Determining current flow to install "audiophile" fuses.

Perhaps the following attempt at a summary of the fuse directionality debate would be constructive at his point. Or perhaps it won’t be, but I’ll attempt it anyway. The summary reflects comments that have been made in all three of the fuse threads that are currently ongoing:

1)Three different experienced designers of very well-regarded audio electronics have said, as one of them put it, that the reason fuses are directional is "the vivid imagination of audiophiles."

2)Another experienced designer of very well-regarded audio electronics who has not been participating has been cited as eschewing fuse upgrades altogether.

3)A number of others having extensive experience as musicians, professional sound engineers, and audiophiles have expressed similar viewpoints.

4)One experienced designer of defense electronics (me) has expressed significant skepticism (limited only by respect for perceptions that have been reported by a few members he considers to be particularly credible), and has emphasized that it is very easy in audio to attribute a perceived difference to the wrong variable (with the variable that is actually responsible often being very non-obvious), and has explained why measured data that has been presented in support of directionality is misleading and meaningless.

5)Numerous users of SR and other audiophile-oriented fuses have attested to their directionality.

6)A claim has been made that **all** wire is significantly directional. The aforementioned experienced designer of defense electronics has indicated that if that is so, since cable resistance, inductance, capacitance, skin effect, proximity effect, dielectric absorption, propagation delay, and the degree of pretty much all other cable effects are proportional to length, then the alleged directional effects of the AC wiring in components, and in the windings of the power transformers in those components, and in their AC power cords, and in the AC wiring inside and outside of the house (which are all in a random mix of directions), would totally swamp any alleged directional characteristics of AC mains fuses. So assertions of directionality in AC wiring and AC fuses cannot both be true.

7)As the aforementioned experienced designer of defense electronics stated in the ongoing Littelfuse thread, each individual reading these threads can and will decide about the issue for him or her self.

Regards,
-- Al

I find it ironic the extremes to which admitted subjective audiophiles will go in order to to claim that their perceptions are due to anything but subjectivity. That’s classic -- apparently subjective audiophiles are embarrassed by their subjectivity. Hence the need to concoct exotic harebrained technical explanations in an attempt to justify and explain what they hear.

Al thanks for the recap. However the statements you provided, including second hand testimony, for the most, part are excellent examples of both Strawman Arguments and Appeals to Authority, both of which as it turns out are logical fallacies. Here is my recap of your arguments.

Strawman Argument

A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not advanced by that opponent.[1]

The so-called typical "attacking a straw man" argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e. "stand up a straw man") and then to refute or defeat that false argument ("knock down a straw man") instead of the original proposition.[2][3]

This technique has been used throughout history in polemical debate, particularly in arguments about highly charged emotional issues where a fiery, entertaining "battle" and the defeat of an "enemy" may be more valued than critical thinking or understanding both sides of the issue.

Allegedly, straw-man tactics were once known in some parts of the United Kingdom as an Aunt Sally, after a pub game of the same name where patrons threw sticks or battens at a post to knock off a skittle balanced on top.[4][5]

Appeal to Authority

Argument from authority, also ad verecundiam and appeal to authority, is a common form of argument which leads to a logical fallacy.[1]

In informal reasoning, the appeal to authority is a form of argument attempting to establish a statistical syllogism.[2] The appeal to authority relies on an argument of the form:[3]

A is an authority on a particular topic
A says something about that topic
A is probably correct
Fallacious examples of using the appeal include any appeal to authority used in the context of logical reasoning, and appealing to the position of an authority or authorities to dismiss evidence,[4][5][6][7] as authorities can come to the wrong judgments through error, bias, dishonesty, or falling prey to groupthink. Thus, the appeal to authority is not a generally reliable argument for establishing facts.[8]

geoff kait
machina dynamica

George wrote,

"Ok now that you’ve said this, show where this is quoted that a 1/2" piece of resistance wire is directional.? Or is it your voodoo thought on the subject, and is not quoted anywhere else by any manufacturer of their fuse product?"

I just gave you two fuse manufacturers (HiFi Tuning and Isoclean) who have stated or implied (by putting directional arrows on their fuses) that, uh, fuses are directional. Did you fall asleep again?