Hi-Fi Tunig Fuses & Parasound A21

Fuses are not in any signal path except in the broadest sense that many of the electrons used by an amp can somehow become signal…sort of…One of the most telling aspects of the premium fuse charade promoted by, as an example, the athletic SR fuse salesmen in the main SR thread, is an utter lack of understanding of or desire for any sort of reasonable technical explanation of how or why these "special" (and relatively expensive) fuses work their magic. I asked once, and was told to call SR as why should these SR Super Fans do the "heavy lifting" for me?…they simply have no idea beyond referring to the Quantum Tunneling or high voltage exposure or other nonsense used in SR promotion baloney. I smell fraud all over this stuff, and any other inexplicable techno tweak like tiny aluminum "transducers" (some know what "transducer’ actually means), and have tested the efficacy of Special fuses and found them to be a silly waste of money. The astonishing imagined benefits of pricey fuses is simply one of those head scratchers to people who are in the amp design business, and any of them I’ve asked about this stuff simply say something like hey, fooling people into thinking what they paid through the nose for is worth it if enough others claim it to be so is all some people need.

Still, no proponents of the Magic Fuses and their ability to make cellos sound better have EVER offered up any reasonable explanation for this…good, simple Littlefuses that cost maybe 6 bucks do the job just fine (failing if need be…that’s the job), and the entire premium fuse market is simply the "lets get a tiny item cheaply made in China for big bucks…small and easy to ship, make up a technology and provide the myths, and sell ’em to the unwary." Excellent business plan…and it works! If you think you and your system are sensitive enough to allow you to hear what premium magic fuses supposedly do, you may actually need these things to validate yourself. Otherwise, do what actual music and sound professionals and amp designers do…ignore the nonsense of silly and fraudulently marketed psuedo tweaks.

Since some say you need 170 hours break-in on your Special fuse (SR fuses anyway), and if you buy into the nonsense of "fuse directionality," you're tasked with trying to remember how your system sounded before the fuse was replaced. You spent the bucks…you have GREAT ears…you really want the fuse to mysteriously impart some magic…it won't of course, but you might think it does and that may be all you need. I had the opportunity to get ahold of some SR fuses (loaned), tried them in everything I use, and hey…they did ZERO to make anything interesting happen, except one blew as apparently the ratings are as vague as the technology, such as it is. Note geoffkait is an athletic supporter of SR stuff, claims to not actually USE fuses in his gear, and has marketed utterly laughable and useless tweaks (he literally sold a bag of "special" rocks to place near the wires…or someplace…) through his little company so he knows how to sling the silliness.

How does the fuse add "space" around instruments? Does it make the electrons go faster? Slower? Adds molecular grease of some sort? Electron happiness? Electron purposefulness? Do the caps and diodes and transformers simple feel better working with the juice once it's been through a half inch of "special" wire? Maybe I should call Steve…he must know.

I think it's dangerous to introduce actual scientific facts into the Fuse Voo Doo world as it is VERY important to retain the mystery of fuses as entire business models rely on this. Atmasphere continues to toss these facts into the mix willy nilly regardless of being utterly ignored by the fuse magic faithful. Those who insist that their uber sensitive ears verify directionality as well as other Incredible Things provided by Inherint Fuse Magic (IFM) are nothing less than fragile souls seeking to make life better through imagination…no explanation is needed regarding how or why these fuses were developed to do whatever they do as long as they A: cost much more than those lame "non magic" fuses, and B: have somebody else reporting on the astonishingly positive sonic results ("Cellos sound better") of IFM while remaining oblivious of the lack of any rational explanation of how it does that.