[captouch]

 Yeah she sure looks a lot nicer than my humdrum looking concept 16.5 receiver. Looks are part of the pride of ownership among other things.

I agree on the looks. To a point, I'll take a classy/sexy looking piece that is a step below a pedestrian or ugly piece that sounds somewhat better.

 

[buson160man]

Spotted a fisher 800 b at a local shop that sells used pieces as well. It looked to be in very good condition. The unit has over twenty tubes boy must it cost a fortune to retube it . They were asking 999.99 usd. It was with a case looked to be in excellent condition. I wish I had the space  but unfortunately I do not have much of that in my smallish apartment it would have been a nice complement to my concept 16.5( I have to put it on the floor). Oh well maybe if I win the powerball . Wishful  thinking.

 

[buson160man]

  Improved SQ by replacing the fuses? I'm sorry. This made me laugh out loud. 

 Do not laugh until you try it. I have upgrade the fuses in most all of my equipment and it definitely improved the sound quality on all the pieces. The improvement is easily heard.

 

[Mr Rick]

 
 Do not laugh until you try it. I have upgrade the fuses in most all of my equipment and it definitely improved the sound quality on all the pieces. The improvement is easily heard.

So, do you use Bussman or Littlefuse??  Or perhaps the boutique brand Schurter? LOL

 

[dogwan]

  So, do you use Bussman or Littlefuse??  Or perhaps the boutique brand Schurter? LOL

Haters gonna hate.
 
 
While I've never gone the boutique fuse route, I always pay attention to the fuses on my vintage equipment. When a new piece comes across my bench I make sure the fuse holders and fuse ends get a good treatment with DeOxit. I will also wrap the fuse body in plumbers teflon tape. It makes a subtle but definite improvement to my ears. I don't think you will get many that will argue that the PS does not have an impact on the sound of an amp. Thus, it would hold that anything you can do to improve the PS will have a positive impact. 

 

[SirMarc]

Do you wrap the receptacle ends of the fuse holder also? Just curious, because I assume you're wrapping the fuse for shielding?

 

[MinedSafe]

Now lads, stop Its getting nowhere. I did heard about the fuses thing, never tried myself but I can imagine there could a be a small difference in reference and transparent system. Now, needles to say I know a person who made Electric company to build separate line to his newly build house just to power his audio system and he claims it sounds much, much better! I also happen to know people having 20k - 40K power leads making same statements. Where there is a need there is company to fulfill. If people need gold fuses, 40k power leads and build power lines to their home, well let them live While I do not think they make a difference I wont be able to try miself unless I win Lotto

 

[Mr Rick]

  Now lads, stop Its getting nowhere. I did heard about the fuses thing, never tried myself but I can imagine there could a be a small difference in reference and transparent system. Now, needles to say I know a person who made Electric company to build separate line to his newly build house just to power his audio system and he claims it sounds much, much better! I also happen to know people having 20k - 40K power leads making same statements. Where there is a need there is company to fulfill. If people need gold fuses, 40k power leads and build power lines to their home, well let them live While I do not think they make a difference I wont be able to try miself unless I win Lotto

I have a low tolerance for misinformation. 

 

[PhoenixG]

  Haters gonna hate.
 
 
While I've never gone the boutique fuse route, I always pay attention to the fuses on my vintage equipment. When a new piece comes across my bench I make sure the fuse holders and fuse ends get a good treatment with DeOxit. I will also wrap the fuse body in plumbers teflon tape. It makes a subtle but definite improvement to my ears. I don't think you will get many that will argue that the PS does not have an impact on the sound of an amp. Thus, it would hold that anything you can do to improve the PS will have a positive impact. 

Ok, let's calm down everyone. I propose we settle this with some engineering. IMHO, there are a few times a fuse can make a difference; i.e.  if they're oxidized/ dirty, off spec, or if it's in the signal path.
 
Let's talk about power supply fuses first. In a power supply, the power comes off the wall via the transformer, hits the fuse, then the rectifier, then the filter and main caps. Some power supplies get fancy after that with some sweet diodes and other schemes, but the first half of all of them is identical. So what is a fuse? It's a resistor that is designed to become a puff of smoke a some point and protect your system from itself. Some of them, especially slow blow types have some minuscule inductance, but it is way beyond negligible and countered by even the smallest caps later on. They can also put off the same 60hz noise that any other unshielded power component can, which is why shielded power supplies are awesome, and many amps use an over/under scheme to separate fuses and other live components from the signal path in their own farady cages on the top and bottom of the chassis. 
 
So apart from amp design, how can one make a fuse "better"? You can't unless you start changing the amp. Teflon tape doesn't block EM waves (sorry, it isn't conductive. And wrapping a fuse in something that would block EM waves would make it no longer work as a fuse - i.e. metal). You could put your power supply in a box. Some amps do that. You could make sure they are up to spec. If they have been strained in the past, the might have a higher than normal resistance which could slightly limit your power supply. If they are dirty or the bracket is dirty, they might exhibit strange behavior, like not passing anything under a certain voltage, which would DEFINITELY be noticeable. That could put some strain on your caps. If you have no margin in your power supply it would definitely allow some noise into the DC circuitry and the signal. You could make an expensive fuse out of gold with the lowest possible impedance, but it would be pretty much the same as any other since it still *has* to pop when it is called on.

So that sucks, what's a realistic way to make fuses act ideal? Solder them in. Next best way? Clean them and replace them if they have ever gotten really frikkin hot. Hot enough to warp the wire.
 
 
I've got to run, but let's call this part one. I'll do part two later on fuses IN the signal path.

 

[dogwan]

Do you wrap the receptacle ends of the fuse holder also? Just curious, because I assume you're wrapping the fuse for shielding?

No, I just wrap the glass body with a few tight turns of Teflon plumbers tape. Not so much for shielding as for damping ringing in the glass. However, Teflon is a great dielectric.
 
I readily admit that the improvement from the tape may be subjective, but we're talking about $0.005 investment. 
 
I will however defend the practice of good clean contact in the fuse holder. Here's an anecdotal story: I had a vintage Honda CB400f that was having charging issues despite the entire system testing good. One day I lost power only to find the fuse box had melted from excess heat build-up. After pulling my hair out I found an old Honda mechanic online who told me the old brass clips build up micro layers of barely visible corrosion that add resistance and thus build up heat. Since the charging system was barely adequate when new, the added resistance was enough to interfere with keeping the battery charged over an extended period of time. Sure enough when I measured the charging after long running the voltage to the battery had dropped significantly. The longer the bike was running the hotter the fuse clips got, and the hotter they got the greater the resistance. Took a Dremel to the inside of the fuse clips and the problem went away and the fuse block no longer heated up to melting temps. It only took me 3 years to figure it out.
 
On my vintage equipment I will also scrub the prongs of the AC plugs if they are brass. Again, very little investment for peace of mind.

 

[dogwan]

  Ok, let's calm down everyone.

I'm feeling pretty calm....

 
I had to laugh, you posted at the same time I did. Great post by the way.
 
To everyone: I should apologize. My comment about "haters gonna hate" was meant tongue in cheek and I didn't mean to incite or fling flames. Again, I admit that a lot of this hobby can be very subjective. As long as we're all having fun....

 

[Mr Rick]

  Ok, let's calm down everyone. 

No sense in discussing this any further. I bristle at the dissemination of misinformation.  I could put it in stronger terms but this is a family forum.

 

[pedalhead]

Just to get the thread back on track and because everyone likes a picture of a vintage receiver...I'll be getting this "little" fella (Luxman R1120) in a few weeks...
 
 
  
 
 

 

[Skylab]

Wow, pedalhead, that's a beauty! Congrats!!!

 

[pedalhead]

Wow, pedalhead, that's a beauty! Congrats!!!

 
Cheers mate.  Can't wait to hear it!