Determining current flow to install "audiophile" fuses.

Mitch wrote,

"Geoff’s immediate response about controlled blind testing rearing "it’s ugly head" the "Amazing Randi" and trying to "scare the fuse affectionados into submission" is as negative as anything I posted."

I realize my comments can be perceived as negative but actually I’m only trying to be helpful and uh, positive. The reason I made the statement that controlled blind testing raised it’s ugly head is simply because many skeptics use blind testing as sort of the arbiter of controversial tweaks like fuses, as if blind testing will PROOVE that the controversial tweak in question - like a fuse - doesn’t work as advertised. The reality is that no tests not even blind tests, in and of themselves, can PROOVE that the thing in question doesn’t work as advertised. Any test, blind test or whatever, is only a data point to be considered along with other tests. There are many reasons a test can yield negative results so one must take results from any test with a grain of salt.

The reason I mentioned The Amazing Randi is because (1) at one time he offered a Million Dollars to anyone who can hear the difference between really expensive audiophile cables and cheap audio cables, (2) he offered a Million Dollars to anyone who could pass the controlled blind test for the Intelligent Chip, and (3) because your humble scribe was the subject of five of The Amazing Randi’s diatribes published in his weekly Nesletter; it was probably the Intelligent Chip and the Clever Little Clock and the Teleportation Tweak that got him all wound up.

See, it’s all good. It’s all positive.

geoff kait
machina dynamica

One thing that has become crystal clear to me is that those who hear improvements brought about by the fuse upgrades enjoy a healthy sense of humor ... and those who don't ... don't. 

Carry on ...

I have NO technical training in electronics. When it comes to math, I have a hard time with simple arithmetic. I am so old that I'm still amazed that airplanes can fly without propellers. HOWEVER,  I DO KNOW WHAT I HEAR.  

oregonpapa, That's typical for most of US population and that's why fuse, hook-up speaker or component wire and other tweaks are so pricey. Not because they REALLY make difference, but because of inability of waging magnitudes of values and extremely poor math. 

Oregonpapa, let's suppose that in an automobile-related forum someone were to claim that changing the wiper blades on his vehicle from Brand X to Brand Y improved his gas mileage by 10%.  It would seem safe to assume that pretty nearly all of us would conclude that the person making the claim is either mistaken, or deluded, or has a financial interest in Brand Y, or that something other than using Brand Y was responsible for the improvement. 

And unless there were indications to the contrary I for one would tend to presume the most likely of those alternatives to be the last one, that something else was responsible for the improvement.  For example, perhaps it had been raining frequently, and the better visibility provided by the new Brand Y blades, compared to the aged Brand X blades, resulted in the person driving a bit faster, at a more fuel efficient speed.

To those of us having an extensive background in electronic design, or to at least most of us having such a background, and who have a better than average understanding of how this stuff works, assertions that fuses can have directional characteristics that are audibly significant (especially in AC applications), engender similar reactions.  In my own case, though, as I stated in one of my posts in this thread dated 4-13-2016, the degree of my skepticism is "limited only by respect for perceptions that have been reported by a few members I consider to be particularly credible."

Now, why should it matter that none of the assembled experts can come up with an explanation for fuse directionality that we consider to be even remotely plausible, beyond the several possibilities that have been cited involving extraneous variables.  (And btw I would have no problem if anyone who so chooses were to put the word "experts" in quotes).  Well, as I said in the SR fuse thread, in a post dated 3-28-2016: 

...one reason I attach significance to the lack of a confidence-inspiring explanation is that it lessens the predictability of whether a particular tweak will benefit a particular component in a particular system. And one reason I attach significance to a reduction in predictability, despite the existence of return privileges, is that ... assessment of a tweak involves an investment of time even if it doesn't involve an investment of money.

Regards,
-- Al
 
 

Dear cleeds: the advantage of today is that you can get a much higher level in quality than before. But beside this you can get so much more different products and new brands than before.

In 2015 I met several people who spend a lot of money on audio and were nog happy at all what they received.

There are even highend brands owned by investment companies these days. Here you see that the quality is getting less. I will not use the names because then it will be removed again.

These brands are well known and my clients were very dissapointed in the quality these products gave.

In the last days I had contact with several clients of mine about fuses. I said: In the US many believe it is a scam. Many had to laugh.

I still believe that scepticism is being created by those products who are not worth the money. In audio most are......