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
trelja
“Now, as I’ve previously stated, I know of no high-end audio company that could perform the sort of testing to generate the hard numbers on why these fuses would grade out as superior. Or not. To that statement, how many folks claim they measured the resistance of each on their multimeters, and saw absolutely no difference? Sorry, but measuring this level of resistivity requires a lot more than your $13 or $13K meter, including things like the ability to create an ohmic contact. I’m confident specific groups within companies like Philips, Matsushita, Samsung, and Sony do possess the capabilities, and COULD perform such analysis. But so far, to my knowledge, none has shown any interest in doing so. @geoffkait routinely mentions NASA when it comes to fuses - my position is, if you have or know of tangible evidence on the sort of comparisons I’ve described, please point us to it. Until and unless I see that, we’re left only testing (actually, I do have a few ideas for testing we could try, such as A / B the voltage / current readings through the power supply) via listening, which I certainly don’t dismiss. But that’s clearly where so much of the disconnect between the two sides lies.”

>>>>>NASA was looking into advanced fuses twenty years ago, at a minimum. And more recently NASA is working with Littelfise to potentially develop even more advanced fuses. I posted links to both of those events somewhere along the line in the last couple months.

There should be some minimum of due diligence to investigate the current status and technology involved. Of course we also get an idea of what current high end fuse makers are doing since they don’t seem to be shy about sharing all the gory details. Of course there the HiFi Tuning measurements of various fuses and their directions. It’s also somewhat incorrect to characterize fuses as “expensive” since according to The Cable Company’s page on aftermarket fuses more than and many are circa $20. Of course if you want the best you’re probably going to have to cough up big bucks - and if you like the cut of the new Busman high end fuse’s jib that’s means $400. But in the light of almost twenty years of audiophile fuses and with the brisk sales of SR fuses especially it does seem a little odd to see all the vociferous comments.
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Actually, The Cable Company is located in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Music Direct is in Chi-town.
Oops! My bad. It must be that I got my integrated, SACD player and speakers from Music Direct. 🙃 
It left a good enough impression. 

All the best,
Nonoise
Thank you for the kindness @uberwaltz and @nonoise 

I feel we do ourselves a disservice by not providing specifics to statements we make ala NASA and fuses, and only giving part of the picture.  Such information provides the discussion little credibility benefit.

Likewise, I disagree fuse manufacturers provide ample information, evidence, and background in regard to their products.  In fact, they've done the complete opposite.  But obviously, from their sales, my (and anyone in the anti camp) assertions prove irrelevant.  At any rate, for reasons I previously explained, that doesn't take away from me believing the potential for improvement their products provide exists.  I'm not here to debate how much, if any, improvement they provide or whether that improvement represents value, as only the customer has the ability and right to determine that.

Anyway, to practice what I preach, if anyone's interested, here's a link to Bob Backert's GreenForce power supply patent https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/15/91/21/3464dfe8a23d12/US20130279221A1.pdf

After many, many years as tech at a high-end audio salon that went belly up, folks enthusiastically experienced Bob's work via his mods to their equipment.  Enthusiastically enough so that Bob began producing his own, now highly regarded, preamplifiers featuring his unique power supply.

I should also mention my friends Vytas and Marc from Veloce, who also took a different path in terms of power supplies, though no patent exists regarding their work, achieved results beyond the norm.  Like many great things, they sort of stumbled into what they got unintentionally, and though the results were impressive (impossible and funny sort of story around it, but Harry Pearson of TAS declared the phono stage of their preamplifier the best he'd ever encountered), the understanding didn't arrive until much later.  When I happened to guess what happened, they felt surprised, but a sort of light went on for me to make it seem so obvious and simple.

Coincidentally, Bob, Vytas / Marc, and myself (and Robert Stein aka The Cable Company) all live in the Philadelphia area, are friends, began thinking about power supplies several years ago, arriving to the same sort of questions and concerns (though we never discussed it with one another until long after), and began working through them, though with very different solutions