McIntosh fuse changeout to make better sound

George unfortunately you're understanding of electricity doesn't appear to be deep enough to have this conversation. you are trying to use AC as a justification for the fuse not being directional but that is a false argument because the fuse isn't directional is actually why AC doesn't matter.

I do find the claims that people who did not believe in fuses must not have tried it because many of us have I have many times with many people that's why I'm pretty confident about my position. What I'm also pretty confident about is that all the people who claim that people who don't believe infuses have never tried it have never themselves actually done a proper blind test a fuses after cleaning the contacts. So to them I say unless you've actually done a blind test and have cleaned the contacts you actually haven't done the test.

For marketing purposes, it's a great idea to produce a product that claims efficacy and back it up with hyperbole with a qualifier like "if you can't hear a difference you or your system is/are inadequate somehow." The fact that ridiculously expensive "magic" fuses are generally ignored by the vast majority of audiophiles and component manufacturers should tell you something. And it's worth noting that no component I know of claims that its internal wiring (including the wiring immediately after the fuse) is utilized with any thought of wire directionality (a box of wire directionality chaos! Oh no!), except perhaps internal speaker wiring, although that's generally not mentioned either.

No sorry you seem to not understand, that a piece of ac fuse wire 1/2 long has no bearing on the sound, as it’s in series with the ac line house wiring along with power points and fuses or circuit breakers in the fuse box as well.

As stated the only time a ac fuse is in question is when it’s seen too many audio equipment turn-on cycles and ends  up sagging, carbonizing/crystalizing or electrolysis and looking like this, and the same will go for your expensive boutique fuses. This "can" lead to a "diode effect" between dirty/corroded fuse holder contacts or in the end cap of the fuse itself because of dissimilar metals.

So to the gullible just do this and save money for better equipment instead.

Just change the fuse if old for a quality brand EE industry standard 50c fuse, as fuses (even the snake oil ones) do age after many turn on cycle surges.

Quick blow fuses aging            and                 slow blow fuses aging left to right.
https://ibb.co/0ZtRv4J                               https://ibb.co/mbzs3RK

Cheers George

It's essentially a myth. But a placebo is not a drug and yet typically has between 20-30% efficacy in many double blind tests. Put simply, when you make a change in your system and then listen for changes there may or may not be actual change, but your perceptions may tell you otherwise-- or nothing.

When I make a system change, like a new cable, I pay little attention to my own initial reaction to whatever I think I'm hearing and commit to live with it for a while. If I perceive a persistent and consistent improvement over time I assume there has been an actual change-- something added, or subtracted, something different but better.

I do not believe for a second that swapping out a fuse and then hearing an immediate and not at all subtle improvement in your system comes from the fuse-- it comes from you. The exception might be that when the swapping was done a dirty connection was cleaned by the action of making the change.

So has anything really changed? If you believe you can hear it, then something has changed-- but most likely that 'something' is you.

Reading this to get some idea if fuses make a difference?

An idea to ignore George and his ilk.
He doesn't believe it does (nor do they).
And will say it 100 times.

I've tried a few iterations of fuses.
All to good effect.