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ISOCLEAN fuses – lunatic fringe tweak, or is it?

Posted by John C. - Aussie (A) on June 26, 2009 at 17:48:57

The concept of fuses improving the audio quality seems way out despite others posting this on the net but, at the risk of ridicule, I post my findings.

A part of the upgrade David Schulte of "The Upgrade Company" [ site at http://www.upgradecompany.com/esoteric.php] did on my Esoteric UX-1 player [link on post about this below] was to have been the installation of these expensive ($USD35 each) fuses. Well the player came back & David had overlooked putting them in. I initially resisted them being sent for me to do but I eventually relented. The modded player well and truly bedded in before they arrived so a “before” and “after” comparison was possible.

Before the ISOCLEANS I had twice tried out a set of opera CDs but they sounded harsh and suffered from digititis so I decided "bad recordings". After putting in the fuses I retried them and the previous harshness had gone!!! I really had not expected that but relayed my findings to David. He responded with the following explanations:

"This is good news and the reaction I expected to hear. You see, stock cheap fuses wiggle under changing load conditions such as normal ever minute power line fluctuations and various power demands within the unit itself. The stock fuse filaments are soft and flexible, which allows for unwanted resonance's to be setup upon the power that is passing through the fuse. This is heard as distortion at the output.

"Electricity is nothing more then a resonance setup a wire. Unless one holds a post graduate degree in a but a few specialized areas such as nuclear engineering, one will never learn the simple fact that electrons do not "flow" anywhere or "go" anywhere except in a nuclear reaction. Electrons are what comprise matter, they are one in the same. Electricity enters any electronic item (audio, video, computer, TV whatever) as a resonance and is shaped by the parts within the unit in the following ways:

1- voltage or "speed"
2- amplitude
3- phase
4- time or storage
5- frequency
6- direction

"The incoming AC electricity is resonating each and every part and wire inside the player at just under the speed of light, appearing at the output jacks, just the way the parts shape the incoming resonance.

"Once you know that the your player and all high end audio equipment is resonating inside to make it work, then it seems logical that the support feet used under the player can also affect the sound, just as so many audiophiles have claimed.

"You see the main dominate "standing wave" resonant harmonic frequency bands those recording setup in your player and in your room just happened to be roughly the same standing wave" resonant harmonic frequency bands the fuses were producing"

I really do find all this a bit hard to swallow but suppose I'm forced to believe what I hear. I still have problems believing 5 gold plated and directional fuses can make such a significant difference to the sound. And I do not blame people for thinking all this is a bit nutty and over the edge.

Anyone else tried these?

John

What can be more subjective than music? It reflects our personal tastes and preferences.

• Previous post on Esoteric UX-1 upgrade   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 06/26/09

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