Fuses that matter.

05-16-12: Almarg
Re the Louis XV menu, OMG! 145 Euros for a little over 3 ounces of 2002 Leoville Las Cases, which is probably many years away from being at its peak. Makes $80 fuses seem like a bargain :-)

I should clarify that I meant it is now probably many years BEFORE it will taste its best.

Best regards,
-- Al

People waste way more money on way worse things than fuses I suppose.

I sold 100s if not thousands of fuses to people at Radio Shack years ago. I often also replaced them for people when their stuff did not work. 3 for 99 cents was the price I recall. Slo Blos were 1.29 for three I think. Choosing the right fuse was pretty cut and dry.

Times change I suppose.

I should clarify that I meant it is now probably many years BEFORE it will taste its best.

I knew what you meant, Al. Louis XV is a joke, IMO. I've eaten at an unconscionable number of the putatively superlative restaurants in the U.S. and Europe and, at an alarming number of them, the chef comes to your table stark naked, asks you to admire his beautiful new clothes, and then presents you with a $750 bill. In addition to Louis XV, Marco Pierre White in London and Jean Gorges in NYC are two that come immediately to mind. Speaking of the Emperor's New Clothes...

My Isoclean fuse arrived. I haven't had a chance to do any serious A/B'ing, but I couldn't resist the temptation to install it in the preamp. It sounds terrific!

Point: Believers.

More to follow.

Bryon

THE RESULTS ARE IN… AGAIN…

I completed the A/B’ing of the various fuses in my possession.

-------THE METHOD-------

--For the preamp (an extensively modded Meridian G68), the contenders were: stock fuse vs. Hifi Tuning Silverstar vs. Isoclean

--For the amp (a Pass Labs XA30.5), the contenders were: stock fuse vs. Hifi Tuning Silverstar vs. Furutech

--All fuse endcaps were first cleaned with Cardas contact cleaner. I was careful not to touch the endcaps when swapping fuses.

--Nearly everything electronic in the house was turned off. House lights were turned off. Air conditioner turned off. Very little ambient noise at the time of the test.

--The amp was never unplugged during the test. The preamp was unplugged for each fuse swap, because the fuse could not be accessed otherwise.

--Down time while swapping: 45 seconds for the preamp, 30 seconds for the amp.

--Fuse direction was noted during every swap.

--Volume was never changed.

-- 3 auditions of each fuse in each direction

--Music used: 1. J’ai Deux Amours on Careless Love by Madeleine Peyroux. 2. L’Estate 2 from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Drottingham Baroque Ensemble, BIS Original Dynamics Recording

-------THE RESULTS-------

The preamp fuse winner is… Isoclean by a nose! The Isoclean fuse had slightly better resolution, imaging focus, and overall naturalism than the stock fuse. The stock fuse was better than the Hifi Tuning Silverstar in those same categories.

The amp fuse winner is… a tie! The stock fuse and Furutech were indistinguishable. And boy did I listen close. Both were better than the Hifi Tuning Silverstar, which had a strange phasiness, as I reported in an earlier post, and heard again in this test.

AND ON THE DREADED TOPIC OF DIRECTIONALITY...

I could not hear any differences when changing direction for any of the fuses. Make of that what you will. Bad system. Bad ears. Bad method. Bad attitude. I just didn't hear it.

There it is. My not-particularly-scientific experiment in fancy fuses is concluded, and I am happy to be done with it. I can now move on to more important things, like A/B'ing capacitors!

Bryon

Good test, good method, good attitude, good system, good to know.

I realize subjective nature of this test but my ears and my gear are not better than yours while we're not subjectively evaluating change if there is none (or almost none). Great job!