magic fuse

[Thom]

http://www.ultrasystem.com/usfeaturedprodsFUSE.html


Forget about the science. If you were manufacturing expensive gear and this would make a difference, wouldn't you take care of it at the factory?

[soundboy]

I have a ton of modified adcom gear...and have heard about the fuse thing...every tech I have talked to , however, said it is :bs:I am sure there is something to it...after all, capacitors, wire, and connectors all sound the same....so why would fuses make any difference:blink: I am being sarcastic...if the almost $300 in claritycaps I put in my 3 way dynaudios didn't sound any different than the solens that they replaced, I wouldn't have pissed the money away...but they are WAY smoother,detailed, and more natural sounding. And I tried them in a couple JBL systems before I forked over the dough...Getting off on a tangent again, but I read somewhere where a guy did nothing but change to audiophile type fuses in an old adcom amp...and he was astounded...gonna have to try some...I feel it may be due to the old fuses sitting in the clips for 10-15 years, and the newer clean connection may be 90% of it...I dunno....but I know that pot metal or steel don't make as nice a connection as pure copper or gold...so it goes...
Why don't manufacturers do it? That's a no brainer....it is too expensive to make the price point...otherwise every upper end speaker would have Claritycaps, Mundorf's, or Auricaps in them...instead of cheap electrolytics and mylars...even very expensive systems will use solens...which don't suck, but are MUCH cheaper than the better alternative's mentioned. It's all about money.

[Audiobeer]

I tried the fuses with nsound anchors for support. What a difference! :p

[SEAWOLF97]

I must be missing something here.

The fuse is in the power path , not the signal path. The amp is either on or not. Isnt this kinda like the expensive power cord ??

[loach71]

The placebo effect strikes again...
A fool and his money are soon parted...

[Mr. Widget]

I must be missing something here.

The fuse is in the power path , not the signal path. The amp is either on or not. Isnt this kinda like the expensive power cord ??Typically true enough, but...



Have been doing fuse testing last 2 days and now they seem very stable on 3A. (they shipped with 4A) :bouncy: ;)


Widget

[SEAWOLF97]

Typically true enough, but...

;)


Widget

you are correct . Mr. W , but my speakers are fuse protected. I have yet (correct me if wrong) seen any JBLs that are fuse protected. I am ASSUMING that most fuses in audio are used in the power producting componets.

when experimenting with fuse size's to get the right one, I wud not be using $35 fuses.

[Thom]

If the power fuse can make a difference (providing there is nothing wrong or defective with the original fuse and we are not talking about a difference in the fuse mfg. pocket) then on top of all of the other arguments the piece of equipment has a really crummy power supply or whatever this immeasurable difference is that someone says they can hear would be handled in the power supply and you wouldn't hear it. So don't buy a fuse. Go buy some good equipment. Maybe I'm just jealous. Because I'm not the one getting the money. I've got plenty of useless stuff I'd sell and I'd make up whatever story a customer wanted. I suppose if you were really worried about it you would use a protective system that was totally magnetically operated so as sot to have any resistive element in series with the circuit you are protecting, but that's not what they are doing. They don't have enough leads.

[Mr. Widget]

...when experimenting with fuse size's to get the right one, I wud not be using $35 fuses.It would be hard for me to rationalize that one myself... however, if it did make a significant improvement, a $100 expenditure seems like a bargain.

Unfortunately as with all things audio, it is darned difficult to weed through the BS to find the really useful tweaks.


Widget

[toddalin]

I must be missing something here.

The fuse is in the power path , not the signal path. The amp is either on or not. Isnt this kinda like the expensive power cord ??

Actually, a component doesn't have to be in the audio path to have an affect on the audio path. I have a relatively cheap dBX amp with power supply and protection problems that manifested themselves as noise in the signal (periodic static).

If the fuse does not pass enough current, the amp can clip. This could be because of corrosion at the contact points that may not occur if the fuse were of gold.

Another, similar case in point.... maybe stretching it, but you get the idea.

I have a Mallory capacitive discharge ignition system on my '64 Vette. After a major tune-up, the car would balk and stall out every time the secondaries opened. I disconnected the electronic ignition, just running the car on the points, and it ran fine..., better than ever.

Quizicle, I pulled the fuse on the ignition box, and there was minor surface corrosion. I cleaned it with steel wool, replaced it, and the car runs great on the electronic ignition again. (The tune-up increased the cylinder head pressure making it harder to fire the plugs, and the corrosion was just enough to create a low resistance area such that the box didn't have sufficient current to keep up.) When the car comes back from the restoration, I'll put a gold-cased fuse in. (But I'll not pay $35 for it!)

[Thom]

Actually, a component doesn't have to be in the audio path to have an affect on the audio path. I have a relatively cheap dBX amp with power supply and protection problems that manifested themselves as noise in the signal (periodic static).

If the fuse does not pass enough current, the amp can clip. This could be because of corrosion at the contact points that may not occur if the fuse were of gold.

Another, similar case in point.... maybe stretching it, but you get the idea.

I have a Mallory capacitive discharge ignition system on my '64 Vette. After a major tune-up, the car would balk and stall out every time the secondaries opened. I disconnected the electronic ignition, just running the car on the points, and it ran fine..., better than ever.


Quizicle, I pulled the fuse on the ignition box, and there was minor surface corrosion. I cleaned it with steel wool, replaced it, and the car runs great on the electronic ignition again. (The tune-up increased the cylinder head pressure making it harder to fire the plugs, and the corrosion was just enough to create a low resistance area such that the box didn't have sufficient current to keep up.) When the car comes back from the restoration, I'll put a gold-cased fuse in. (But I'll not pay $35 for it!)

I agree with your entire post and do not see how any of it justifies that fuse at $5.00.
A power supply problem and a super duper fuse are worlds apart. The super duper fuse wouldn't help your power supply.
Actually something else was happening on your vette. unless the tuneup included replacing head gasket, hardly ever called a tune up, I can't think of anyway it would have increased your compression and one of the characteristics of CD ignition is that it is unaffected by things that take place in the engine. The fuse was probably for the CD system only and had no effect on the pts coil cnd system and when it quit working was probably coincidental. I used to own a garage and coincidences do happen and they really are a pain (well it wasn't doing that when I brought it in)


I don't have enough water pressure at my house. I guess I will get a special valve that opens a little wider.

[Tom Brennan]

Today there is no audio theory or product so cockamamie that some audiophile won't buy into it.

Then the standard reply when you question the audibility is that your system or ears lack sufficient resolving power. Catch 22.

When DBTs are demanded pretzel logic of Goebbelsesque genius is invoked to show that DBTs have no meaning. The paradox being that the audiophiles in question seldom say the improvements in question are subtle, no, they generally claim that "veils are removed" and improvements are "several orders of magnitude".

So you'd think I'd hear the tweak in question even if I applied it to my table radio and that DBTs would be no sweat.

Wouldn't ya? Eh?

[toddalin]

I agree with your entire post and do not see how any of it justifies that fuse at $5.00.
A power supply problem and a super duper fuse are worlds apart. The super duper fuse wouldn't help your power supply.
Actually something else was happening on your vette. unless the tuneup included replacing head gasket, hardly ever called a tune up, I can't think of anyway it would have increased your compression and one of the characteristics of CD ignition is that it is unaffected by things that take place in the engine. The fuse was probably for the CD system only and had no effect on the pts coil cnd system and when it quit working was probably coincidental. I used to own a garage and coincidences do happen and they really are a pain (well it wasn't doing that when I brought it in)


I don't have enough water pressure at my house. I guess I will get a special valve that opens a little wider.


Car ran great before the tune-up and smoked the tires in first 2 gears. Tune-up was simply recurving the distributor and reducing the total advance from 37 to 34 degrees and going up 2 jet sizes on the Holley double pumper. Car still ran great on 2 barrels, but balked something fearce when the secondaries tipped in. We by-passed the Mallory running on the Accell points and the car was getting sideways :blink: and the SOP feel confirmed it.

I cleaned the fuse with steel wool, reinserted it and replugged in teh Mallory and it continued to work great with no hesitation. Dyno sheet was from before the tune-up. I need to get one to see the difference, but car is in for restoration and I won't get it back until end of Feb. My mechanic did two of the Chip Foose Overhaulin Corvettes.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/photopost/direct_data/1124/medium/14790Dyno_Pull.jpg

[Thom]

I don't doubt you a bit. I bet your mechanic, if you took it to some one you don't know real well, was puckering too. Coincidences like that are a real bitch. The owner knows how well it ran when he brought it in. The mechanic knows he didn't do anything to make it screw up. Almost always put a losing amount of time into satisfying the customer that you did the work that he hired you to do and you did it well and you're really sorry it's running bad now but it's not your fault. Finally come up with some sort of an explanation, hope it's kind of right. I don't know these guys so I can only speak in generalities and if they are friends and if it doesn't apply, then it doesn't apply. Very few mechanics know much about electrical principles or electronics, and this includes the ones that specialize in electrical work. And I'm not just talking about current from pos to neg because that's really not a big thing. Hell you'd be surprised how many guys in generator shops don;t know much. Then you find engineers and you usually want to leave if they have tools. There had to be a time when that corroded spot was no longer going to work and that was the time. You would have thought they would have gotten a volt meter on it while it was trying to run. But we all miss things and that's sort of a pressure situation.
Usually, if possible you disable a CD system before hooking a scope to a car just because a CD ignition won't tell you any thing about an engine. With CD there is a supply that charges a cap and at the right time it discharges and that's it.

[BMWCCA]

I have yet (correct me if wrong) seen any JBLs that are fuse protected. I am ASSUMING that most fuses in audio are used in the power producting compone(n)ts.Every Crown amp I've ever owned has suggested in its owner's manual how to protect speakers from amp output by using a fuse in the output to the speaker. I used to use them on the 030s, spec'd them conservatively based on the chart in the Crown manual, and never popped one ever. I think I've ignored it ever since. And I still use lamp cord. And I turn 54 tomorrow. So shoot me. :moon:

[Mr. Widget]

...The paradox being that the audiophiles in question seldom say the improvements in question are subtle, no, they generally claim that "veils are removed" and improvements are "several orders of magnitude".
So you'd think I'd hear the tweak in question even if I applied it to my table radio and that DBTs would be no sweat.
Wouldn't ya? Eh?I am not so sure that some improvements would be so easy to hear on a really crappy system. The fact of the matter is not all systems resolve as much information as others and we don't all have equivalent hearing. I am certainly not suggesting that I agree with most of the tweaks out there, but there are some very real differences in equipment. Changing between a mosfet and SET amp in my system made a very real and dramatic change... objectively the measured frequency response between the two amps was essentially unmeasurable using CLIO to measure the speakers... another change that some would call a tweak, using an outboard DAC instead of the one that came with my mid-fi Sony really helped there as well... would I hear these improvements through an old Advent speaker? Probably... but I bet it would be harder to hear the improvements. Could my tone deaf dad, who needs to have the TV blasting for him to hear the dialog notice the improvements? I really doubt it.


Widget

[SEAWOLF97]

I tried the fuses with nsound anchors for support. What a difference! :p

since the fuses made SO MUCH difference ,<insert sarcasm emoicon here> , you realize that you've only done half the job.

Now the power switch MUST be replaced also. :blink:

[Maron Horonzakz]

I agree with Seawolf...Its bogus...You guys are niggling the pube hairs on a old whore. Its not in the signal path...What is it you dont under stand?

[SEAWOLF97]

And I still use lamp cord. And I turn 54 tomorrow. So shoot me. :moon:

Happy BD.
Shud we shoot you for being 54 or using lamp cord or 'cause you've got so many beautiful cars or just GP ?? :)

[Mr. Widget]

You guys are niggling the ...What is it you dont under stand?Hey Beer... I guess they didn't get your joke.


Widget

[Thom]

Why did they laugh at me at the hardware store when I told them what I wanted.

Every time I see something like the fuse that I think is silly and people will get a laugh at and I post it I'm blown away by the response. I sure wasn't trying to be controversial. I'm not against being controversial but it seems I've been there enough times on this forum that I wouldn't stir up an argument that can't be settled. It's like an atheist arguing religeeon with a religeos person. If you don't accept each others standards it can't be settled. I sure would like an in to a particular segment of the HiFi market. I was amazed when someone jumped to the defense of the fuse. Do you think there is a market for "special" circuit breakers" for the distribution panel?

[Thom]

A mosfet is an active component. Of course it can make a difference and a DAC is pretty close to being a transducer. It takes numbers and turns them into music. Not from real knowledge, but from a overall concept of how things work I would think it would be one of the things that might make the most difference. Dac's that I have worked with as a tech just took code and made scope traces out of it I would think that music would be much more complex. The point was that this is nothing like asking a fuse to make a difference. A mosfet might be thought of as a triode except you probably won't find a bad one with the eraser on your pencil. I find it interesting that you could hear the difference and couldn't verify it. Interested in what was measured what circumstances etc. Not saying couldn't happen. Just think if you could really hear it something measurable must have changed if you (anybody) knew what to look for.