Where has been your most effective placement for an aftermarket fuse?

Where has been your most effective placement for an aftermarket fuse?

Back in the packaging and returned to the dealer for refund 

And why was that Testpilot?
What piece of equipment was it in that you did not hear any improvement from?
What fuse was it and how long did you give it?
Thank you,👍

testpilot wins the internet!

In the hearing aid for the hearing-challenged.

What make/ model was the hearing aid?
SR Blue or Orange?
Did you have to uprate the fuse to prevent you literally blowing a fuse?
Inquiring minds need to know!
😎😎

Does this mean it is acknowledged that fuse results may vary based on application?

That is at least a step in the right direction from the usual hype in these parts to just Spend whatever is possible on the latest Synergistic color, no questions asked because they are inherently always most awesome (not to mention directional). 

Progress....🙏


My answer is fuse will make the most difference in line with signal to a speaker like fuse used in Magnepans. But there is still nothing concrete other than opinion and conjecture regarding how much a fuse need cost to do the job even there.
3 figures for a tiny mysterious device like a fuse should always raise questions.

My best results were in my SACD player. There are 4 fuses.

Mapman
I have always considered the fuse application to be very subjective and from my experience equipment dependent.
Hence the thread to see if we can get some honest opinions that might bear that out.
You know all the time I had my Maggie speakers I never thought about swapping the fuses in them.😕😕
I believe Elizabeth did and was adamant it made some difference?

@nonoise .
I have considered doing my Esoteric sacd player too so your response is very helpful.
Time to look at what's involved as in how many... Lol.
👍

I suspect Testpilot response was a joke which is fine, much preferred to vitriol!
However if serious I am truly interested in what he tried a fuse in.

uber,

That's good!  Maybe if the usual shillers, obfuscators (chief one is missing in action which bodes well for this) and other hardliners on both sides can tone it down a bit some useful information will come of it.

Exactly my fervent hope Mapman.

I thought a thinking man's fuse thread was long overdue.
I can but try.....

Also given the very proper assertion that results reported will vary case by case for many possible reasons (from no noticeable difference to whatever level of awesomeness is reported), it is not permitted to reject any reported results that displeases others or accuse people of bad hearing and/or bad systems, without any other evidence, as has pretty much always been done in threads past.

In other words....stick to the facts as presented.......

Here we go.....may the Gods have mercy on us......

To start, I have nothing new to report or assert that I have not already in the past. I tried a Red fuse given to me to try by another Agoner in my Audio Research sp16 pre-amp and heard no concrete difference between that and the stock fuse from ARC. It is sitting out as a spare currently.

I'm not a naysayer and am curious about aftermarket fuses.What stops me from trying them not knowing what is actually in them and will they protect the equipment same as the 50 cent fuses.Paranoia:-) 

Also given the very proper assertion that results reported will vary case by case for many possible reasons (from no noticeable difference to whatever level of awesomeness is reported), it is not permitted to reject any reported results that displeases others or accuse people of bad hearing and/or bad systems, without any other evidence, as has pretty much always been done in threads past.

In other words....stick to the facts as presented.......

There will be no objections from myself on that score.
I welcome truly honest results and we will let the chips fall where they will.
Although it will be interesting to try and deduce just why there maybe widely differing results in a more polite environment.

Valid concerns jtcf.

Can't answer what exactly is in them although I do find Audio Magics claim of actual beeswax a little hard to swallow!

As far as protection I think it has been pretty uniformly documented that the SR fuses at least need to be oversized by about 10-15%.
No I do not know why.
But i bore that in mind when ordering mine.
That right there might be a legitimate worry for some and I wish I had a better answer.

on a panel board?....I mean...is this some kind of a test?...will there be an exam at the end...shall I take notes...pay more attention? 

@uberwaltz I appreciate your attempt at an answer.I've seen it asked but ignored in the past.So thank you:-)

As I mentioned in the last ill-fated fuse thread, Maggie owners have for years been doing away with those fuse banks for the mid and tweeter by bypassing them or by filling the fuse slots with a solid conductor.  The boutique fuses are a good choice if you don't want to tear things apart. I use SR Blues far beyond the factory ratings of 5A and 2.5A. Right now, I have 20A and 10A.  This is expensive and is like no fuse protection at all, but they sound better.  I don't worry about pushing the ratings. Uber, did you replace your Maggie fuses at all?  

SR black in a Coincident CSL preamp.
SR black in a ModWright Sony HAPZ1ES,  One fuse made a difference the other didn't
Tried SR black in Coincident Frankenstein amps and they made zero difference. 
I'm thinking about trying Oranges in my AtmaSphere M-60's.

Jafree.

I am ashamed to admit that all the time I owned my Maggie's I never even thought about the fuses😕.
In fact I never touched them again from where I first plonked them down as they just sounded so right.

Brownsfan.
Which fuse worked in which component?

Not looking for a debate with anybody on whether aftermarket fuses work or not, this thread is for those fortunate members with the hearing to know that they do indeed work.

Nice try. Unfortunately #1 on the list of Hateful 18 character traits is the inability to comprehend the written word.    

I've used both Blue and Orange. Both made the biggest improvement in my Melody integrated.   https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 

Second best, yet still well worth the money, is in my Herron VTPH2A phono stage. Coming in a distant third, no discernible difference, are the two in my Teres Verus motor controller.  

You may well ask if they make no difference why are they in there? Well they were included free when buying HFT or ECT, something like that. So even these manage to be worth what they cost. ;)

jtcf-

I'm not a naysayer and am curious about aftermarket fuses.What stops me from trying them not knowing what is actually in them and will they protect the equipment same as the 50 cent fuses.Paranoia:-)

I've had a look at several of these fuses (and a lot of other things) under x-ray and can tell you they are the same fuse as anywhere else. Even the ones that are supposed to be slow-blow are the same thin wire as fast. Where if you know anything about fuses you know you can tell slow from fast at a glance. With these you can't. They are the same.  

Also from experience I can tell you they are if anything over-rated. That is to say they will burn out faster not slower. I blew 2 in my Herron phono stage. Which was new. Talked to Keith Herron about it. Nice long talk. Learned a lot but the Hateful 18 already are struggling to keep up let's not overload their microcephalic little brains.

Its enough to know that like uberwaltz said you can go higher. It also helps to know SR (and probably a lot of the dealers) stands behind their product. I've had several blow and all have been replaced free of charge.  

How they work is easy enough to understand, you just have to be willing to try and understand and not stubbornly refuse to accept reality like the Hateful 18 do. Ted uses his Tesla coil to run a few million volts through them. This actually works. I know someone built a smaller Tesla coil and is doing the same sort of thing. But they are so sick and tired of the reprehensible behavior of the Hateful 18 they made me swear never to mention it. Same goes for the little gray blob Ted puts on his fuses. It says right on there do not remove. Don't take my word for it. Remove it. See what happens. There's very similar gray blob material been written up at length on this site does almost exactly the same thing. Goes to show just how deluded the Hateful 18 are that they act as if they don't know this.


Anyway, point is, however you explain it the fact is this stuff really works. Which drives the Hateful 18 absolutely nuts.
Its a short trip.

Me personally, been using them a long time. Many have. Not a single instance of component damage resulting from fuse failure in all of that. Highly recommended.

Applies only to Synergistic. No idea what anyone else is doing, how or if they work at all.

Applies only to Synergistic. No idea what anyone else is doing, how or if they work at all.

Of course it does, the normal 6 pack of SR fusers, don't shill for other fuse companies.

Miller.
Interesting your comment on the motor controller.
I had forgotten I had tried an old SR Black I had lying around in a Walker motor controller.
At the time of installing I thought it had made some difference but I also upgraded the PC at same time. Turns out it was the PC making the difference, as I found by trial and error.
So basically zero effect on the Walker.
Also interesting you say biggest impact on your integrated as I would say that was smallest impact in my system.
But that is exactly what I am getting at in part with this thread.
How system synergy still applies even with fuse changes.
And we cannot ever rule out our own perceptions, expectation bias ( yes I acknowledge it exists!), room acoustics, phase of the moon etc etc.

It's part of what makes this whole game so much fun!

I have one simple request.
Can EVERYONE please ignore Aunty Fuse and anything it posts here.
Thanks.

Have only tried a Blue in my K&K Audio Trio and it was an improvement in transparency without any edge.

Replaced all the fuses in my SMc Audio amp with Hi-Fi Tuning but that was along with a major upgrade so can't be sure of any difference the fuses made. BTW, the board on this amp takes 7 fuses! The whole upgrade was super!

Preamp then amp.

My upgrade was over 4 years ago, then he offered the Hi-Fi Tuning but I could have sent him any I chose to try. Pat said they had a piece that could detect directionality, so with all it's fuses, seemed like a time saver.

squeak_king_77 If a multimeter was used to test resistance of the fuse, and if a first reading was noted with the test leads in one position, and then if the test leads were swapped to the opposite fuse ends and that reading noted...if the readings were different would that indicate directionality?

squeak no, not in the slightest. If it did it would be called a diode.

AC fuses have no directionality period, because AC mains is just that, "alternating current", it alternates 60 x a second (60hz) in the US, 50 here in Au (50hz) So for a fuse to claim to have direction, it would be a diode and then it’s trying to rectify the AC mains into DC.

Any fuser that say other wise is just spruiking for the fuse company they are shilling for to make them rich, as the markup on these voodoo fuses is over 500 x the cost of the fuse before re-badging.

Fuse aging from too many turn on cycles "can" deteriorate a fuse, then it’s just a matter of replacing it with the same $1 one, and these mega dollar boutique fuses will also deteriorate at the same rate as the $1 ones.
As you can see the aging process, left to right on the fast blo one, and right to left on the slow blo one.
https://ibb.co/YRfkQy8
https://ibb.co/Ss2QxJ8


Cheers George

I can only speak to my situation. Out of the list of everything I had done to my amp, Steve listed them in order of most sonic impact. The fuses were last on that list. I don't see that as a dismissal of their possible effectiveness or in any way his trying to sell me something I didn't need to line his pockets. In fact, I found the fuses slightly cheaper elsewhere and Pat agreed to match that price. I call that good customer service!

Personally I've always found that fuses sound best inside the fuse holder.

Badum dum, phhhhhhhhh!

Thank you thank you, I'm here all week and I do weddings too.

everywhere ,
that being said , for sure your sourse 
digital for your music signal

Actually my best fuse swap was actually to remove the cheap fuses that came with my Magnepan 1.7i speakers and replaced them with the silver tubes (not fuses) that came with my Powell Ag Magnepan upgrade. Besides the silver tube in place of the fuse there was also a silver jumper to replace the steel plate stock jumper. Using the above upgrades improved bass tightness and top end treble/cymbals. Of course, the ultimate bass upgrade for the Maggies came recently when I added a stereo pair of REL T/9i subwoofers! Wow! 

Uber,
Please do not try to deny that the wording of your query was not
deliberately intended to incite mocking.

My wife confused one for a suppository. She was not pleased but I think her hearing improved.

Please do not try to deny that the wording of your query was not
deliberately intended to incite mocking.

Don't give up the day job.......

You're right. ".... but I think she sounds better." How's that?

So back to the subject matter.

My first experience with aftermarket fuses.

About 5 years ago I bought my first external dac, Exogal Comet Plus.
It so happened a long standing member had exactly same DAC.
He had just upgraded from SR black to SR blue fuse and offered to send me the SR black to try out and see what I thought.
Well nothing to lose so I did,I fitted it and sat back and..... nothing...maybe less than nothing.
I reported this back and his response was did I try flipping it for direction.
Say freaking what now??
But he was deadly serious so WTH, why not.
Sat back and slowly a big smile crept across my face as I could hear improvement in every area.
My first introduction to aftermarket fuse veracity and directionality all in one fell swoop.
My deep scepticism was washed away in minutes.
And that is the area I have found after maybe 4 more DAC to still have the most noticeable impact.
To my ears.
In my system.
Ymmv.

In my scenarios, fuse upgrades almost always made more improvement/change in the sound when placed in a preamp / source device.  In amplifiers, fuse upgrade still makes an improvement, but the amount of difference is not as much as a fuse upgrade in preamp / source.

Try wrapping PTFE around the glass part of a normal fuse. Ensure it doesn’t touch the metal endcaps. I have found a significant improvement in blackness and image solidity at no cost. Phono amp then amps.

IME,
DAC was the biggest improvement, followed by the preamp, then the transport. Like auxinput, the improvement in the power amps was less than the rest. Still haven't tried the VPI ADS.  

Good suggestion no romance, I think much of the improvements with fuse upgrades comes from improved dampening of the aftermarket fuses.

For me in the UK biggest bang for buck was in the plug for my Isotek sigmas power conditioner as this cascaded to 6 sockets in my system.

Then it was my TDAI3400 power DAC. Then my Ethernet switch (etherregen) power supply.

I’ve tried SR blues and then went orange.

Least bang for buck was my subwoofer (REL stentor iii)