fuse & confused

i noticed in a power amp usually its 10A fuse, but whats with the 13A fuse in the wall plug? will there be significant improvement or will it affect the power amp performance for having more than one fuse along the power cable? is it ok to by pass the 13A fuse?

...and its 7.5A fuse in the cdp.. why the hack??



tq

Hmm.. quite confuse also on what you are trying to describe.

Anyway, fuse inside the equipment or at it's power supply input socket is for the equipment itself. Majority of them don't really consume that much current, which the current mean (A): The Ampere itself is the killer bits of the power supply thingy.

my amp will blow it own fuse when anything inside trying to consume anything more than 2.5A.

The 13A wall plug and fuse inside is the BS requirement. Basically, the highest it is acceptable base on the specification it needs complying. If you are observance enough, some of this plug only have fuse for 3 or 5A, that's more on the PC/Laptop power cord.

Of course, for the sake of mad audiophile like us, no fuse is always the best. Any pressure contact, or separate contact between 2 metals are = degrade sound. And theoritically speaking, the higher fuse rating; has more metal in it that supposedly = better conductivity.

But, even a dangerous tweaker like me wont do what considered "improvements" above.. it is just too dangerous to change anything rated correctly inside the equipment.

If you may, you still can look for the correct value audiophile fuses from furutech, isoclean, hifi-tuning... expensive, but it works~

Fuses had been discussed here before.

thanks adrian. i noticed in australia fuse in socket does not exist, no matter how great is your system. suddenly in bolehland, not just existed but its everywhere.. wth??

adrian4454 wrote:

Of course, for the sake of mad audiophile like us, no fuse is always the best. Any pressure contact, or separate contact between 2 metals are = degrade sound. And theoritically speaking, the higher fuse rating; has more metal in it that supposedly = better conductivity.

There are plenty of other mechanical contact pressures in the whole power supply chain. The plug to the walls, the IEC plugs & sockets , etc etc.

So whats the big deal of a simple fuse and its fuse holder any more than the other plugs, sockets and mechanical joints. Even the MCB's circuit breaker is a mechanical contact. So is the ELCB's circuit breakers.

There's just too much of an obsessive-compulsive-disorder over all these little tweaks and whatnots that "mad audiophiles" like to tinker and tamper with.

Why not focus on tweaks that are safer and give more sonic rewards such as better equipment support like racks and platforms, better speaker stands, etc.

Even a simple change in listening position and speaker placement will give 100x more change to the sound than fiddling with fuses and other perceived neurosis on the power supply chain.

azri wrote:thanks adrian. i noticed in australia fuse in socket does not exist, no matter how great is your system. suddenly in bolehland, not just existed but its everywhere.. wth??

The fuses are there for a good reason and on how homes are wired up in general here. Even though it may be a legacy reason, the presence of a fuse gives an added layer of protection.

If you're totally anal about having fuses in your power supply, then perhaps u can get a certified electrician to pull a direct power source from your incoming DB right after the usage KWh meter, with industrial thick gauge wiring and terminate it on the wall with Industrial style IP44 waterproof coupling sockets and plugs thats rated for 32A, 400Volts. Max overkill, but will be sure to put to rest all the trivial debates about UK (BS1363) vs US vs Euro(Schuko style) vs Aussie/NZ (AS3112), Furutech Cryo treated fuses/plugs, etc etc etc once and for all.

Now, talking now as a moderator, I want to say that there is actually a school of tweakers who actually recommends replacing fuses in our equipments with higher rated ones (supposedly the thicker fuse wire is better) or to even to bypass those fuses (by hard-wiring the connection from input socket to power stage). For the sake of your equipment AND YOUR LIFE, DO NOT ever follow this advice. There IS a limit to how far one should push for the sake of 'better sound'. If you are dead, you can have the best system out there but you can't listen to it, can you ?

I believe all the replies above aren't about me trying to get Azri to commit suicide ya.. In my complete first reply to him, I've said this very clearly to him:

But, even a dangerous tweaker like me wont do what considered "improvements" above.. it is just too dangerous to change anything rated correctly inside the equipment.

I'll always plainly accept whatever fuse the manufacturer puts in, the rating or for safety, I'll accept it. If it blows continuously, there's certainly something thats gone wrong and attention is needed.
If there's anything about fuses and DIY replacement, I think its imperative to know what exact type is the original fuse, slow or fast blow type and stick to the original rating. Mostly CDP, don't have more than 2-3 amp fuse. 7.5 amp fuse is out of the ordinary.

Adrian, don't worry I at least wasn't referring to you. But I do know of a school of tweakers who recommends replacing fuses with higher rated ones or to bypass them. So just giving out the proper recommendations la.

mugenfoo wrote:


If you're totally anal about having fuses in your power supply, then perhaps u can get a certified electrician to pull a direct power source from your incoming DB right after the usage KWh meter, with industrial thick gauge wiring and terminate it on the wall with Industrial style IP44 waterproof coupling sockets and plugs thats rated for 32A, 400Volts. Max overkill, but will be sure to put to rest all the trivial debates about UK (BS1363) vs US vs Euro(Schuko style) vs Aussie/NZ (AS3112), Furutech Cryo treated fuses/plugs, etc etc etc once and for all.

that's really overkill!

recently i heard an fm acoustics system (pre, 4 monoblocks and fm speakers) and the components were plugged to the wall sockets with no power conditioner, voltage stabiliser, etc using normal UK 13amp plugs (with fuses inside) and the sound was so loud that the plaster ceiling actually rattled.

so do u need 32amp plugs?

haha, loudness is a different matter leh.. I think 12v battery power D class amp with some 100__db sensitive JBL can do that also..~~

I have tried before with and without fuse in an amp (small tripath amp). Sound without fuse is more airy, better extension and cleaner. But I would not compromise safety with the little quality gain in my system. Our brain immune/get use to a sound setting very fast. You can do better with other setting like mention by sifus up there.

I keep these fuse rating in my equipment:
CDP: 0.5A (even with tubed output stage in it, 0.5A still ok)
Tripath amp: 5A (I am not SPL kaki, I seldom turn volume more than 1/4)
DAC: 0.5A (even with tubed output stage in it, 0.5A still ok. Buffalo II DAC will need 1A)

Talk about power supply to equipments. I recommend to try this: Separate out your DAC power supply from other equipments like amp, CDP. Let say your other equipment is taking power supply from socket A, try connect DAC power supply to the other socket that is not in the loop of socket A. If you got 2 AC filter/power regulator/RFI filter.... you can connect all other equipment under one and DAC separate and dedicated to the other supply.

tq very much for the info~