PROTOTYPE FUSES - NEW THREAD

willgolf ...

• "I still have the same question.  In your 5-hour marathon listening session, did you listen to the same songs with both the Orange and Yellow fuse."

Good question. The answer is no. There really wasn't any need.

All of the a/b/a/b comparisons between the SR Orange, the QSA Yellow, and the prototype fuses were done the other day with my friend Dave. Dave's conclusion was that the prototype fuses were at least equal to the PPT Gate in what they were doing for the system. Those fortunate enough to be using a "Gate" in their circuit breaker boxes know what kind of improvement these new prototype fuses offer. And for those who aren't aware ... The Gate retailed for $5000. 

The friend that was over yesterday for the five-hour session had the SR Orange fuses in his own system. He swapped them out for the QSA Yellow fuses, found them not musically satisfying, and went back to the SR Orange fuses.

I offered to do an a/b/a/b comparison between the QSA Yellow fuses, and the new prototype fuses and he declined. He knows my system very well. The last time he was over, I was running the SR Orange fuses. We used the prototype fuses all during the five-hour session yesterday, and he clearly heard the advantages of the prototypes over the SR Orange fuses. And considering his experience with his own system and the QSA fuses, what would be the point?

That five-hour session was all about the music and not about equipment or fuses. 

Frank

I did mean to say SUBJECTIVE listening impressions are not scientific in that they can can be influenced by placebo effect. Maybe it’s more accurate to say they are not CONCLUSIVE proof of anything. They would need to be paired with objective measurements and data.

So far no one has been able to describe to me exactly how a fuse affects the audio signal. The audio signal does not pass through the fuse.

elangley01.
For 75 years (-ish), science couldn’t figure out how bumblebees flew.
Yet flew they did.

I can’t explain how/why fuses change the sound.
But I can assure you that they do.

I used to be very skeptical of these kinds of things, because they didn’t really make sense, on a scientific level (and my low-level understanding of AC current). A fuse is there pretty much to be blown, as a safety device.

On a whim, and because it comes with a MONEY-BACK guarantee, I bought 2 SR Orange fuses for my (relatively) new-to-me Classe Amp and Preamp. I popped the first one into the preamp. (I was smart enough to change them one at a time, because I was going to get my money back if it didn’t make a difference!).

My mouth hung open.
I was astonished......to the point of being a bit flabbergasted.

After a couple of days, I popped the other fuse into the amp. Not as big of a difference, but I did hear a difference.

YMMV, and I can’t tell you how or why they make a difference, but in my system, they ABSOLUTELY make a difference. Not sure I would want to live without them moving forward. I have gone back and forth with stock fuses and the Orange ones (simple to change out on the back of the preamp and amp), and the difference is absolutely demonstrable.

I guess not everything is measurable.

Double yawn. Lay intuition. None of the great things humans have done were done by mystics. They were done by educated people using science the correct way.

If you are going to believe that fuses make a difference regardless of anything you are told to the contrary then your believe means nothing.

Fuses are an intentional bottleneck. If the unit draws more current than it was designed to, the fuse blows. If the unit is running within parameters, OPERATING NORMALLY, then the fuse dose not blow. Until the fuse blows it does not change or modify anything, nothing, nada, zilch, zero.

Anyone who thinks unblown fuses modify the sonic performance of an audio device has limited self awareness or rather does not understand how their CNS can modify data so as to improve their performance in the jungle. This is not an insult. It is true of all of us which is why we have to be so careful with assessments like this. These comparisons have to be set up to avoid unintentional bias. There are no exceptions to this. Nobody is above their own physiology. Thinking you are is sort of arrogant. It also makes any advice you offer suspect.