Audiophile Fuses or no Fuses with Maggies

[Niles]

Is anyone out there using or has tried aftermarket audiophile fuses with their Maggies or have you actually bypassed the fuses?

I was wondering about brands like Isoclean Power, Furutech and HiFi-Tuning vs. the stock Littlefuse brand that Magnepan uses.

Your comments are appreciated... :smoking:

[junker]

Great question. I was wondering the same thing...

Also, does any one upgrade the jumpers with jumper wire, silver, etc.?

[Rayooo]

I used to hear of lots of people bypassing the fuses altogether..claiming great results.

I've never bypassed them but have and do use HFT fuses. (They are in the 20.7s)

I've more or less convinced myself of some level of improvement... Fairly cheap tweak....
Having said that I've seen some darned expensive fuses for sale also.

With my 3.6s I used Cardas Jumpers for the external crossover box connections and attenuator connections along with the HFT fuses.
I've not tried other types... Go for it! :)

Sent from my iPad using A.Aficionado

[klao]

I used HiFi Tuning gold fuses in my 1.6's and then 3.6's, both bypassed only the attenuators. Subtle improvement to my ears.

I'm uring the black (supreme?) HiFi Tuning fuses in the 1.7's now. I couldn't bypass the attenuator here. :)

[audiot servant]

The Empirical Designs silver Litz jumpers are really quite inexpensive and much better than the supplied Maggies stock metal bridge... the jumpers will sound immediately more transparent and detailed and perhaps just a tad lean till they are settled in. By then thry are considerably better from bottom to top.

If you put the jumpers in first the improvements you get with upgrading fuses will be easier to appreciate... Overall the move to jumpers yields the greater improvements over the fuses but every little bit helps and both are worthwhile and relatively affordable improvements. Happy tweaking.

G.

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

[Niles]

Guys, thanks for the feedback!

I've found the HFT fuses on sale at half price so I'm going to get some.

For jumpers I'm using the same 16ga. wire that Magnepan uses for the crossovers. Seems like high quality US-made copper wire.

Cheers... :smoking:

[Mike Gillespie]

Any one know the Fuse type or the 1.7i?

Any one try the Hi-fi Supreme or Gold etc?

Any one try the Synergistic Fuses?

Much difference noted?

Thanks.

[ehoove]

I replaced the stock fuse holders and stock fuses with upgraded fuse holders and HFT fuses with good results in my modified Magnapan MGIIIa's.
Regards,
Jim

[scirica]

I put the Synergistic RED fuse in my PS Audio P5. Seemed to improve the dynamics slightly. Even Paul McGowan himself told me he was a believer in fuse upgrades.

[vegaracer1]

I replace the jumper s with the copper strip that Mapleshade sells for Maggie's with good results too. My 3.7 sounded sweeter after the upgrade.

[Sceptic]

Anyone tried Synergistic Red in the 3.7?

[audiot servant]

Upgraded to HiFi Supreme fuses in both the 3.7s and then the 20.7s to a similar effect as noted by others here. Not a game changer but nice still... just a shade lower noise floor and more natural and relaxed music making, or marginally less synthetic or mechanical if that makes sense.

[wildcat82]

I replaced the stock fuses with HiFi Suprems and changed the stock Maggie jumbers to Cardas Audio jumpers. Since I can't do a blind AB test its hard to say if there was any improvement.

[arteck]

Anyone has bypassed the fuses?

[Mike Gillespie]

Got great results on the 1.7i's with the Audio-Magic Beeswax fuses: much different sound... not subtle... Richer, more organic, more detail. Only problem is they're expensive. Have some SR Red fuses coming soon to compare.

[Barry1]

My 3.6s are totally modified with Mye stands, all 6 9s copper, cryo wiring, new internal passive crossover for tweeters and midrange (Duelund Cast), active crossover between bass and midrange panels, Vampire BPHEX binding posts, no internal socks, and NO FUSES. I have also run Hi-Fi Tuning fuses previously.

No fuses are best, but they are not as significant an upgrade as some of these other things above and may not be worth the risk. Insufficient amp power (the amp clips) with loud listening levels will blow the tweeter fuses! The tweeters can even be destroyed before the fuses go under some conditions. If you have blown fuses before or tweeter ribbons think twice about bypassing the fuses.

[zonto]

I replaced the stock fuses with a set of Abbingdon Music Research (AMR) Gold Fuses (http://www.amr-audio.co.uk/html/goldfuse_individual.html). They're a UK company, but go through Avatar Acoustics (http://www.avataracoustics.com/) in Georgia for distribution in the United States.

It's about $40 for the pair.

[nicoff]

Years ago I asked Magnepan (Wendell) which fuses they recommended. He basically said not to bother with "audiophile" fuses.

[cma29]

Years ago I asked Magnepan (Wendell) which fuses they recommended. He basically said not to bother with "audiophile" fuses.

That makes sense, but we audiophiles are a paranoid crowd and thus we keep pursuing all kinds of tweaks that most likely make no difference. But, hey, we feel good about it. :D

BTW - I did install the "upgraded" HIFI-Tuning Fuses on my 20.7s.

[Thanh-Binh]

Got great results on the 1.7i's with the Audio-Magic Beeswax fuses: much different sound... not subtle... Richer, more organic, more detail. Only problem is they're expensive. Have some SR Red fuses coming soon to compare.

Do you have receive the SR RED ?

[Thanh-Binh]

Anyone ?

[6dj8]

Fuses replaced with copper tubes on my 3.6R, giving clearer extended high frequencies.

Fuses can go bad and affect the sonics.

If you do not listen at high SPLs (>90dB), or run the amp into clipping, your tweeters are safe.

Been doing this on Magnepan's since 1975 and never blown a tweeter.

[tdotson41]

I am using the Synergistic Research Purple and they improved the SQ on my 20.7’s. Best investment you can make on your Maggie’s for a few hundred bucks.

[W9TR]

Upgrade the jumpers. If you buy hi-fi fuses get ones from a shop that will let you return them. Then you can listen for yourself and will have less confirmation bias that the hi-fi fuses are actually doing something.

[tdotson41]

I use to run them without a fuse. I used the fuse tweak from Verastarr until I almost fried my tweeters. So I do have a very good reference on SR Purple fuse vs No Fuse in my system and I stand by my comment. The SR Purple Fuse is the best tweak I have found in my system. My rig has never sounded better! Happy listening:banana: