We Need A Separate Forum for Fuses


LOL, I'll bet I gotcha on that Title! ;)  BTW, I put this thread under "Tech Talk" category as it involves the system physically, not tangentially. 

More seriously, two question survey:

1. Do you think designer fuses are A) a Gift to audiophiles, or B) Snake Oil 

2. Have you ever tried them?  Yes or No

In the tradition of such questions on Agon, I'll weigh in as we go along... 
Feel free to discuss and rant all you wish, but I would like to see clear answers to the questions. :) 
douglas_schroeder
Let's also not forget that a fuse is not "just a wire" anymore than a speaker cable (unless it's supported in an oversized sleeve with no terminations) or interconnect is "just a wire". If we can get over that grossly oversimplified premise, then we can step back and take a look at what it really is: a component. 

We need to understand that it's a kind of filter, and how it interacts with what's upstream and downstream. 

A common, run of the mill fuse has endcaps, solder and wire made of some of the cheapest metals around and not of the quality one would find in a good cables. No one in their right mind would make any cables with those cheap and impure metals. Nor would they make traces on a PCB board with the same materials.

Everyone agrees that no fuse sounds the best, so just what is it that degrades the sound? Bueller? Bueller? 

The question that should be addressed is just how much of a change a fuse introduces, not that it's so small as to be insignificant. That undercuts the very argument of those who rely solely on measurements alone.

Evidence abounds with how a small change in something can result in a larger change when everything is summed. That's obviously the case here. Observed empirically, there is a change and the only recourse for naysayers is to demand double blind parlor tricks? 

On another thread, a link showed how Paul McGowen was subjected to a completely blind test in where a friend changed something in his amp without his knowledge of what it was and it was for the better. I believe his friend did it a couple of times and Paul consistently heard the improvement. He couldn't explain it, but heard it, and accepted it. So say I.

And as for the costs, my Brimar fuses are outstanding, compared to HiFi Tuning and PADIS fuses and are only $35 apiece. That's chump change and well worth the investment. 

All the best,
Nonoise 
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kosst_amojan
The only person I’ve plopped down in the listening chair and played music for who didn’t immediately recognize that they were hearing something of unique quality was a guy who was literally deaf in one ear. My hard of hearing mother thought the money and effort I was pouring into this was kinda crazy.... Until she heard it. It doesn’t take some wacky obsession for somebody to appreciate quality sound and want it for themselves. It doesn’t take hocus pocus fuses either. I’m looking at a thread here full of people swearing fuses - things not even in the actual signal path - make these marked differences. A few months ago I ripped out the big, bad madly shielded IC cables I used in my F5 obtained from a fellow building some very nice cables and replaced it with some solid 26g twisted copper connecting the RCA jacks to the amp boards. That’s a change far more radical than a freaking fuse. It made only the most barely perceptible difference. A $50 for a fuse, eh? To alter the sound of $5 worth of transistors? That’s not insane? I’d be better off better matching my source resistors! Hell of a lot more difference! Hell of a lot cheaper!

>>>>>So, you’re saying your hard of hearing mother says she likes the sound quality of your system? That’s sweet.

The reason you didn’t hear much difference between the radically different interconnects is because your system isn’t revealing enough. Oh, well, that’s the way it goes sometimes. 😛

Hello Douglas Schroeder, 
 Your polite reply to the smug, condescending and frankly silly comments from Kosst_Amorjan was mature, intelligent and exceptionally thoughtful.  Now on an audio forum we stoop to denigration of religious fundamentalists? Oy vey !
Charles 
geoffkait - how can a fuse in an AC circuit be directional? AC by it’s nature is non-directional. Please elaborate. Thx