[bootycall]

I have been reading up on fuses for a few months.

Around 2-3 months ago i notice a Germany Company offering to me a new type of fuse geared especially for our hi-fi. My thoughts behind the idea have not gone away and to me seem to be a part of my setup that i had never considered until now.

What is it?
High quality Gold plated Silver Ceramic fuse.

You can use the internal fuses to replace the fuses in your equipment. The Hi-Fi Tuning fuses employ silver fuse wire as well as gold plated end caps. This simple upgrade will give far less grain, blacker backgrounds / lower noise floor and a more natural tonal sound.

Would you consider buying and adapting it to you’re your gear for home theatre setups, DVD players and other home entertainment devices

Link: Silver/Gold Fuses

Has anyone who has invested in mains plugs and mains filters also consider this too or would consider buying some.

[Orbitalzone]

I'm sure someone over at the AV Forums will tell you they make a massive difference along with their £45 shielded mains cable.....

However, I personally would eat my own c**p if a fuse made any noticable sound improvement.

It's a mains plug fuse... that's it, nothing more and nothing less. Plus if it blew you'd be mighty pissed, I'd stick with a 4 pack for £0.75.

I'm not saying mains interference can't affect audio but a fuse is essentially that, a fuse.... unless the fuse is loose and arcing and in that case your plug needs replacing, it's only job is passing electricity and blowing it the current exceeds its rating.

[StereRowe]

I knew a guy who had mains sockets with gold plated terminals along with equivalent plugs. I asked can you honestly tell the differance?

He conceded he couldn't but added if you did an analysis of the output with some test gear you could see a differance in the results.

I expect he's got the fuses you mentioned by now.

StereRowe

[Ugg]

Sounds like they're doing a valuable public service! They're separating people with more money than sense from some of their cash and distributing it, if not exactly to the needy, at least to people with a bit less than people who lash out on 20 quid fuses.

[soulboy77]

Don't forget you will also need to replace the fuse holders with gold plated connectors a well!

[stranger blue]

I think I'd rather buy a couple of CDs and listen to the music rather than spend the money on trying to listen for the fuse.

(I have a Tag McLaren Aphrodite with B&W Silver Signature 25 speakers).

[bootycall]

Thanks for the feedback

I feel the same, but did find it interesting never the less.

The quote is not from me but from a well know HIFi Magazine.

The Magazine posted this on Hi Fi choice January 2007 £3.95 page 80 issues 289.

I am assuming that those who have spent a lot of money of Hi-Fi mains plugs and filter might have tried out.

Thanks again for the feedback...


The Quote Link: Fuse Details here

The link : Hi Fi Fuse link 2

[jackthom]

There's a huge amount of pure twaddle written about audio & video interconnects, special capacitors, mains wiring, plugs sockets & fuses etc. Much of this in what used to be respectable Hi-Fi magazines.

The prime motivation seems to be an attempt to justify ridiculous prices for what should be basic everyday items, eg £14 for a mains fuse!

I'd recommend a read of this old Wireless World article written some time ago by Douglas Self.

[Orbitalzone]

I suppose that with test equipment you can probably prove that the right type of funriture polish will make your speakers perform better due to less airturbulence around the wooden cabinet.

The thing is that all the gold fuse does it provide a 2cm gold or silver connetion in the eletrical path that is otherwsie made of suface print on the circuitboard.

The same thing with mains plugs, all the distance the electricity travels to your house then into the power socket, then a tiny change in the plug fuse and back to cheap old mains cable from plug to amp.

I stand by my first comment, this is complete and utter nonsense.

I'm just waiting for an AV Forum member to comment on this. (I'm a member there I should add!)

Still I must appluade the company selling these.....


Now I must go and invent some air turbulence reducing furniture polish.

[mart.stokes]

I consider myself unbiased, if I spend £100 on a cable and can't tell the difference I will admit it. I have only a few things to say about all of this:

I have heard a £500 home entertainment system that sounded better (to me) than a £3000 home entertainment system and there were two reasons for this:

1) The £500 system was set-up with more care.
2) The acoustics in the room that the £500 system was set up in were far more "friendly" to dolby digital than the other room.

I'm not saying that wonderful fuses won't make a difference, it's just that the big differences are made by investing your own time and effort. Simple things help, like making certain your mains cables don't cross your speaker cables (I can induce a slight "hum" on my centre channel if I don't) or even playing with the "toe-in" etc. of your speakers. Even my (now quite ancient) system can be badly affected by simply leaving the living room door open, so what chance has a fuse got against treble being reflected by panels of painted wood?

Okay, if push comes to shove in terms of commenting on differences between these sorts of things (and I don't like commenting on this stuff because it IS so subjective), even if things do make a difference, different may not always be better to your ears. I spent good money (£24 a metre, not the most expensive by any means, but more than the £5 a metre I had previously spent) once on some very nice speaker cable. Wow, it DID make a difference, everything was so smooth. Unfortunately, you don't want a shattered window in a film to sound "smooth", you want it to sound like glass being shattered!

Point is, a few hours "massaging" what you have will often pay higher dividends than spending more money on highly subjective items.

Mmmmmh, that turbulence free polish does sound tempting though, put me down for a few cans! I won't buy it unless it is over £100 a tin though!

[Orbitalzone]

Mark, you're my sort of customer, if I had a company and product to sell that is.

I'm working hard on the air pressure turbulence reduction polish as we speak, I'm testing several secret formulas on my B&W's right now. The missus is boiling up some more as I type this


All being well each can will cost a reasonable £119.99 with a special offer of buy 2 get none free.

I'm also interested in comments about another new product for audiophiles with too much cash, special ear drops guaranteed to increase frequency range, pitch, clarity and ambience. It looks like £2.50 eardrops, smells like £2.50 eardrops and works like £2.50 eardrops but at a reasonably priced £34.99 a 2ml bottle.

Finally my visual eye drops are due out soon, at only £49.99 per squirt they guarantee* 35% improvement to all PAL video sources and a staggering 48.3% with NTSC source video with a typical 16% performance boost on most HDTV programming.









*Guarantee not guaranteed.

[mart.stokes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orbitalzone

Finally my visual eye drops are due out soon, at only £49.99 per squirt they guarantee* 35% improvement to all PAL video sources and a staggering 48.3% with NTSC source video with a typical 16% performance boost on most HDTV programming.

*Guarantee not guaranteed.

Mmh, I'm tempted by this one, but I currently wear glasses. Will you be developing a DIY laser surgery kit? I can't see that it would be too difficult; a souped up and modified laser pointer, a mirror and a piece of wood to bite down on during the process. You look in the mirror at your own eye and focus on it as best as you can, you then etch the surface with the laser pointer until the reflection of your own eye comes sharply into focus, job done! I just can't understand what could possibly go wrong with this

[niall campbell]

my neighbour has got Linn equipment and the sound is amazing. he tries various things like rubber mats in the cd player itself....... and some of the stuff works and some doesnt. he has a surge protector espically for hi-fi and it really does work. i couldnt tell you if it has ceramic fuse but the sound difference can be heard with my been in the army whistling ears.

HOWEVER i would not get these fuses. the parafin tv brigade are correct here and i applaud them.. salute them almost.

what i would say is buy a dedicated surge protector block if you have got separates and forget that fuse. if you have a room with no furniture bar a wooden seat and no curtains/soft furnishings and a £20,000 piece of kit you probally could hear it and then i would buy it.........

BETTER SAVE YOUR MONEY AND GET A DECENT OYXGEN FREE SCART FOR YOUR TV

[Orbitalzone]

Mmm diy laser surgery eh?

I'll investigate that.