Re. Fuses

I’m sure this has cropped up before so apologies. Having received in the post a mail order brochure from a certain HiFi retail store, I was really curious if anybody here has had any experience with fuses retailing at circa £100? Do they actually make any difference to SQ? And what about cryogenically treated fuses? I honestly would like to know if you’ve tried them and found it improved performance.
Thank you kindly.

There were a couple of threads on Synergistic fuses.

Eoink, thank you. Fuses are prone to blow from time to time, tho. I’m going to have to try this for myself one of these days. Only way to find out. This guy does offer full money back if one is not convinced, might be something in it I suppose.

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Whatever you do though, please don’t be tempted to change the fuse in the IEC inlet at the back of your equipment. These fuses are critical safety devices and changing these to anything other than that which was supplied by the manufacturer may well make the equipment unsafe and may very well void any insurance. This is why any discussion about equipment fuses is heavily moderated.

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Oh dear, it never even occurred to me. I’ve gotten used to playing about with valves and matching correct ones to amp, didn’t stop to think sometimes people get a bit careless. Feel free to delete Richard.

Bang & Olufsen go to extreme measures to ensure customers don’t swap fuses in their equipment. I used to own a 4004 turntable, the internal fuse was soldered in place. :bowing_man:

Really interesting, I been receiving lots of marketing myself recently about upgrading fuses, I must have googled it previously.

I admit I know nothing about this, but doesn’t the current from the wall mains have to pass through the plug live prong then the fuse, before going into the power cable cord? Would lower quality fuses then be the weak link in the supply? Sorry, if I’ve got this wrong.

With people spending hundreds/thousands on ring mains, cables etc. Perhaps they are a cost effective upgrade? Though I still balk at the thought of £100+ for a fuse, which is designed to go pop!

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The correct fuse in the back of your Naim box is important, as Richard says. I presume you are talking about the fuse in the plug, though. These also need to be right, but it’s simple enough to check that you’re buying one that is suitable. It should have the correct Amp. rating, and comply with BS1362, and will have that BS printed on it (although it wouldn’t surprise me if there were fakes on the market, and I certainly wouldn’t buy one from an unknown source via ebay, for example).

The Synergistic blue and orange fuses are excellent. I’ve tried the odd silver plated fuse in the past, but they didn’t do anything. I keep saying I’ll try the Synergistic ones in my Naim gear, but I haven’t yet.

Yes we are talking about 13amp plug fuses here.

If you think the virus police outside are strict, Richard has been known to visit your house if the discussion leads to internal equipment fuses.

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Does he change the fuse back to an approved original OEM one as well? :slightly_smiling_face:

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Richard my xpsdr fuse has just blown. I have a redundant hdx in the attic. Do you know if it is the same fuse please?

If it’s a 230V unit then, IIRC the XPSDR is a T2.5AL fuse. It’s essential that you replace with exactly the same type and even make. You should have a spare in the holder. When you order more from your dealer it’s worth getting a few at least.

The 230V HDX uses a T3.15AL fuse. Under no circumstances should you ever use this fuse in an XPS.

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Thank you Richard, saves me a trip into the attic!
It is a 240v UK unit.

I tried the Synergistic fuses and wasn’t impressed: a slight lowering of the noise floor but also of textural detail and a bit of lost boogie factor, too.

Two fuses blown on my XPSDR in two days. Never had one go before. It’s happening when I turn it on, any ideas?
I’ve been turning it off as decorating in the room, it is usually left on permanently.

If it was me
Don’t plug it back in there again
Plug something else in the same socket, a low power and low cost object, just in case there’s an issue with the socket itself
Also put a new fuse in the Naim unit and try in another socket, preferably in another room
If the Naim blows again get it round to a dealer
If the original socket blows whatever you plug into it then get a Spark round

Lyndon

It was in a different socket when it blew the second time Lyndon. I have 2 unswitched sockets on a dedicated radial

Are you replacing with the exact same type, rating and make of fuse? - this is critical with the XPS.

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Yes Richard it was the spare one in the holder. I’ve ordered some more to be delivered in next couple of days

Good idea. The XPS fuse is very finely toleranced but can be a a bit edgy with the switch on current in-rush. It can vary slightly from example to example. It’s well worth having a bunch of spares handy.