audiofun, It is I who owe you an apology for being a bit snotty in my initial post. We can agree to disagree on whether or not AC from the wall socket carries the "entire electrical signal", but I do disagree with you. You use the word "signal"; the AC from the wall has not one iota of audio signal on it. It's just the raw material, if you will, from which the AC signal is derived. I said why I disagree, also, in my earlier snotty post. The AC goes through a power transformer, rectifier diodes, filtering in the form of capacitors, resistors, and/or inductors, just to produce DC, which STILL bears no audio signal. The DC runs transistors or tubes to amplify or pass the audio signal coming from an upstream source to some downstream source. Where in this process does the fuse pass the audio signal? There's no need to respond, because we are just at odds on this.
A fuse is a piece of wire designed to burn up when a certain amount of current passes through it for too long a time. That's ALL it does and all it should ever do. The only way that I see for a fuse to affect sonics would be if its inherent resistance is great enough to retard the current demands of the component in which it is installed. So, I could be made to imagine that a fuse that displays very low resistance when in operation at tolerable current levels would be preferred over one that exhibits higher resistance at that very same current draw. Yet I have never seen any of the boutique fuse marketeers touting their products on this basis. Most seem to prefer an allusion to Quantum Mechanics. Further, the conductivity of different metals is not a scientific mystery. I would have thought that the major manufacturers of fuses have known for a long time what metals exhibit properties (low resistance, high temperature coefficient, etc) that are favorable to optimize fuse performance. Likewise, directionality can only come into play if in the process of reversing the fuse in its holder, you do something to lower the resistance at the interfaces between fuse and holder, either deliberately or accidentally. Finally, what is the rationale for expensive fuses that are only going to be used in the typical crappy fuseholder? Shouldn't a fuseholder affect sound, as well?
As to why the SPL Phonos sounds so good, I have no dog in that fight. As noted, I have never heard it.
A fuse is a piece of wire designed to burn up when a certain amount of current passes through it for too long a time. That's ALL it does and all it should ever do. The only way that I see for a fuse to affect sonics would be if its inherent resistance is great enough to retard the current demands of the component in which it is installed. So, I could be made to imagine that a fuse that displays very low resistance when in operation at tolerable current levels would be preferred over one that exhibits higher resistance at that very same current draw. Yet I have never seen any of the boutique fuse marketeers touting their products on this basis. Most seem to prefer an allusion to Quantum Mechanics. Further, the conductivity of different metals is not a scientific mystery. I would have thought that the major manufacturers of fuses have known for a long time what metals exhibit properties (low resistance, high temperature coefficient, etc) that are favorable to optimize fuse performance. Likewise, directionality can only come into play if in the process of reversing the fuse in its holder, you do something to lower the resistance at the interfaces between fuse and holder, either deliberately or accidentally. Finally, what is the rationale for expensive fuses that are only going to be used in the typical crappy fuseholder? Shouldn't a fuseholder affect sound, as well?
As to why the SPL Phonos sounds so good, I have no dog in that fight. As noted, I have never heard it.