I have to ask a dumb question: What fuses are you referring to? I assume there is a fuse on the secondary side of the equipment transformer to protect the circuitry. Does all audio equipment have fuses that are replaceable? Obviously I haven’t even began to go down the fuse path.
Something For The Fuse Guys ...
There are fuses, and then, there are fuses.
I'm evaluating some prototype fuses that I received in the mail three days ago.
Over the past few years, I've used fuses from five different manufacturers. The last three were the Red, Black and Blue fuses from Synergistic Research. Each one incrementally improved the sound of my system. My favorite so far was the SR Blue.
The prototype fuses being evaluated presently raises the SQ beyond all of the others mentioned above. The major improvement to my ears is better tonal accuracy. Instruments and voices are more life-like. The noise is reduced allowing for a more solid 3-D presentation with the musicians more solidly presented on the sound stage. Overall, more information is fleshed out of CDs and LPs.
The manufacturer, the price and the name of the prototype fuses will come later. I don't have the information thus far. My understanding is, if all works out, the release date is to be mid-October.
Stay tuned ...
Frank
I'm evaluating some prototype fuses that I received in the mail three days ago.
Over the past few years, I've used fuses from five different manufacturers. The last three were the Red, Black and Blue fuses from Synergistic Research. Each one incrementally improved the sound of my system. My favorite so far was the SR Blue.
The prototype fuses being evaluated presently raises the SQ beyond all of the others mentioned above. The major improvement to my ears is better tonal accuracy. Instruments and voices are more life-like. The noise is reduced allowing for a more solid 3-D presentation with the musicians more solidly presented on the sound stage. Overall, more information is fleshed out of CDs and LPs.
The manufacturer, the price and the name of the prototype fuses will come later. I don't have the information thus far. My understanding is, if all works out, the release date is to be mid-October.
Stay tuned ...
Frank
Showing 4 responses by mkgus
While I don’t disagree that expectation bias is alive and well, I find that I can almost always flush it out through extended listening sessions and swapping back and forth. I’m not trying to promote a certain product so I can sell something; I’m after the best sounding audio system. If something doesn’t sound good, it gets thrown out the window. If it sounds good, it stays. Over the course of years, I’ve managed to incrementally walk my system towards better and better sound. It’s gone from “that sounds pretty good,” to “holy sh*t, is there a violin in the room?!” I’m a bit confused by the “objective” crowd that says you have to have measurements and blind testing or else it’s just placebo. I had one experience where I bought some bulk wire to make some speaker cables based on rave reviews. I had completely psyched myself up believing this cable would be the bees knees. I hooked it up, hit play and... it sounded like crap! Out the window it went. If tuning by ear is all placebo and expectation bias, then why didn’t I experience better sound? Why did my positive expectation bias produce a nocebo effect? I have yet to hear a viable answer to that question. Just crickets from the “objective” camp. For the record, I have no opinion on fuses because I haven’t experimented with them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do matter considering I’ve found stranger things that affect the sound. |
The Subjectivist/Objectivist Synthesis, by Jason Stoddard https://www.audiostream.com/content/subjectivistobjectivist-synthesis-jason-stoddard#wQhQuSLuAkyF8WH... This hypothetical conversation makes me chuckle: Subjectivist: "I think my new Arglebargle X1000 sounds way better than the Craphound PST-1." Objectivist: "No, if they both measure 20-20K flat, have THD below 0.1%, and have a low output impedance, they have to sound the same." Subjectivist: "I think my experience trumps your measurements." Objectivist: "No, humans can’t perceive anything beyond that, see (insert links to tests here.)" Subjectivist: "Well, I hear a difference and so does (insert anecdotes about friends, spouses, dogs, fish, etc)." Objectivist: "Anecdotes aren’t data! You’re fooling yourself. (Insert words about scientific method and significant results here.)" Subjectivist: (Sigh.) "Just leave me alone to enjoy my Arglebargle with the other folks I’m talking to here." Objectivist: "No! Don’t you see you’re being taken advantage of by evil companies selling overpriced gear?" Subjectivist: "You probably just can’t afford good gear!" Objectivist: "You’re nothing but a shill for the man!" Subjectivist: "Ad hominem!" Objectivist: "Ad hominem!” |
From Paul McGowen: “The prototype amplifiers didn’t have output fuses. It wasn’t until we got to the production versions that we added them, and that’s when the trouble started. The production amplifier didn’t sound as good as the prototype: thinner, weaker, with less bloom and midbass strength, relative to the prototype. Why the two sounded so different was a real head scratcher. When faced with such differences, you start removing any changes between the two until they sound the same. It didn’t take long before we discovered it was the damn output fuse. Short it with a clip lead and the fullness of the music returned... In the end we came up with a clever scheme. We took the feedback for the amplifier not from the amplifier’s output, but from the output of the fuse. Thus, the fuse was included in the amplifier’s corrective feedback loop, and the fullness returned to the music... The point of the story is simple. Fuses matter. But why should they matter in the AC circuit? I don’t have a great answer handy. But we’ll look some more tomorrow.” https://www.psaudio.com/pauls-posts/fuses/ |