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Direction of aftermarket fuses (only for believers!)

It is with reluctance that I start another thread on this topic with the ONLY GOAL for believers to share their experience about aftermarket fuses.
To others: you can call us snobs, emperors w/o clothes,... etc but I hope you refrain posting just your opinion here. If you did not hear any difference, great, maybe there isn’t.

The main driver for this new post is that I am starting a project to mod my NAD M25 7 ch amp for my home theater. It has 19 fuses (2 per channel, 4 on the power supply board, 1 main AC) and I will try a mix of AMR Gold, SR Black and Audio Magic Platinum (anyway that is the plan, I may try out some other brands/models). As it is reasonably difficult to change them, esp the ones on each channel module that requires complete disassembly, I would like to know what the direction is for these models mentioned and of course, others who HAVE HEARD there is a difference please share your experience on any fuse model you have tried.

Fuses are IME directional:
Isoclean is one of the first to indicate the direction (2008/2009) on their fuses. Users of HiFi Tuning (when the awareness rose quite a bit amongst audiophiles) have mostly heard the difference.

As an IEEE engineer, I was highly skeptical of cabling decades ago (I like the speaker design of John Dunlavy but he said on many occasions that cables nor footers matter at all, WRONG!). Luckily, my curiosity proved me wrong as well. I see the same skepticism that I and many others had about the need for aftermarket cables many, many years ago now on fuses and esp on the direction on fuses.

Another example is the direction of capacitors (I do not mean electrolytic types). Even some manufacturers now and certainly many in the past did not believe it can make a difference sonically. Maybe some do but it takes time in the assembly to sort and put them in the right direction/order (esp as some of the cap manufacturers still do not indicate "polarity") so that maybe is one argument why this is not universally implemented.








jazzonthehudson
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
I would think that it is not necessary to start modifying hardware and perhaps invalidating warranties in the process of getting to the bottom of the fuse directionality issue. IMO the methodology I suggested earlier should suffice, if done in an honest and careful manner.

Furthermore, if you are suggesting soldering wires directly to fuses in lieu of using holders I would wonder if the heat that is applied to the two ends of the fuses during the soldering process might change their characteristics sufficiently to invalidate the results, and/or might shorten the lifespan of these often expensive fuses.

Finally, my suspicion is that underlying your response to my suggestion is the goal of attacking my advocacy of thoroughness in the investigation of the causes of seemingly implausible and/or unexplainable tweaks by suggesting that the rationale underlying my proposed methodology suggests going to extremes, extremes that I however would consider unnecessary. It comes down to a matter of judgment, judgment that is hopefully as informed as possible, and as I say I would draw the line at what I originally suggested. I’m sure, though, that YMWV ("Your Mileage Will Vary").

I have nothing further to say on the subject.

Regards,
-- Al

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 

almarg
6,398 posts
05-24-2016 10:41pm
"I would think that it is not necessary to start modifying hardware and perhaps invalidating warranties in the process of getting to the bottom of the fuse directionality issue. IMO the methodology I suggested earlier should suffice, if done in an honest and careful manner."

Huh? I’m not suggesting that anyone modify hardware or invalidate warranties or any such thing. I’m just saying that you can eliminate the variable of the fuse holder by eliminating it from the test. I’m referring to an independent third party tester. That would be an honest and careful manner, no? Or maybe you’re insinuating that any person who doesn’t get the results you’re looking for isn’t honest and careful, it’s hard to tell. The method you suggested earlier actually doesn’t suffice since some people will jump to the conclusion that it’s the fuse holder that’s directional, not the fuse itself.

cheers,

geoff kait
machina dynamica

jea48
2,944 posts
 

geoff kait said:

I’m referring to an independent third party tester. That would be an honest and careful manner, no?

Like UL?
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
I read your last post. I read your last two posts. Did I err? Did I misinterpret something?
As far as I can tell, you misinterpret on purpose. That makes it hard to have a conversation. Example:
Or maybe you’re insinuating that any person who doesn’t get the results you’re looking for isn’t honest and careful, it’s hard to tell.
Al does not insinuate. You are one of the very few I have ever seen to attack Al, who IMO and that of many others is an important asset to this site. You might consider ratcheting down the rhetoric.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
jea48
2,071 posts
05-25-2016 11:32am
geoff kait said:

"I’m referring to an independent third party tester. That would be an honest and careful manner, no?"

to which jea48 asked,

"Like UL?"

Yes, UL is a third party tester. You got that part right.  Does UL test for directionality is the part you didn't get right. 
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