Thanks. I had not considered that people are discussing inline speaker fuses. I still wonder if most people are. I did use fuses to protect my stacked Advents from my Phase Linear 400. A dropped tonearm always blew them.
The guru on fuses:
For two years, I have asked why and how fuses could possibly matter. All I got was arguments of faith, pro or con. I needed a real audio guru who actually knows. Here is a link from John Curl’s discussion on Parasound’s website. He engineered and designed some some great equipment, including some Mark Levinson gear, The Grateful Dead’s 30 plus McIntosh amp powered Wall of Sound, and his admittedly, somewhat price compromised Parasound designs. He discusses the electrical properties of standard fuses, showing how they are compromised. The entire article is quite enlightening, but to skip to the fuse section, go to the bottom half of page 6. https://www.parasound.com/pdfs/JCinterview.pdf
Showing 9 responses by danvignau
For those of you who think you are authorities, and especially for those of you who only read the half paragraph on fuse measurements, READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE! The gist is neither that fuses matter or don't, even though his explanation clearly shows why they should make a difference, nor is it that measurements do not matter. Curl clearly explains how critical listening shows differences that have not yet been measured, and how this experience clearly leads to better instrumentation that finds measureable electrical differences. |
nonoise Of course you are right; However, too many of the fuse people, (and especially the wire trestle people, seem to go on faith, especially the naysayers, a group I may have belonged to for too long. I am still waiting to hear the difference on my system, but my fuses may not do much. I also have a big, sensitive NASA circuit breaker per channel for power switches. Only once ever, have they tripped (two of four). No fuse has ever blown, and I often listen with the volume up to just before the clipping LED's trigger. |
roxy54 No, John Curl did not design McIntosh products, but he used for the system. He designed the crossovers, and worked with two other engineers on the monitor less dual microphone system (wired and positioned out of phase with each other to remove any feedback from the speakers behind the mics). He also provided his expertise for other wiring issues for the Dead's Wall of Sound system. There were two to four semi trucks, depending on the venue, each with sets of scaffolding. As the band played one venue, the second structure was being assembled at the next destination. Acid King Owlsley Stanley built the speaker cabinets, and JBL made many of the drivers, along with Electrovoice, I believe, abut Curl designed the electronics other than the amps. BTW, at Miami Jai Alai, about two and a half dozen 300 wpc transistor amps ran the instrument speakers, while 350 wpc tube amps were used for the singers, in order to get pleasing harmonics. Interestingly, there were no mixing boards, nor monitors. Check out the system below. I saw and heard it indoors at Miami Jai Aai, where a smaller number of amps, were used than at the outdoor stages, only a few dozen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead)#:~:text=The%20Wall%20of%20Sound%20was,as.... |
This is the second time I have mentioned fuses as a potential topic. Thanks everyone for confirming my faith in the suggestibility of the human mind. BTW, The Skeptic has a video about the evolutionary advantages of fooling ourselves. Catch it if you can. Also, their article, "Audiophoolery" is a classic. Google it. You don't have to agree with all of it, but if it truly offends you, please seek help. |