the A/V receiver. More and louder surround effects without having changed any settings, center channel effects & dialogue more focused on center channel, big change in sound quality. Listening to the Club Fever sequence in "Collateral" the gunshots had less punch but sound effects were more detailed and distinct. With "Master and Commander" the first battle's cannon fire changed from sharp booms to dull booms. Soundstage opened up & surround effects more noticeable than with stock Marantz fuse. Both films I listened to in DTS. |
My assessment of them mirrors Calgarin5355's. The improvement is subtle and also cummulative. Definitely worth the money. |
I put Critical Link Fuses in my GCC100 amp and the improvement was easy to hear - I listened to a cut - then 15 minutes later I listened again with the fuses now in place -a nice improvement, and certainly worth the money. I am dying to put better fuses in my MA1's but have to check with Atma to see which ones are in the path and could provide improvement- there are 6 fuses per chasis- and that could get expensive. |
Remember that IsoClean fuses are directional (big difference), cheaper($25@), and in the opinion of me and many who have tested both, sound better. |
Ah yes the directionality feature, which might make sense IF the current always flowed in the same direction. Unfortunately AC current changes direction 60 times a second and makes the direction that a so-called 'direction oriented' fuse a moot point.
Its the same principle for speaker cables, the current is AC and therefore direction of cables (except for the grounding or shielding point) does not exist.
Bob P. |
Ah yes, directionality would not matter were the connections in the component to not involve ground, but alas they do and so directionality matters. The neutral is not just the opposite flow of the hot. Anyone who has ever reversed the direction of a fuse and heard the difference could have told you this.
It is another matter on speaker wires. Again directionality matters, but that is not the topic here. |
Tbg - a well reasoned correction of previous misinformation! Good job...
O
o
. |
Which misinformation? So AC current does not change direction? Ground and neutral are not necessarily the same. Even if the 'directional' fuse were a partial diode, it would act as such in either direction installed since the current reverses as many times as the frequency indicates. Grounding doesn't come into play here.
The last time that I looked at the amplifier output connections to the speaker I saw the voltage swing from positive to negative, therefore the current varying as such. When directionality is shown on cables it is to indicate where the connection for the shield should be, usually at the preamp, not the direction of the current or signal.
Bob P. |
I'm with Bob P. on this one. I've yet to read a reasonable explanation for a fuses directional aspect, within any part of an audio cicuit. I'm open to explanations, though. |
inpep---, so the neutral does no duty relative to serving as a ground often for the circuit and the chassis? Also stop switching the discussion to speaker-wires. They have nothing to do with this thread.
All that I can say to both you and Metro is that you should listen first and consider afterwards whether your understanding of circuit design can cope with what you hear. I know you hold desperately to the predilection that fuse direction cannot matter and want no evidence that you are wrong. |
TBG, I need more than apocrophal evidence that direction matters, since I don't even detect any difference in even 'ordinary' fuses let alone 'directional' ones.
By the way, what is directional about these fuses, besides the arrow (I presume) marked on them?
As for speaker wires not having anything to do with this, - well, I use them as an illustration of why directionality has no effect on circuits or wiring when they deal with AC currents, grounded or not. Perhaps you object to my use of that example because you have no evidence that I am incorrect about that.
Remember that a fuse is just a short piece of wire with the added property of melting at a given temperature, the heat being caused by the current through the wire, changing direction continuously.
Salut, Bob P. |
Inpep___, I have no need to provide you with evidence any more than you have to provide it that ac within components is the same as in speaker wires and phono wires. If you have personal experience that you can hear no difference in fuse direction that should be satisfactory for you, but don't pretend that those who hear a difference cannot be given your expertise in understanding electronics.
I have no idea how a direction is established with the IsoCleans or holds on other fuses. I did ask the IsoClean people at CES, but they just smiled. I do know, however, that when I put them in counter to the correct direction with the hot wire toward the transformers, they do not sound as good as the other way around. |
Tbg - Might you steer Bob and myself to some technical articles able to explain how these directional fuses work over conventional variations? I can't speak for Bob, but with over three decades of electronics background, I'm unable to grasp how a "directional" fuse could perform better in one dirrection over another, in any AC circuit, of which Bob has already mentioned some audio-related examples. Does ANYBODY have technical info able to explain?
People provide endless personal testimonials for a vast assortment of products (some "questionable"), but to a large percentage of audiophiles, this isn't "proof" of positive performance. I'm sure there are numerous products that even YOU scoff at without trying (clocks, pebbles, etc).
Surely we can keep this civil.
|
Metro04, I don't mean to be confrontational, but certainly you have encountered performance improvements that make little sense from a EE perspective. I know full-well that we have different systems, rooms, tastes, and hearing. There is little evidence that can "prove" why power cords sound different, why interconnects sound different, why Sun Mook Mpingo disks work, etc. If some people don't hear such differences and don't, I attribute this to all of the above. I very much resent those who hear no differences dismissing those who do as not understanding "physics" or as delusional. It is entirely possible that they don't understand "physics" and that their personal biases keep them from hearing the differences.
If I hear a demonstration of a device or tweak that works, I don't want "proof" that it does. I would like to have some inkling of how it works, but concede that this is of secondary importance. When Lloyd Walker first told me to switch the direction of the fuse in my Walker modified AHT phono stage, my reaction was to be dismissive, but I tried it. He was right. I was also dismissive about dc voltage drainage and minimizing it by switching the ac cord. This also proved, at least on many components, to be quite important. I could go on and on. |
Tbg wrote "I could go on and on. "
By why bother!! They are some who are so closed minded they believe they can not hear differences in any tweeks or cables and some say all amps sound the same. Then there are those who believe they can't trust thier ears, well to that I say get another hobby.
I view audio as I view life!
With an open mind!!
I find I get much more out of both when my mind is open!!
I really don't care if someone else can't hear it.
But don't tell me I'm a fool because I can!! |
Benie, I always thought that looking for explanations on how or why things work was called curiousity or having an open mind. Simply stating that one doesn't care about 'why one hears a difference' or stating that why or how something works isn't important, shows a bit of closed-mindedness to me. But then, marketers just love those supposedly open-minded people.
Bob P. |
Man has been claiming to see and hear things since his beginning, for all sorts of psychological reasons, and without proof. Over time, much of those early beliefs were debunked by investigation, research, or science. Fortunately, we've stopped burning those whom we thought were "witches".
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inpep..., actually I see insisting that there be an explanation for why something should sound better as an indication of a closed mind. If something sounds better good science should seek to account for this even if it means going further than normal electrical engineers credo. I am with Benie in a practical sense relative to my audio system, although I would really like to know why the effect of the IC vanishes after a while and why the Mpingo disks don't always improve the sound of the component, and why an isolation transformer can help in many respects while hurting the sound in other respects. etc. |
Just an idea but maybe a good place to start for those "sceptical but inquiring minds" would be to check out the Volex IEC powercable in their system, commonly availible for under $10...and see if they hear that power wiring improvement possibility. |
