Direction of aftermarket fuses (only for believers!)
It is with reluctance that I start another thread on this topic with the ONLY GOAL for believers to share their experience about aftermarket fuses. To others: you can call us snobs, emperors w/o clothes,... etc but I hope you refrain posting just your opinion here. If you did not hear any difference, great, maybe there isn’t.
The main driver for this new post is that I am starting a project to mod my NAD M25 7 ch amp for my home theater. It has 19 fuses (2 per channel, 4 on the power supply board, 1 main AC) and I will try a mix of AMR Gold, SR Black and Audio Magic Platinum (anyway that is the plan, I may try out some other brands/models). As it is reasonably difficult to change them, esp the ones on each channel module that requires complete disassembly, I would like to know what the direction is for these models mentioned and of course, others who HAVE HEARD there is a difference please share your experience on any fuse model you have tried.
Fuses are IME directional: Isoclean is one of the first to indicate the direction (2008/2009) on their fuses. Users of HiFi Tuning (when the awareness rose quite a bit amongst audiophiles) have mostly heard the difference.
As an IEEE engineer, I was highly skeptical of cabling decades ago (I like the speaker design of John Dunlavy but he said on many occasions that cables nor footers matter at all, WRONG!). Luckily, my curiosity proved me wrong as well. I see the same skepticism that I and many others had about the need for aftermarket cables many, many years ago now on fuses and esp on the direction on fuses.
Another example is the direction of capacitors (I do not mean electrolytic types). Even some manufacturers now and certainly many in the past did not believe it can make a difference sonically. Maybe some do but it takes time in the assembly to sort and put them in the right direction/order (esp as some of the cap manufacturers still do not indicate "polarity") so that maybe is one argument why this is not universally implemented.
Why would they test for audibility? They test for measured parameters. Remember? Unless you count audio reviewers. Would that meet your obviously high standards?
So now you are admitting there are not any credible third party tests that prove fuses are directional. Finally!
Finally what? I never said third party testers tested for audibility. And the reason I never said it is because they don't test for audibility of direction. If you’re trying to convince me you’re a little obtuse you’re doing an excellent job.
I have a new product to introduce to the market called Dehyde. It’s a dehydrated water product and it comes in small packets that you open, pour into a glass and just add water.
almarg 6,398 posts 05-24-2016 10:41pm "I would think that it is not necessary to start modifying hardware and perhaps invalidating warranties in the process of getting to the bottom of the fuse directionality issue. IMO the methodology I suggested earlier should suffice, if done in an honest and careful manner."
Huh? I’m not suggesting that anyone modify hardware or invalidate warranties or any such thing. I’m just saying that you can eliminate the variable of the fuse holder by eliminating it from the test. I’m referring to an independent third party tester. That would be an honest and careful manner, no? Or maybe you’re insinuating that any person who doesn’t get the results you’re looking for isn’t honest and careful, it’s hard to tell. The method you suggested earlier actually doesn’t suffice since some people will jump to the conclusion that it’s the fuse holder that’s directional, not the fuse itself.
cheers,
geoff kait machina dynamica
Third party?
geoffkait posted:
jea48 2,072 posts 05-25-2016 1:07pm "And what recognized industry third party would that be?
Better yet. I am not disputing whether a fuse is directional or not. I believe many that have actually taken the time and tested it for themselves. BUT, with that said can you furnish anything that proves a fuse is directional? Not from a manufacture of audio grade fuses, but rather from an industry independent third party testing laboratory."
You say you believe many people have taken the time to test directionality. One assumes you’re referring to listening tests. The biggest skeptics of aftermarket fuses don’t even do that. Ah, the academic ivory tower.
As for independent third party tester it could be UL. I personally doubt UL would take the job. It could be someone else, some other organization or even individual. I actually don’t think measuring voltage drops or whatever across a fuse requires a rocket scientist. Maybe you can contact NASA or NIST or MIT and see if they are interested. Lol
"The HiFi Tuning fuse measurements that are provided in data sheets on their website were obtained by an independent third party tester. You probably didn’t realize that."
There it is again, third party.
It gets better!
geoffkait posted:
jea48 2,074 posts 05-25-2016 2:18pm Geoffkait: The HiFi Tuning fuse measurements that are provided in data sheets on their website were obtained by an independent third party tester.
to which Jea48 responded,
"For Fuse directionality?"
For fuse directionality and other stuff. Even fuse directionality for AC circuits.
Jea48, What on Earth are you going on about? Can you make it easy for everyone to follow your line of uh reasoning and state your problem in a sentence or two?
What part don't you understand? You're continually trying to nitpick responses with certain people in threads. Sometimes asking for proof and then you will say in the same thread to take your word as the gospel. I think you just love to argue.
LOL..... You can't even remember what you are arguing about.
Jea48, What on Earth are you going on about? Can you make it easy for everyone to follow your line of uh reasoning and state your problem in a sentence or two?
Huh?
I suggest you start from the start of the entire thread and reread all your posts/responses to others, their responses to yours, and yours back to them. Maybe if you kept notes it might help.
Jea48, you would undoubtedly save yourself a lot of angst and confusion by doing some due diligence prior to getting involved in the whole fuse directionality thing. I’m afraid I can’t help you a a there appears to be nothing I can say that you will accept. I think I’ve made myself clear. Good luck with all that.
That your technique is to continuously troll until you’ve beaten people down. Its not a way to further discussion, merely a method of making yourself always right all the time.
You can test the fuse holder separately if you really were interested in arriving at the truth. I realize you and Al are just playing Ivory Tower, and have no interest or plan to test either the fuse or the fuse holder. That’s the difference between a Skeptic and a Sceptic.
This statement is false and is an example of the trolling behavior and rhetoric to which I referred.
I did point out on a different thread that we found issues with fuses a long time ago, and in 1990, designed our MA-2 with an entirely different kind of fuse and fuse holder on the basis of improved performance.
Apparently Geoff has forgotten the fact that I joined this thread recently with some results on testing. Those results are that the directionality appears out of coincidence and that actually greater improvement can be had by rotating the fuse in the holder for best contact. The improvement is measurable and audible; descriptions others have made on this thread of what happens when you get the direction right accurately describe what happens when the contact area is maximized.
Occam’s Razor has something to say here! Given that a fuse has to be used in AC circuits and given that people report differences by reversing the fuse, and also understanding how fuses are inherently incapable of having directionality in any way whatsoever, the explanation that they somehow have an effect by reversing them in the holder is a fairly complex explanation: some sort of unknowable, unmeasurable quality of the fuse itself.
A simpler explanation is that the reversal is improving the contact area because fuse and holder are not dimensionally perfect and the fuse might sit better in the holder in one direction. By rotating the fuse in the holder without reversing it gets the same effect only more profoundly.
Atmasphere 5-26-2016 12:31pm EDT ... I joined this thread recently with some results on testing. Those
results are that the directionality appears out of coincidence and that
actually greater improvement can be had by rotating the fuse in the
holder for best contact. The improvement is measurable and audible;
descriptions others have made on this thread of what happens when you
get the direction right accurately describe what happens when the
contact area is maximized.
Occam’s Razor has something to say
here! Given that a fuse has to be used in AC circuits and given that
people report differences by reversing the fuse, and also understanding
how fuses are inherently incapable of having directionality in any way
whatsoever, the explanation that they somehow have an effect by
reversing them in the holder is a fairly complex explanation: some sort
of unknowable, unmeasurable quality of the fuse itself.
A simpler explanation is that the reversal is improving the contact area
because fuse and holder are not dimensionally perfect and the fuse
might sit better in the holder in one direction. By rotating the fuse in
the holder without reversing it gets the same effect only more
profoundly.
Thank you, Ralph. I for one cannot envision a more persuasive case being provided on either side of the issue.
And thanks also for the compliments you extended in my direction in some of your other recent posts.
actually greater improvement can be had by rotating the fuse in the holder for best contact
Al and Ralph, Contact cleaner and a small rubber band from your kid's braces does the trick to improve fuse contact with pcb fuse holders.
Geoff, You have an obsessively keen interest in fuses for someone who stated they have no fuses in their system. You are doing an excellent job of keeping the ball in play. I suspect you may have some sort of over/under bet to achieve a certain minimum number of posts on this thread. How many more until you win?
"Geoff, You have an obsessively keen interest in fuses for someone who stated they have no fuses in their system. You are doing an excellent job of keeping the ball in play. I suspect you may have some sort of over/under bet to achieve a certain minimum number of posts on this thread. How many more until you win?"
Well, actually I wouldn’t call it an obsessively keen interest, but I would call it a keen interest. Would you believe I actually have a keen interest in lots of things? I imagine anyone who’s had an aftermarket fuse, especially any of the recent spate of advanced audiophile fuses, would agree they’re very interesting. I’ve had the original Isoclean fuse and the Audio Magic Super Fuse. The reason I am currently not using any fuses in my system if simple: why use ANY fuse when you can use NO FUSE at all? My battery powered system doesn’t have a place to put a fuse even if I wanted to. Heck, I’m not even connected to the house AC so I don’t require power cords either. And I don't have an AC ground to fret about. And I don’t use interconnects, either. See where I’m going with this?
I joined this thread recently with some results on testing. Those results are that the directionality appears out of coincidence and that actually greater improvement can be had by rotating the fuse in the holder for best contact. The improvement is measurable and audible; descriptions others have made on this thread of what happens when you get the direction right accurately describe what happens when the contact area is maximized.
Occam’s Razor has something to say here! Given that a fuse has to be used in AC circuits and given that people report differences by reversing the fuse, and also understanding how fuses are inherently incapable of having directionality in any way whatsoever, the explanation that they somehow have an effect by reversing them in the holder is a fairly complex explanation: some sort of unknowable, unmeasurable quality of the fuse itself.
A simpler explanation is that the reversal is improving the contact area because fuse and holder are not dimensionally perfect and the fuse might sit better in the holder in one direction. By rotating the fuse in the holder without reversing it gets the same effect only more profoundly.
Atmasphere 5-26-2016 12:31pm EDT ... I joined this thread recently with some results on testing. Those results are that the directionality appears out of coincidence and that actually greater improvement can be had by rotating the fuse in the holder for best contact. The improvement is measurable and audible; descriptions others have made on this thread of what happens when you get the direction right accurately describe what happens when the contact area is maximized.
Occam’s Razor has something to say here! Given that a fuse has to be used in AC circuits and given that people report differences by reversing the fuse, and also understanding how fuses are inherently incapable of having directionality in any way whatsoever, the explanation that they somehow have an effect by reversing them in the holder is a fairly complex explanation: some sort of unknowable, unmeasurable quality of the fuse itself.
A simpler explanation is that the reversal is improving the contact area because fuse and holder are not dimensionally perfect and the fuse might sit better in the holder in one direction. By rotating the fuse in the holder without reversing it gets the same effect only more profoundly.
almarg said:
Thank you, Ralph. I for one cannot envision a more persuasive case being provided on either side of the issue.
Occam's razor (also written as Ockham's razor, and lex parsimoniae in Latin, which means law of parsimony) is a problem-solving principle attributed to William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), who was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher and theologian. The principle can be interpreted as stating: Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.
Therefore, going by Occum's razor as Atmasphere suggests, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions would be that the fuse itself is directional, not the fuse holder. That would be like trying to solve two simultaneous equations in three unknowns. By testing the fuse in the fuse holder you cannot with certainty conclude which one is producing the directionality. Eliminate the fuse holder from the equation and all will be revealed. I strongly suspect that the outfit that performed the tests on fuse directionality for HiFi Tuning fuses, for Isoclean Fuses, for stock bog standard fuses, with and without cryogenic treatment, in DC and AC circuits would have observed that the fuse holder was producing directionality if that was the case. But they didn't. End of story's now if any of the naysayers wishes to get serious, and roll up his sleeves and test fuse holders for directionality and submit his results here I would be happy to comment.
Again, great post. The best explanation I have heard to date for
fuse directionality. I would think it should satisfy those that have
experimented with fuse directionality and say they can hear a difference.
I would think it should also satisfy those that say they did
not hear any difference, when they reversed the direction of the fuse.
Three important parts for a good electrical
connection:
Cleanliness. (Free from contaminants and or corrosion)
Contact surface area.
Contact pressure.
Your explanation makes more sense, at least to me, that the
directionality of the fuse has to do with a VD, voltage drop, across the
fuse element itself. That assumes the VD across the fuse would be measured in
millivolts.
Millivolts...... If that was the
reason, wouldn't the same reasoning hold true for the AC mains line voltage
feeding the fuse? In other words a small VD in millivolts on the mains feeding
a piece of equipment could/would have an impact on the SQ of the piece of equipment. Not hardly....
As it turns out the resistance measurements of the various fuses tested that appear in the data sheets on the HiFi Tuning website were done on the fuses only in both directions. Separate resistance measurements for the fuses in the fuse holder are also provided. Refer to page 2 of the data sheets for the resistance measurements in both directions. The interpretation of measurements is presented on page 3.
With all due respect for the previous posters, I did reverse an (the same) Audio Magic Platinum in my PS Audio DSD (the same F1 fuse holder on the power supply board) several times and had other listeners present: we all experienced a consistent behavior (with the same tracks): that the direction influences a.o. the soundstage. As mentioned before, I always clean the contact points (fuse holder and fuse itself) before the tests.
To complement my tests, I would suggest, for the sake of experiments, to temporarily test with the same brand with a higher breaking current (e.g. 2A instead of 1A) to see if a lower resistance of the fuse would yield a better SQ.
I applaud those who bring in new technology or devices to enhance the SQ. E.g. the Lorentz force was known since 1865 but it took until recently to see the successful productizing of magnetic audio cables. Graphene’s discovery in 1962 took less time for audiophiles to enjoy it in affordable cable form (reference to a.o. Cerious Technology). I know for sure that one of the quoted examples that the designer -as I spoke to him on many occasions- did not go about scientifically but used his curiosity, his instinct and ears.
In this crazy and interesting hobby, I have learned to go away from my EE (Electric Engineer) trained brain to become more Experimental-oriented and Empirical.
Simply enjoy the music!
[SOAP BOX ON] Listen to your system with your ears and an open mind, not an oscilloscope and if-I-can-not-measure-it-than-I-can-not-hear-it mind! Those who stated cables matter were almost put on a stake decades ago, look where we stand now (mind you, there are still some flat earthers out there), [SOAP BOX OFF]
BTW, as a kindly reminder, there have not been as many practical inputs on how certain fuse sound and in which direction I had hoped for when I posted this thread, but then again, given the raised temper and wild directions (pun not intended) of discussions on the other fuse thread, I did not have a very high expectation.
PADIS (=Furutech?) fuses are on their way from Germany and I will hope to share my experience. My NAD M25 is still on the workbench (caps upgrade, did I mention that caps are directional in SQ?)
With all due respect for the previous posters, I did reverse an (the same) Audio Magic Platinum in my PS Audio DSD (the same F1 fuse holder on the power supply board) several times and had other listeners present: we all experienced a consistent behavior (with the same tracks): that the direction influences a.o. the soundstage. As mentioned before, I always clean the contact points (fuse holder and fuse itself) before the tests.
To complement my tests, I would suggest, for the sake of experiments, to temporarily test with the same brand with a higher breaking current (e.g. 2A instead of 1A) to see if a lower resistance of the fuse would yield a better SQ.
Anything is possible in this hobby. I do not doubt for a second that you as well as others could/can hear a difference.
Here is quote from an interview with John Curl.
quote:
"I was working with Noel Lee and a company called Symmetry. We designed this crossover and I specified these one microfarad Mylar caps. Noel kept saying he could ’hear the caps’ and I thought he was crazy. Its performance was better than aluminum or tantalum electrolytics, and I couldn’t measure anything wrong with my Sound Technology distortion analyzer. So what was I to complain about? Finally I stopped measuring and started listening, and I realized that the capacitor did have a fundamental flaw. This is were the ear has it all over test equipment. The test equipment is almost always brought on line to actually measure problems the ear hears. So we’re always working in reverse. If we do hear something and we can’t measure it then we try to find ways to measure what we hear. In the end we invariably find a measurement that matches what the ear hears and it becomes very obvious to everybody."
http://www.parasound.com/pdfs/JCinterview.pdf
The why? It took time for Curl to find out the why. I just don’t think the why for the differences you and others are hearing is from a supposed difference in resistance of the internal fuse element inside the fuse. Especially when the fuse, as reported by other, is located on the mains supply side of the power transformer of the piece of audio equipment. Here we are talking about 120V or 240V depending on the country.
Therefore, going by Occum's razor as Atmasphere suggests, the hypothesis
with the fewest assumptions would be that the fuse itself is
directional, not the fuse holder.
This is a classic strawman, and like all logical fallacies, is false by definition. I was not at any time suggesting that the holder was directional.
Millivolts...... If that was the
reason, wouldn't the same reasoning hold true for the AC mains line voltage
feeding the fuse? In other words a small VD in millivolts on the mains feeding
a piece of equipment could/would have an impact on the SQ of the piece of equipment. Not hardly....
Its more than just millivolts- I can measure the effects with a 3 1/2 digit voltmeter. Mitch2's suggestion by the way is excellent and is also measurable. Some fuseholders (like panel mount units) won't allow this.
Atmasphere 5-27-2016 12:57 pm EDT I was not at any time suggesting that the holder was directional.
Yes, that was very clear in your post, Ralph. It was also clear to me that Geoff's response represented a complete misreading of what you said.
Jea48 5-27-2016 9:17 am EDT
Your explanation makes more sense, at least to me, that the
directionality of the fuse has to do with a VD, voltage drop, across the
fuse element itself. That assumes the VD across the fuse would be measured in
millivolts.
Jim, I believe that you inadvertently omitted the word "than" in the first line quoted above, and that you were intending to say:
Your explanation makes more sense, at least to me, THAN that the
directionality of the fuse has to do with a VD, voltage drop, across the
fuse element itself. That assumes the VD across the fuse would be measured in
millivolts.
I wouldn't normally point out a seemingly minor omission like that, but with that word not included it took me a while to interpret your comment (with which I of course agree).
Took a look at hi-fi tuning measurements and they are meaningless. The data presented indicates the measuring instrument has a resolution of 0.001 milli ohm. The readings shows an average of 40 micro ohm difference in each direction.
That is the proof of directionality? Hardly. If the ambient air temperature should rise by 0.1 degree C as you change the probes around, that would be enough to close the difference to 10 micro ohms. Not to mention that the surfaces of the fuse contacts must be accurately milled for those readings to occur everywhere around the fuse. Not to mention the fuse elements have to be cut to the precise length and diameter each time.
If you hear a difference in one direction over another, you get no argument from me. But don't show me numbers and say this proves it.
Its more than just millivolts- I can measure the effects with a 3 1/2 digit voltmeter. Mitch2’s suggestion by the way is excellent and is also measurable. Some fuseholders (like panel mount units) won’t allow this.
In response to my post:
Millivolts...... If that was the reason, wouldn’t the same reasoning hold true for the AC mains line voltage feeding the fuse? In other words a small VD in millivolts on the mains feeding a piece of equipment could/would have an impact on the SQ of the piece of equipment. Not hardly....
Your explanation makes more sense, at least to me, that the directionality of the fuse has to do with a VD, voltage drop, across the fuse element itself. That assumes the VD across the fuse would be measured in millivolts.
Millivolts...... If that was the reason, wouldn’t the same reasoning hold true for the AC mains line voltage feeding the fuse? In other words a small VD in millivolts on the mains feeding a piece of equipment could/would have an impact on the SQ of the piece of equipment. Not hardly....
Sorry if I was not clear. The resistance I was referring to is that of the fuse element itself inside the fuse. Not the resistance that can be created from a poor fuse to fuse clip connection due to corrosion and or poor contact pressure.
"Occam’s Razor has something to say here! Given that a fuse has to be used in AC circuits and given that people report differences by reversing the fuse, and also understanding how fuses are inherently incapable of having directionality in any way whatsoever, the explanation that they somehow have an effect by reversing them in the holder is a fairly complex explanation: some sort of unknowable, unmeasurable quality of the fuse itself."
i actually wouldn't be quite so hasty to dismiss fuse directionality out of hand. Let me give you exhibit A, interconnects. A certain kind of interconnect, one without a shield. The keen eared listener will discover that interconnects are directional, too. Just like fuses. Just like any metal wire conductor. This is precisely why many cable manufacturers mark their cables, the unshielded cables, with arrows, so that the cables are connected on the correct direction. Anti Cables marks their cables and they are just copper with lacquer covering. Audioquest and others mark their cables as well. Obviously some companies mark their cables with arrows only for the purposes of the shield. If you have interconnects that don't have shields it's worth reversing them and seeing if that sounds better. I suspect this is true for both solid core and stranded. Speaking of which, the only way fuses or wire wouldn't be directional is if the conductor was some amorphous material like carbon or even lead, just for example, you know, non crystalline.
Gs5556, well said IMO. I've had occasion to make similar comments about those measurements in a number of other fuse-related threads, such as in a post dated 4-8-2016 in this thread. An excerpt:
Regarding the measurements described in the HFT paper ... which purport to support
the notion of fuse directionality:
1)Resistance measurements
related to directionality were provided for 16 different HFT fuses,
having current ratings ranging from 1.6 amps to 20 amps, as well as for a
few competitive fuses and standard glass and ceramic fuses (the
specific make of the "standard" fuses being unspecified). The
differences in resistance for the HFT fuses in the two directions ranged
from 0.000002 ohms to 0.000120 ohms. The differences in resistance for
the competitive fuses were a bit greater in some cases, with the worst
cases generally being the standard fuses, for which there was one
isolated case having a measured difference of 0.005200 ohms.
IMO those numbers are so miniscule as to be:
(a)Laughable.
(b)Very
possibly attributable to changes in the voltage of the battery in the
measurement meter, from measurement to measurement (each measurement
imposing a slight drain on the battery), and from minute to minute. Or
if the meter was AC powered, to the very slight differences in AC line
voltage that may occur from minute to minute, as various loads are
turned on and off at nearby locations.
(c)Very possibly
attributable to differences in contact pressure and contact area between
the meter’s probe tips and the contacts on the fuse. The paper presents
separate measurements of fuse resistance as measured in a fuseholder
(for just one direction), indicating that the direction-related
measurements were performed by touching the meter leads directly to the
contacts on the fuse.
(d)Perhaps even contributed to by
differences in the resistance of the measurer’s body, that would have
been paralleled with the resistance of the fuse if he or she had fingers
on the probe tips and/or the fuse contacts while the measurements were
being taken.
(e)If Geoff’s comments about all wires being
significantly directional are to be believed, then these differences
would be totally swamped by both the resistances and the alleged
direction-related resistance differences of the vastly longer associated
wiring. In the case of mains fuses, that would include the power
transformer and the power wiring in the component, as well as the power
cord and the AC wiring in and outside of the house.
Just to comment that the way I read the voltage drops is not at all like some other folks, I.e., the naysayers. Here’s how I read them. The differences in voltage drops are not responsible for the differences in sound, they are intended to be only a clue that something is going on. If a fuse was electrically symmetrical wouldn't it measure exactly the same one way as the other? The fact is even the independent tester commented that the voltage drop differences don't correlate with the sonic differences heard in fuse directionality listening tests. I suspect if someone, and I’m not mentioning any names, were to measure *distortion* in the fuse or say *noise* then we might see some more uh convincing differences between fuse directions, not to mention between cryo’d and uncryo’d fuses. Therefore, I wouldn’t get too hung up on the obviously slight differences in voltage drops.
Jim, thanks for the extract from John Curl! From the electrical point of view, a VD should not matter much. Your comments was also incorrectly interpreted by me ( Al, thanks for the small but important addition of "THAN" ), hence my thought of possibly testing same brand fuses with different breaking points/capacities.
My best guess is that the vibration control/dampening (e.g. use of special liquids, beeswax, dampening material in Bussman) is a very important determinant, as well as the metallurgical composition and treatment (cryo) of fuse / fuse filaments.
Millivolts...... If that was the reason, wouldn’t the same reasoning
hold true for the AC mains line voltage feeding the fuse? In other words
a small VD in millivolts on the mains feeding a piece of equipment
could/would have an impact on the SQ of the piece of equipment. Not
hardly....
You are correct in your first statement of this paragraph. An important question might be 'what is meant by 'small'?' In one of our preamps I measured a 158mV (0.158V) drop; in one of our amps I've seen a 2 volt drop cause a loss of 40 watts at the output of the amp. In the case of the preamp the power supplies are heavily regulated so I do not expect to hear anything from a voltage drop on the line nor do we in practice. So we can assume that some types of equipment are far more sensitive to this issue than others!
The line voltage determinately effects the sound of a lot of equipment. This should come as no surprise to many of us here who have experienced the system sounding like Nirvana on one evening and the next day falling well short. So much has to do with line voltage which fluctuates, but also with how easily the line voltage can sag as the equipment is running (a further issue is distortion of the AC sine wave which is not part of this discussion).
A fuse is one of those spots in that set of connections from the wall (AC power connectors, power cord and the fuse and holder) that is likely the 'softest' which is to say that the sag occurs easier at that point, due to contact area and conductor size (the effects being limited by the fuse being so small). Part of this is due to the nature of the fuse itself, the other part due to its connection into the system.
This ties directly into the power cord conversation (a very real and measurable phenomena) and its effect on the system sound.
On a different website I encountered an individual who was of the objectivity camp (measurements) who was adamant that power cords could not make a difference in system performance. When challenged on the subject, I discovered he had never even tried to measure the performance of a power cord and thus had no measurements! To individuals who live and die by measurement, I appear to be a subjectivist; I found it quite ironic that he lacked the measurements while I did not.
I'm not sure how I come off on this site but to be clear I like to know why I hear certain phenomena and so try to see if its measurable. Quite often it is.
In this case, its a simple fact that you can measure the voltage drop across the fuse. Depending on the equipment in use and your measurement technique, you can see that voltage drop vary somewhat with the audio signal. It could be construed that this could introduce IM distortion. IM happens to be audible to the human ear so it should come as no surprise that the effects of the fuse can be heard.
Our customers have been saying this all along as I have maintained elsewhere on this site. It took the obviously specious argument that the fuses were somehow directional to cause me to take a look at why people might think that. A simple DVM showed why and anyone who puts the DVM in AC voltage mode and simply measures across the fuse connections will see a number appear on the meter readout. This is not hard to do! Further measurement might show that by rotating the fuse in the holder the voltage drop can be altered. Sometimes you might have to reverse the fuse to optimize the contacts because the fuses we are dealing with are not always perfectly dimensioned so it might get better contact area in one direction as opposed to another. This does not mean that they are directional- it simply means they are not built precisely.
"Further measurement might show that by rotating the fuse in the holder the voltage drop can be altered."
I hate to judge before all the facts are in but it appears your entire argument hinges on that statement, yet it is strictly hypothetical and specious. Yes, further measurements might show..., but they also might not show. Then you are back at square one, dealing with the directionality of fuses and directionality of wires, why it exists and how to measure it. As I said on previous occasions you are overlooking or dismissing a key piece of evidence in this whole matter is the directionality of interconnects and why many cable manufacturers mark their (unshielded) interconnects (and other cables) with arrows to indicate the direction the cables should be connected. Furthermore, you apparently continue to ignore the best evidence available (since nobody else has stepped up to the plate) - the data presented on the HiFi Tuning website.
I also happen to be rather skeptical that anomalies in pressure or contact surface can actually explain the differences in soundstage, dynamics and tonality among other things that have been reported by many. As I also pointed out somewhere along the line contact enhancing pastes such as Quicksilver Gold applied to the contact surfaces of the fuse holder would eliminate the surface contact theory as a candidate, no?
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