Re. Fuses

[Nocker65]

Thanks Richard I have finished decorating so will be leaving it on once they arrive.

[Lyndon]

Nocker65

When you tried it the second time was it on a different circuit ?
Just a case of isolating the problem is it your circuit or the Naim box

Lyndon

[james_n]

It’s worth making sure (if you’ve not done so already) that the IEC plug is firmly seated in the socket on the XPS.

[Nocker65]

Good point james, I will check when fuses arrive. I do find the power lines do not go in as easy as the standard leads

[james_n]

The powerlines do need a firm push to fully engage so a slightly loose one coupled with the high inrush current of the XPS could easily pop the fuse. Hope you get it sorted and musical bliss returns.

[Mon]

Hi there I’ve had a Naim 300 PS DR for about a month and fuse just blew. So much in fact that the glass had shattered. I saw a flash at the back. Have replaced a fuse on my XPSDR but when I opened the 300 panel the glass was totally smashed. Now in lockdown with no music does anyone know why the glass of the fuse would smash? Very concerning! Was connected with a Naim Powerline. Tried to carefully get the glass out but one of the metal ends of the fuse is somewhere inside. Gutted. Not sure if naim are doing repairs right now, or if my dealer is even open
@Richard.Dane do you know? Thanks

[Richard.Dane]

It’s rare, but sometimes the force of the fuse failing can cause the glass to shatter. Do you have spare inside the holder?

The main cause of fuses blowing when using a Powerline is not having the power line connected all the way in. This can cause arcing which then leads to the fuse blowing, sometime catastrophically!

You need to push until the first major resistance - some stop there thinking it’s in, but it’s not, at least not properly. It then needs a much firmer push to open up the very tight jaws to make a proper grip on the pins. As you do so you’ll see the back part of the plug push backwards. Just be sure you are holding on to the front of the kit because otherwise the force needed will send it flying off the shelf. Also make sure you only handle the outer case of the IEC (i.e. don’t push from the back), otherwise the back end of the plug won’t push back and decouple properly.

If you can’t remove all of the fuse bits and you don’t have a spare handy then best first try contacting your dealer, otherwise give Naim support a call.

[Hmack]

I have never experimented with so called ‘audiophile’ fuses in power plugs.

However, my Magnepan 3.6R speakers have protection circuits which incorporate fuses. In a moment of curiosity (or maybe madness) 3 or 4 years ago, I purchased a set of so called audiophile fuses from ‘Abbingdon Music Research’ which had received very positive reviews in the Music press for my 3.6Rs.

My verdict on the AMR fuses? Well, they have remained in my speakers ever since then, so I guess that’s reasonably positive. However, my verdict is simply that they did not in any way adversely affect the SQ of the speakers. I can’t in all honesty go any further than that.

I would say that making changes of this nature and hoping to detect small improvements are fraught with obstacles. You can’t just simply swap the fuses and immediately evaluate any potential subtle improvements. It’s a bit of a fiddly and lengthy procedure. You cant just swap fuses (2 per speaker in my case) while they are connected to the amp and immediately compare the sound. You have to power down the amps, disconnect the speakers, change the fuses, re-connect the speakers, power up the amplifiers and wait 30 minutes or so for the power amps to fully stabilize and then attempt to identify any subtle SQ changes, good or bad. Audio memory limitations then play havoc with one’s ability to conduct the listening tests effectively.

My view is that if items of this sort make any difference at all, then the differences are likely to be subtle rather than significant, and changes would need to be pretty significant in order to be able to be confident that they exist and are not imaginary.

[Mon]

Thanks @Richard.Dane. Yes can’t see the bottom piece of the fuse, dealer has offered to send new fuses, but can’t see one of the small metal bits of the fuse that blew am concerned it may have got lodged inside somehow. I’ll call naim. Thanks for your help.