As I know you understand, replacing fuses with incorrect values is improper and can be dangerous. I expect that he simply mis-spoke and when he suggested a 1.25 amp fuse he simply meant " I am out of stock of 1amp".
Well Peter-----
Here’s his email quote:
"Hi Bob,
Sorry to hear that. The fuses are under warranty, you can get a new one. Or you send it back for a refund.
SR fuses are a bit more sensitive than stock fuses due to a special treatment. We had prematurely blown fuses with dCS devices before. SR, and we too, recommend going up one step in value. So that would be a 1.25A in your case."
That makes my hair stand on end ( not much visual activity there, then).
I checked the price of a properly rated fuse made by a reputable manufacturer and suitable for dCS. It is 46 pence. So he appears to be saying he can sell you an alternative for 415 times that cost which does not properly fulfil its purpose as it may blow at some other load ( unspecified).
I myself haven’t even looked at the fuse thing.
But i certainly wouldn’t put a higher value one in.
That has got to be the worst advice i have ever seen written down to someone to do. Just asking for trouble doing things like that.
I agree, even if the fail rate is 10% upon first installation on those fuses they should just replace them free of charge (which I think they do) and not move the problem where it could potentially cause more damage. Let’s not even talk of warranty here.
A dCS DAC with a 30W power draw on a 230V grid is drawing 0.13A, so the 1A fuse already has quite some headroom. I also don’t expect any large inrush currents such as with a power amplifier.
You could say ”If I can buy a UHD/Blu-ray/SACD Player for $400 that includes a transport and a DAC, or even $5500 for the McIntosh MCT500, what is changed to justify $26,500 for the Rossini Transport?
This is aside from the people who say things like “the parts cost is no more than $6000, why is retail $26,500?”
Basically the retail cost is made up of a number of elements. However the rule of thumb is that ( here in Europe), the end price has a ratio of 5:1 to the maker’s price ( includes components , fixed costs and labour).
In brief the costs above or Rossini are far, far higher than those of cheaper transports. When looking at prices do not confuse the outline purpose with its execution.
I like SR fuses and have bought quite a few in my time. That said, I’ve seen around 10% of them fail almost immediately, which were then quickly replaced by the dealer.
So, it’s not a major issue so long as you buy from a local dealer. I made the mistake of buying one fuse from a US dealer as there was no stock anywhere closer. They wanted me to pay the shipping fees in both directions, which was going to be more expensive than the fuse in question!
Luckily, my local dealer and distributor came to the rescue and resolved this for me. Lesson learnt!
PS I also rank Quantum Science Audio fuses very highly, but if you thought SR fuses got expensive, you’d better be sitting down when you look at the pricing for some of their fuses!
Full information about correct fuses is contained in the rear pages of dCS User Manuals. The letter code needs to be understood in full; just that it has a 1A rating is insufficient information and I suggest that you spend a little time on the internet if you do not know what the codes signify.
If you are a UK, Ireland , HK or Singapore resident ,matters are complicated by there being fuses both in the electrical component and in the mains plug. I cannot see the point in considering one and not the other. However, this all a subjective matter and I cannot find any scientific support for audiophile fuses.
Aside from some prices that seem to trade upon the gullibility of potential purchasers, I am concerned from my research that almost none of the after-market fuses aimed at audiophiles seem to be fully specified.
If you do not know the exactly what the rating information means then I suggest steering clear. The alternative could be tragic.
I make it a point to try not to subjectively recommend ( or disparage) anything. The reason is that not only do we all have different systems, we like ( or hate) different aspects of the sound or music. All that I can say is that my memory has it that HiFi Tuning were the first company offering audiophile fuses way back when I had lots of hair. They have been very popular. However the main point is that they must satisfy the technical specification referred to in @struts001 post above. The range is large so ensure that you choose the correct type if you wish to go this route. It has to be your choice and risk.
