I am talking here about the AC fuses in the amplification, have been reading quite a bit over the years after finding "small", yet audible benefits of bypassing same, or upgrading them with special fuses (and subsequently blowing 2, ?$120 in total wallet damage ..) i have come to the following conclusions and dealing with the AC fuse :
There are 3 scenarios :
1. Power or integrated with output power valves and with or without valve rectification
2. Hybrid designs where output is provided by SS and only first stage is a valve (small triode)
3. SS amps, incl stage D
My approach to the AC fuse, by scenario :
1. Try to avoid .. A bit "safer" in SS rectification, yet still risky when a power tube goes and it likely will one day ..
2. Bypass, the moment manufacturer confirms that input valve shorting / going on fire will not cause damage to other parts ..
3. Not sure about real value here, but will bypass in expensive / class A amps
My rules of thumb :
1. The higher quality AC wire / plugs and the cleaner the power, the more the effects of the fuse bypass.
2. In my experience, strapped triode tetrodes benefit more from fuse bypass, than UL / pentode operation of same
3. Putting a HiFi Tuning or SR Blue fuse there, is likely to give you "75 - 90%" of the bypass of fuse improvement
This is it .. comments and personal experiences in particular - very welcome ..
There are 3 scenarios :
1. Power or integrated with output power valves and with or without valve rectification
2. Hybrid designs where output is provided by SS and only first stage is a valve (small triode)
3. SS amps, incl stage D
My approach to the AC fuse, by scenario :
1. Try to avoid .. A bit "safer" in SS rectification, yet still risky when a power tube goes and it likely will one day ..
2. Bypass, the moment manufacturer confirms that input valve shorting / going on fire will not cause damage to other parts ..
3. Not sure about real value here, but will bypass in expensive / class A amps
My rules of thumb :
1. The higher quality AC wire / plugs and the cleaner the power, the more the effects of the fuse bypass.
2. In my experience, strapped triode tetrodes benefit more from fuse bypass, than UL / pentode operation of same
3. Putting a HiFi Tuning or SR Blue fuse there, is likely to give you "75 - 90%" of the bypass of fuse improvement
This is it .. comments and personal experiences in particular - very welcome ..
