How do fuses affect the sound quality?

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#22
Hold on people - fuse holders are often very poor contacts, and can occasionally cause an open circuit. So when gullible folks neglect to de-ox their fuse contacts but rush ahead to the new thing, the crappy contacts will be temporarily restored due to the mechanical scrubbing that happens in the process. Snake oil? What about snark oil??
 
#25
6L6 said:
One must remember that the users of these users ARE experiencing a change in the sound of their system. It’s called expectation bias, and the fact that they believe that the fuses make an improvement, along with the reinforcement of the belief through the fact that they payed for it, and installed it, will make the expectation true for them

This is how all the little tweaks and such work... Think about somebody who pays $10,000 for some fancy wire to connect 2 components together... if you believed it so much that you were willing to spend that kind of money, you think that you could get home, place into the system and hear no difference?
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Yes the placebo response is a very real effect. Unfortunately it wears off. Fortunately that aids wealth redistribution.


As for the statement "One must remember that the users of these users ARE experiencing a change in the sound of their system. It’s called expectation bias," Im afraid that's actually just an unproven hypothesis and likely to be revealing an expectation bias in the writer. 😀
 
#26
To the original question... it is a well tried protection for tweeters in sound reinforcement applications to put a low power bulb in series... 12 volt / 3 or 5 watts springs to mind. The bulb does nothing until the current through it causes substantial heating, then the tempco of the filament increases the resistance. Works well. Once the volume comes down the bulb cools and hey presto.

On fuses... a fuse in the supply rail, and consequently outside the feedback loop of most amplifiers is benign and indeed good practise.

A fuse in the speaker line (and indeed a light bulb) is not exactly "hifi" and will increase the output impedance and indeed introduce a nonlinear impedance vs power.

The light bulb for tweeter protection is fine for sound reinforcement. I would, and have, added them when I know the speakers are in for a thrashing. By the way, the light bulb does not blow so you have a soft recovery.

A better choice is to get the crossover right, ensuring that under sane conditions the tweeter is not going to be over powered, and using an amp with sufficient headroom that it does not clip so much that the tweeter is killed by the resulting harmonics.
 
#27
Junm said:
I had resurrected this post since I'm intrigued by some audiophiles that they had noticed Sound quality changes on their amps when they change their amps rail fuse and even primary line fuse with regular type fuse with the so called "audiophile fuse" and ceramic type fuses.

Does someone here got the experience or this is just a HYPE? kindly enlightened me.

I had debated this on a group of "Audiophiles" . I had ask them proof of the so called changes but only cp recording and no comparative analysis. I just wonder how it will affect the sound especially when the fuse on the primary line.
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Everything in series up to the transformer primary including AC cable and internal fuses will have an auditory impact of some sort and of some degree. Ceramic or glass tube fuses are economical and available from the likes of RS or Element14. They have a huge range, look for silica sand filled fuses of the rating you require. If you look deeper into spec sheets you will see fusing wire alloy composition and source of natural fine silica sand of at least one mfr. I forget the UK? company, the high purity quartz sand came from one spot in Wales or something. These are quality industrial spec fuses, no audio claims of course. IME silica filled fuses are first choice for a clearer nicer sound, the fuse wire alloy is sonically important also, there were copper/silver alloy or copper with silver plating or plain silver types IIRC. The effects are subtle but give give a better clarity and a better dynamics for little outlay and you are probably getting most of the sound of the boutique ones.......I haven't tried the expensive ones so I cannot judge, but I can say that the RS ones are a pleasant and useful step up from the factory fuses. Have fun researching data sheets and experimenting.

Dan.
 
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#28
Max Headroom said:
Everything in series up to the transformer primary including AC cable and internal fuses will have an auditory impact of some sort and of some degree.
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What's the mechanism for this?


kazap said:
As for the statement "One must remember that the users of these users ARE experiencing a change in the sound of their system. It’s called expectation bias," Im afraid that's actually just an unproven hypothesis and likely to be revealing an expectation bias in the writer. 😀
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Thank you for proving my point. 🙂 🙂 🙂
 
#33
That the placebo effect is real must be something that drives materialist (empiricist, etc.) thinkers nuts: science has proven that, at least in some cases, what a person thinks will affect the outcome! Speaking for myself, I have certainly fallen victim to trying various tweaks (vacuum tubes, $100 capacitors) and have instead fallen to the netherworld of actually enjoying my system, even if it has the name "Behringer" in several places 😀
 
#34
Placebo effect is real and needs to be taken seriously.
I work in medical research, and we do often see improvements in patients receiving placebo.
When you believe that pill is going to cure you, your organism is starting the repair process. Your faith will heal you. The guy who walked on water knew that.
 
#36
adason said:
Placebo effect is real and needs to be taken seriously.
I work in medical research, and we do often see improvements in patients receiving placebo.
When you believe that pill is going to cure you, your organism is starting the repair process. Your faith will heal you. The guy who walked on water knew that.
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I read a placebo can work even when you know it's a placebo
 
#39
That was an interesting link. It points out how difficult it is to identify counterfeits. China has a major problem with its burgeoning counterfeit business. If its headphones its sad but not a safety hazard. However fuses and food and other safety critical items are getting into major distribution chains with serious potential consequences.

Still, seeing what can happen if the fuse is not engineered right, filling it with beeswax seems really nuts. Having been to a few post fire inspections and watched the process anything non standard or modified will be the first to "own" the fire. If there was a fire even some distance away since the fuses are modified they could end up on the hook for a lot of money.
 
#40
audiogeekess said:
Now I am thinking about putting a fuse between the speaker and amplifier to limit the input current to protect them.

Would this noticeably affect the sound quality? I rather risk not having a fuse than sacrifice sound quality.

Thanks
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I used a Maplin 225WRMS amp with a fuse in the output to the speakers for many years and it was very loud and sounded great.
If it makes a difference then it is negligible, I certainly couldn't tell.

I once tripped over the speaker lead and as it came out shorted in the jack socket and blew the fuse.
Luckily it blew before the output transistors fried.
I just replaced the fuse and continued with the gig.
 
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