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In Reply to: RE: So these upgraded FURUTECH fuses.... posted by Audiolover718 on May 10, 2011 at 11:57:10
I can tell you from personal experience that the Furutech fuses are one of the few fuses that are really worth the money. I have a specially made fuse in my CD player sold by Littelfuse. It is a new series that has an orange ceramic body and either gold or rhodium plated end caps. They are specifically made for "medical and audio equipment", so says the website. As good as they are, they don't hold a candle to the sonic difference that the Furutechs make in a system. There is a lot more to the Furutech than meets the eye... However, they remain somewhat secretive about what they use to actually build the fuse. They do mention: a ceramic body, rhodium plating, cryogenic treatment, internal damping, etc. I know that they are expensive, but you would have to pay far more for the sonic difference that they make. Also, even though I am in the audio industry, I am not affiliated with Furutech.
Edits: 05/10/11Follow Ups:
Tommorow is the day! Fuses should be here in the AM! Can't wait!
My Dear Audio Friends,I must give my 110% endorsement to these Furutech fuses. They are so good, that I feel sorry for the naysayers that will dismiss them without even TRYING them. Unfortunately, there are many of us here that like to poke fun at those who have open minds and are willing to, at least, try something before automatically passing it off as snake oil.
I put a furutech in my ARC preamp, two in my SACD player (one for each power supply) and 2 in my Line conditioner. (one for the analogue and one for the Digital sections).
I made sure I checked the continuity of the circuit with a multimeter to make sure I had the proper orientation, as it does make a HUGE difference, and if one cannot hear it, without sounding rude, they need to find a new hobby.
My sound is so much improved that it is startling. My soundstage has absolutely exploded in an order of magnitude. The amount of hight, and sheer size of the sonic landscape is jawdropping. What's more, the solidity of the soundstage is kept as one turns the volume up, very similar to the MYE stands effect. One could easily think I had a Multi channel disc playing... That's how huge the sound has become. As well, even the volume on the preamp has had to be DECREASED because the same setting used previously is much too loud now!!! It is sooo obvious that the stock fuses were so detrimental to every aspect of the sound that one would be a fool NOT to give them a try.
I did do 5 at once, and since the effects are cumulative, my mileage with this tweak may be far more than another only doing one. My only complaint is that they do not make a fast blow for my power amp. I will have to look into others, perhaps Hifi Tuning.
These fuses have improved the sound of my system even more than my much more expensive power cable connectors and upgraded AC duplex, and even those were no slouch in improvement either.
Everything that has been written about these "magic fuses" is indeed true. I have not been as impressed by a tweak as much as this one, except the MYE stands for my maggies. All this and they have no break in at all yet. I'm tickled pink by the improvement.Many will laugh and say that those who buy them are crazy, BLA BLA BLA. That's fine by me. Let them eat cake. ;-)
Edits: 05/20/11
Only about five hours on the new Furutech Select series Fuse and it is already sounding amazing... Expanded soundstage with lots of low level detail... Also excellent micro and macro dynamics...
Update: Replaced the other three fuses with the Furutech Select Series Fuse...
I replaced the four fuses in my Marantz HD-DAC1...
Wrapped some Fo.Q TA-32 Tuning Tape on all four Furutech fuses...
Edits: 07/17/15 07/17/15
As usual, late to this party by 4 years!
Just for the heck of it, I had an NAD C325BEE (well, I have two) in the system. I had just opened it tonight for no reason other than I was thinking of changing the resistors in it to a better type (it's way out of warranty, anyway). I saw it had fuses. 6 of them. Easy to see, located in the upper right corner of the amp (viewed from the rear of the amp).Now, you'd think this would be a no-brainer that they had fuses, but I hadn't realized that before.
After reading this thread - and since I had no new fuses to try out, I just cleaned the fuse heads and holder with Caig ProGold contact cleaner.
I turned the unit on and held my breath, hoping that, although I'd dried the fuse and holder well (I only did one!), it wouldn't cause a blowout of some type.
The sound was noticeably cleaner on the Rolling Stones Aftermath hybrid CD (I was just using the CD layer). The grain - akin to using a 200 (ASA) speed Kodachrome film - was reduced, so that it was more akin to 50 (ASA)speed film. I thought maybe my Ambien had kicked in (hey, I did this at 11:30 pm!), but it was clear on every cut that there was less grain.
Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think it occurred to me to clean the fuse holder. Tomorrow morning, I can easily clean the PS Audio Power Plant.
We so often get caught up in "bigger and better" equipment that we forget the little things. No wonder, from the 70s on, HP used to have his setup man clean the tube pins every two weeks. And no wonder dealers doubted equipment sounded (sometimes) as he (HP) said it did. One dealer said to me once, "Are we listening to the same piece of equipment as him?!?!" Without cleaning the tube pins, I would say we weren't. Enid Lumley encouraged the same thing. Prophets are sometimes acknowledged after their passing.
Many, Many, MANY thanks to those who stated unequivocally that we clean our fuses and fuse holders.
By the way, I ordered 4 of the Furutechs. Put one in the PS Audio Power Plant and 3 in the NAD. Incidentally, these came in 2 separate orders placed days apart, because I didn't trust my ears.
I put in one 6.3 fuse into the NAD, and then found that, instead of ordering a .5 fuse, I had ordered a 5A fuse. Hmmmm, I thought, what do I do? Return it? And then my brain reminded me that the PS Audio uses a 5A fuse, so I put it in there.
Well, it took nearly no time at all to hear several things:
1), The Furutech fuses, just like the Rhodium wall outlets I have, move the soundstage closer, as one would expect moving from Row K to Row G. This, in turn, made voices more "present," or solid, as one poster put it, the same as in opera, where I saw in row L, and then one evening, a friend said, come sit with me, and she was in Row E, and when the baritone started singing, I felt it physically in my chest.
2) The sound is more lifelike, as in realism. In fact, the Nutcracker on Mercury Living Presence sounded faster - and brighter. There is definitely more sibilance, but that has been slowly disappearing. Nonetheless, it makes the tempo of music more crisp, as well as the diction of singers being vastly more crisp! I change the orientation of the .5 mA fuse in the NAD from the first time I placed it, and the soundstage flattened, so I knew my initial placement of it was the correct one, and I've put it back in the way I had it. And I got the second order and put in a second 6.3 fuse in the NAD and put the CD player on repeat. It's been around 36 hours since the second shipment. I could still hear glaze and a bit of hardness - as well as an artificial sound to the music - but that lessened when I came back to listen to it 2 hours ago, and even 15 hours after I placed the second shipment in, I could hear the difference.
Excellent fuses, and I'll have to wait longer to see how much more they improve, but this is worth the money. I'm sure one can get 80% of the performance, but I want 110% of the performance, and it is less expensive than buying a new amp (I'm still auditioning the Hegel).
"I made sure I checked the continuity of the circuit with a multimeter to make sure I had the proper orientation..."
Now that's really interesting, how did you do it?
I'm glad you like your new fuses but wasn't too surprised since most folks seem to like the brand. However this is the first I've ever heard of anyone managing to measure the directionality and I'm intrigued.
Thanks, Rick
To me, the furutech fuses indeed sound "correct" when the printing is read properly in conjunction with the signal flow. For example, when using them on the rear of your equipment with the screw in style holder, they work best with the letter F placed "machine side first, H side into cap holder.
For internal fuses, use the continuity setting on your meter to trace AC flow. Put one probe on the positive AC input IEC connector or blade and the other on one of the clips of the fuse holder. When you get continuity on either the right or the left clip, your meter will let you know. That's the direction of the AC. Orientate the fuse so that the letter F is on the side where you found continuity. This has proven to always get it right for sure. I originally did it with my ears and got it right, but then double checked with the meter to be sure. The meter confirmed what I already heard with my ears, but just wanted to be sure because I'm anal.
@Audiolover718- I have recently replaced the 4 internal rail fuses of my Parasound Halo A-21 amplifier with Furutech fuses. The result is really good and it matches with everything that you said about the clarity, the depth and height of the soundstage. Although the clarity improved significantly but the treble sounds a little metallic and harsh which I don't like. The amplifier has had around 300 hrs of running after I replaced the fuses.
Did you have similar experience?
I am a little confused by your explanation of how to find out the orientation of the current flow by looking at the word Furutech on the fuse. If you are saying that the printing is read properly in conjunction with the signal flow then I would assume that current flow is from F to H. If this is true, I would put F side on the fuse holder and H side which goes inside the machine if the fuse is inserted at the back of the equipment. This orientation will match the current flow from the wall receptacle to the equipment. Could you please clarify this orientation doubt?
Thanking you in advance.
"Put one probe on the positive AC input IEC connector or blade and the other on one of the clips of the fuse holder. When you get continuity on either the right or the left clip, your meter will let you know. That's the direction of the AC. "
I'm not sure what all this means but with AC there is no positive and there is no "direction". That's why it is called AC!
Undurstood, but We are talking about continuity of a circuit here, not about the alternating aspect of AC. There is still a circuit path to be taken into account. Yes it is AC, but fuses for some reason, DO sound better one way or another. I claim no insight as to why, but know for certain that this "voodoo" causes palpable changes in sound.
Thanks for the detailed explanation, that makes sense. You are just using the meter to help you get them in the direction that you've already determined sounds the best.
Since the fuse business seems to still be in the black-art stage I was amazed, but hopeful that you had found am independent method of predicting the outcome. Independent of listening that is...
Thanks, Rick
Right Rick, I just used the multimeter to confirm my original hypothesis. I'm pretty sure that you could probably skip the listening tests and go straight to the multimeter to get the proper orientation. I would be willing to bet that everyone who happened to chose the "right" orientation be ear will also have the multimeter "agree" with their findings. In the event that somehow the difference is hard to hear between polarity, then the multimeter would allow one to not have to obsess over it.
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