Fuzzbuster
Addicted Member
I read some consumer reviews about the Synergistics Blue fuses with amused skepticism. One person said they "transformed" his system. How can a fuse have any effect on sound quality? It seems like they're $150 snake oil.
Fuses and sound quality ?
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DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
Technically, they'll have no effect on acoustics -- at least none that has any basis in known electronics or physics.
However, they may have a psychoacoustic effect. Perception of sound is the result of a complex interplay between physical hearing and cognition or mental state, which means that believing the fuses will transform the sound -- or even being skeptical that they'll transform the sound but remaining open-minded enough to try them -- can result in a perception that they've transformed the sound.
DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
And whilst we're still here...
I LIKE MUSIC
Super Member
Okay Dave, you owe me at least a roll of paper towels and possibly a new key board for my laptop and a replacement cup of coffee.
Poinzy
Super Member
OMG. Stay away from 'The Absolute Sound'.
DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
Excellent. My purpose is fulfilled.
62vauxhall
Addicted Member
Well heeled niche market consumers can be a gullible lot, n'es pas?
Fuzzbuster
Addicted Member
Yeah...what he said...
At least that you know of...
Years ago, I bypassed the signal fuse in a pair of Acoustat 2+2s and I can assure you it most certainly had an audible effect!
Note that Wilson Audio loudspeakers use low power rated resistors in their crossovers to serve as fuses - avoiding the insertion of one into the signal path. Refer to page 43.
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
There you have it. We can't measure it because we don't have the technology to do so. One day, sometime in the future we will be able to follow the electrons through a conductor and learn more about how different conductors affect the transmission of an electrical signal. We don't know everything, we can't measure everything otherwise the advancement of science would come to a screeching halt.
There are some that can hear the difference. There are lots, most AKers, that can't.
DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
Unless appropriate experimental controls are implemented, how do you know whether the perceived sound difference is due to an acoustic difference or a psychoacoustic effect?
Blue Shadow
Waiting for Vintage Gear from this century
Because some people have better hearing than experimental controls do. Did you see that we don't know everything yet?
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Instead of employing amateur speculative omniscience, why not ask Wilson Audio why that is a deliberate aspect of their design?
started in the 70's during the high-end's golden age, that fuses interfered with the SQ.
try reading TAS from the late 1970s.
you can do a cheap experiment, buy/get/borrow a polk 7B, test 1:listen critically
(your best gear, and source with sound stage definitions in height, width, depth)
as is, then test 2 - remove fuse and clip the ends together.
if you buy it, clean it up (easy - no re-veneering - it's vinyl) and sell it for double.
try reading TAS from the late 1970s.
you can do a cheap experiment, buy/get/borrow a polk 7B, test 1:listen critically
(your best gear, and source with sound stage definitions in height, width, depth)
as is, then test 2 - remove fuse and clip the ends together.
if you buy it, clean it up (easy - no re-veneering - it's vinyl) and sell it for double.
DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
If you're aware of physical/electronic effects due to changing a fuse that would cause a sonic effect, please provide a link.
How do you know it was an acoustic change as opposed to a psychoacoustic effect?
How do you know it wasn't because the fuse holder or fuse contacts were corroded, acting as a resistance or even a diode, and thus causing reduced volume or distortion?
A fuse is electrically a low power rated resistor of very low resistance. Small, low-value resistors also make good fuses, particularly if also used to provide level matching as described on page 43.
ConradH
Lunatic Member
We can certainly measure every possible thing that we need to know about fuses. They have resistance, that varies as they heat up. They have a time constant. They do various things when they actually blow- fillers can control this. There should be little trouble comparing the electrical performance of two different fuses. What can you hear? Wrong guy to ask. But, when somebody wants a crazy price for what's normally a commodity item, I want to see numbers and an explanation that's more than hand-waving.
DaveVoorhis
Addicted Member
What is the evidence of this?
That is true, but suggestion of an unknown effect is not evidence of an unknown effect.
On the other hand, we have nearly 200 years of electronics and physics that have not yet found any effects beyond those already known and well documented. We have nearly 75 years of psychology, biology, neurology, psychophysics, and psychoacoustics research that demonstrate the impact of cognition and mental state on sensory perception -- also known and well documented. Therefore, what evidence do we have to conclude that changing a fuse causes an acoustic difference due to unknown physics, but not known psychology?
Loudspeaker companies most certainly don't publish their research which can impact competitiveness in the market.
Such endless posturing using the Argument from Authority fallacy.
You are not part of their target audience.
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