HiFi Tuning Fuses Installed

[chessman]

figgie, welcome aboard!

Anyone who enters swinging a dead cat is welcome.

[figgie]

Originally Posted by chessman

figgie, welcome aboard!

Anyone who enters swinging a dead cat is welcome.

Lol!!

Thanks!

No dead cat in this thought experiment...It is dead and alive at the same time! ZOMBIE KITTY!!!

[audiot servant]

Originally Posted by figgie

Schrödinger's Cat and said cat being in two states at the same time until viewed.

Welcome Figgie,

Love the hi-fi-sci-fi and it made me google something other than music and audio gear so that's clearly a good thing... to add to the confucion while clearly a bit keen on quantum theory cats have also been known to play around a bit with string theory.

However that said, I wouldn't let Stephen Hawking pick my audio gear

Graham

[Beowulf62]

Well, I was in the "Fuses" thread...however, this is a HiFi Tuning Supreme Fuse, so here goes.

I had to wait on the review of the effects of this fuse in my C2200 as I was suffering from "Auditioning Doldrums," or was, becalmed in the "Sargasso Sea of Listening,"...a.k.a., ear canal congestion. Now that it has subsided:

I installed the fuse with the arrow symbol pointed towards the fuse cap and listened for 10 days or so...sounded great. Clear, rich harmonics, detailed and musical. Then I reversed the fuse and listened to a well known LP of Italian Baroque Christmas Concerti.

Ahh, no thank you!

The sound became more forward in the upper midrange and even suffered from a bit of glare on the upper strings. The depth and ambiance of the recording venue was truncated and subtle instrumental detail was missing. The bass registers lost richness and warmth and "character." The sound was more "2D" and the sweetness of the strings was replaced by a slightly sharp, hard edge.

Back to the original orientation, and yes that's much better. Not to say that the sound was bad with the arrow pointed inward, but it was much more musical and flowing and sounded like real, live instruments with the arrow pointed towards the fuse cap...lifelike body and character.

So, although I was sceptical, it is true (at least in my system) that the direction of the HiFi Tuning Supreme fuse has a definite effect on the sound.

And, by the way, yes it is much better than the original fuse. Better detail, depth, harmonic richness and a more even balance across the frequency range.

[jdandy]

Douglas.......That's exactly the way I heard it, too. Happy listening.

[Beowulf62]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Douglas.......That's exactly the way I heard it, too. Happy listening.

Dan: Great ears hear alike...

[MyPal]

Douglas...Congrats! It's a great unmistakable tweak.

[Beowulf62]

Originally Posted by MyPal

Douglas...Congrats! It's a great unmistakable tweak.

MyPal...Steve?...you betcha... And now that the C2200 is completely toasted in, all I can do is enjoy the music. How depressing..., I guess I'll just have to cope until I can party for

[BlueSky]

This thread has been an interesting read and, for me, begs another thought and question that I don't have an answer to.

I have seen and owned equipment whose manufacturers have advertised as having, for instance, higher quality internal wiring using brand name cabling rather than generic copper wiring. Unless this was intended purely for marketing purposes, I am assuming they did this to provide sonic benefits to their customers.

Do manufacturers of quality audio equipment currently specify and provide high-end fuses as original equipment in their offerings? I would think that equipment designed and manufactured with a cost-is-no-object philosophy would consider incorporating these higher quality fuses.

Your thoughts?

[junker]

An ideal fuse would carry it's rated current and melt immediately above this rated current from the element, solder, or a junction melting.

Silver does have the best conductivity of any element (62.9 * 10^6 / ohm * cm). So, possibly this combination of high conductivity and low specific heat more closely achieve the characteristics of an ideal fuse?

Let's assume that a typical fuse uses aluminum then it only has an electrical conductivity of 37.7 * 10^6 / ohm * cm (60% of silver) allows the fuse filament to be much finer. On the thermal side of things the finer wire and the fact that silver has a specific heat - the amount of energy required to raise a certain mass by one degree - that is only 14% that of aluminum. In other words, it only takes 1/8th the energy to raise the same mass of silver metal as needed with aluminum. And with the fact that the filament can be drawn finer - even considering the higher melting point and lower density (1/4) with Al - I think it is plausible that a silver fuse could have less resistance, yet quickly heat and melt in an over current situation more closely achieving the characteristics of an "ideal" fuse. Now, because they still have the same rated current before fusing (melting) is there a sonic difference... Perhaps, it can have lower resistance under typical current loads yet thermally ramp faster and open at the same max current that the typical fuse would fail at.

I'd say you can't completely discount it. Personally, I'd probably only do it if I had a blown fuse but maybe there is something to it...