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Higher amperage fuse for sound quality

I apologize if this question is either (1) ridiculously stupid or (2) already been beaten to death. And I'm definitely not looking to re-litigate whether aftermarket fuses are anything other than b.s.

I've read that people sometimes choose higher amperage fuses. This is because aftermarket fuses are supposedly built to tighter specs and therefore prone to blowing. Supposedly SR is noted for this.

Recently I was looking into some SR fuses and the dealer told me that higher amperage was also better for sonics. I'd never heard that before.

 

So last night I was looking through my stuff and discovered an unused 3.15a fuse. (I used HiFi Tuning throughout.) I decided to try it in my transport which takes a 1.6a. Everything is plugged into a Shunyata and there were no signs of t-storms so I figured I was safe for an hour or so.

It made the single biggest difference of any "tweak" I've tried. For one, the bass went significantly much deeper, became more authoritative, more controlled, more precise. The treble lost whatever edge it had and became golden and bell-like. Aside from those things, the music generally became more musical, which is difficult to explain. The music "might" have lost a tad of nuance and subtlety but I'm not sure. It's a small exaggeration to say that it sounded like a different amp. 

Being risk averse, I switched the fuse back, but I'm still so surprised. Has anyone had a similar experience? 

rfprice

Showing 6 responses by rfprice

rfprice OP
150 posts
 

Huh, could it be a defective fuse? The Monday morning fuse, not quite up to standards?

rfprice OP
150 posts
 

Thanks for the comments. I am most definitely not looking for an excuse to use the higher amperage fuse. I am just wondering why it sounds this way. Both fuses are HFT, both clean and shiny. I bought the 3.15 a few months ago while the smaller fuse might be 2-3 years old, if that makes a difference. Honestly I find it hard to believe that this amount increase in amperage (or any amount) could make such a difference, but maybe I'm wrong? Maybe the "improvements" that I am hearing are actually the result of the machine running too hot? 

 

 

rfprice OP
150 posts
 

Pingstonsmile, thanks, I hadn't thought of that. The fuses are both just a few months old and the fuse socket is from a new component, but maybe I should hit it with some Deoxit. 

For a low-draw piece like a transport, it seems like it shouldn't be too dangerous to run the higher fuse. Makes me a little queasy though. 

rfprice OP
150 posts
 

But is it likely that a transport would suddenly draw such a surge of energy? 

rfprice OP
150 posts
 

Pingstonsmile, in fact I did swap the fuses back and forth 2-3 times to confirm, and the results were the same. You might be right about the smaller fuse being compromised, but as for cold starts, I leave the transport powered on continuously, so it hasn't been exposed to daily cold starts. (Although I don't exactly remember the history of this fuse. It might be 2-3 years old and might have been used in a tube amp that did get turned on and off. However it looks brand new, there is no discoloration, etc.)

Maybe I should go to the hardware store today and get two fuses and see if they show similar results. I suppose that would indicate if my HFT fuse is weakened. I hope that's the case. I'm rooting for a simple explanation that can be easily rectified. I don't wish to use a wrong-size fuse. 

rfprice OP
150 posts
 

Pingstonsmile, even better, I located the stock fuse. Looks to be ceramic. Anyway, with this fuse, the sound was closer to the smaller HFT fuse than the larger. So the mystery remains. Why does the system sound different when just one upstream component is running a fuse roughly one amp higher than normal. Does a simple machine like a transport (not even a CDP, but a transport) pull such large current that it's throttled by a 1.6a fuse? What would happen if I installed a 10a fuse? Would it blow out the windows?

So far only 'auxinput' has stated that he's seen similar results. No one else seems to have noticed such a phenomena as this. I'm really quite perplexed.  

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