Wolf, thank you kindly. I always appreciate the rather unique combination of literary creativity, humor, and relevant knowledge and experience you bring to these forums :-)
04-30-14: Tbg
Almarg, yes music reproduction changes alternating current into dc and then must turn it into ac again. But many hear significant differences in all manner of parts dealing with this process. So there must be something more than your old dismissive comment.
TBG, thank you for noticing that my comment was submitted years ago, but note also that it was not entirely dismissive.
04-30-14: Tbg
having one undergraduate major in EE and the other in physics, makes me conscious of the limitations of EE laws and insight into what is going on.
Having two EE degrees and 30+ years of experience designing and managing design of advanced electronic circuits (not for audio), I too would claim to have a better than average understanding of the limitations of EE principles. As you may have seen in past threads, in fact, I have often had occasion to indicate that certain effects in audio are inherently and predictably unpredictable :-) For example, the audible effects that may occur in audio circuitry as a result of inaudible ultrasonic and RF noise frequencies it may be exposed to.
I have also made the point in a number of past threads, however, that it is extremely easy in audio to attribute a perceived sonic effect to the wrong variable. And I frequently find myself wondering when I see claims of perceived effects that are technically inexplicable (inexplicable either per se or when considered quantitatively), whether methodological discipline has been applied that is sufficient to assure that the perceived effect has been attributed to the right thing.
For example, with respect to fuse orientation Mapman correctly raised the possibility of variations in contact integrity. There is also the matter of assuring that the equipment is in an equal state of warmup during the various parts of the comparison, and that AC line voltages and noise conditions remain constant. It seems to me that ruling out these kinds of possibilities requires, as a minimum, going back and forth between the two orientations several times, and if differences are perceived assessing each direction across a variety of recordings to assure that the preferred direction is consistent. And upon doing this for one component in the system, whether or not differences are perceived it would seem logical to repeat the process for each of the other components, and for internal fuses as well as external ones. All of which reinforces my skepticism about the thoroughness and methodological discipline underlying many of the reported assessments of tweaks that are even as seemingly simple as this one, much less those that are more complex and expensive.
Personally, Id rather invest the time that I would consider necessary to do a proper assessment of fuse orientation listening to music. But to each his own.
04-30-14: Tbg
I certainly cannot understand why you [Frogman] would care that some people find fuse direction matters. They are not costing you any money or time.
This is a common retort to challenges that are sometimes made to claims of effects that are seemingly inexplicable and implausible. I of course cant and dont speak for Frogman, but as I see it some people (including me) care because the basic reason most of us are here is the hope that sharing of knowledge and experience will be mutually beneficial in making our audio-related investments of time and money as productive as possible. As Mapman put it, prioritizing focus, based on the likelihood and degree of added value. Toward that end, it would seem logical to try to assure that reported effects, especially those that defy technical understanding, are not the result of inadequately disciplined methodology, attribution to the wrong variable, technical misconception, or factors that may not be applicable to many or most other systems.
Regards,
-- Al
