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I wonder if trapping heat in the glass housing (or whatever is the material) might cause the fuse to blow prematurely.
Doc, I am not sure who you are quoting here. Please include the quote.
"That's not a great idea. Why would you ask someone who has no experience to conjecture about what the facts really are?" DaveC113
A big part of the problem with our hobby is how passive the customers are. In the old days, a LOT more people built kits, and thus had at least a nodding familiarity with electronics. Now it's all just black boxes and voodoo. I'm not casting any stones, just stating facts. Plus I have my own glass house to live in since I used to be exactly one of those types of audiophiles. Building stuff opens up your eyes, quick.
Agreed and I take it that you are now building stuff?May I add that measuring stuff (in addition to listening) has opened my eyes very wide. I am up to book four of my notes I call "Various Amplifiers Tested". That is over 200 amps and preamps tested. Any amp that crosses my bench gets a full workout. John Atkinson does an excellent job of amplifier testing and it is worth getting familiar with his measurements. I contend if an amplifier measures really badly it cannot possibly sound good to a person who knows what good sound is.
I bought a phono amp from an audiophile awhile back. Before he would sell it to me, he wanted to make sure it would meet my needs and work in my system (the gain of the pre-amp in relation to the output of the cartridge, etc.). I found that unusually conscientious, as most sellers care more about selling a piece than insuring it will work well for the buyer. Anyway, he advised me to wear gloves when touching the tubes, and to try different tubes in the amp, etc. The ad stated that the amp had been fitted with a Hi-Fi Tuning Fuse, and the picture showed what looked like Herbie's tube Dampers on the three tubes. When he told me the dampers were made by the amp's manufacturer (which I knew not to be the case), I realized that he didn't know as much about the amp as I did. But okay, I bought it. Imagine my surprise when upon it's arrival I heard something rattling around inside the box. The seller, who was so concerned that I might touch the tubes without gloves, had left not only the tubes installed in their sockets, but the heavy metal tube dampers in place on the tubes! With all that weight on them, the tubes were, of course, ripped out of the sockets, all their pins bent. When I informed him of this, and said that I didn't mention removing the tubes for shipping because I thought surely anyone owning tubes would already know this, especially if he considered touching a tube without a glove a bad idea, he blamed the damage on the fact that I had not told him about not shipping the tubes installed! Oy! He did know that the amp really, really needed that special fuse, though, didn't he? Wonder where he got that idea? I'll tell you where-----from subjective reviewers. A lot of them remind me of this guy.....skewed priorities. Speaking of which.....Bill Johnson told a story about the founder and editor of an unfortunately influential rag who had one of the ARC pre-amps in for review. The guy contacted Bill because the pre-amp was, the guy said, defective. Bill had him send the amp back to Minnesota, and quickly discovered the "defect". Harry, oops, I mean the reviewer had installed shorting caps on the unused inputs of the pre-amp, and also on the unused OUTPUT jacks of the amp! Well, . He knew that shorting the unused inputs was essential in getting the best sound out of pre-amps, but not that shorting the outputs was a VERY bad idea. A person like that has NO business "reviewing" hi-fi products, don't you agree? See, J. Gordon Holt knew his engineering, AND listened to the gear he reviewed. Is that asking too much of our reviewers?
Hi all.I am not sure if I am off topic, but here it goes anyway.I gather all those citations from left and right over a few years.An audiophile is someone who can hear differences among various components, cables, etc… even when there aren't any.An audiophile can confirm that there is a difference in sound, even no components have been changed, only by suggesting him, that some changes have been made. It’s a fact that many audiophiles concern themselves with connectors and power cords and all the fancy tweaks, when these at are pale in comparison to the effect of room acoustics.Room treatments are the most grossly overlooked and misunderstood aspect of hi-end audio.Sometimes, room treatment can only be bookshelves, plushy sofas, thick carpet thick drapes and a few frames on walls.The industry has now reached the point where wire resistanceand listening quality are not the issues any more, although listening claims may still be made…The strategy in selling these extremely expensive products is,in part, to appeal to those who are looking to impress others withsomething unique and extremely expensive and flatter their alter ego.How a short strand of expensive cable can improve uponelectricity delivered by miles of standard electricity transmissionequipment outside and inside a home?How short does the (Specialized) wire have to be made before differences can no longer be heard ?Guy 13
I thinks audiophiles trust that someone who makes something knows what they are doing.
Excellent insight, made me smile as there is a lot of truth here. This I so agree with. Room treatments are the most grossly overlooked and misunderstood aspect of hi-end audio.Sometimes, room treatment can only be bookshelves, plushy sofas, thick carpet thick drapes and a few frames on walls.A wealthy man in Orange County was interested in getting involved with Music Reference. I visited his home which he had been livinig in for at least two years. His listening room was literally a rather large cube with very hard walls, hard floor, very few windows, no drapes, no carpet, one couch. The two of us in the room provided more sound absorption than everything else put together. We started to converse and I suggested we go outside because it was a nice day. The real reason I wanted to go outside was the I couldn't understand a word that was said in that room it was so live. I have never experienced a room with such horrible reflections. Later he asked me to comment on his system. As nicely as I could I told him I couldn't hear his system, all I could hear is the room. He had some decent equipment. He told me the speaker maker was going to come and make some updates to the speakers in a few days. I wonder if the speaker maker commented on the room. I found it hard to believe that this man had been listening to whatever in this room for over two years. It is interesting what some people will pay for special room treatment that does the same thing as furniture that you can enjoy. For instance a bookshelf with books of different sizes will do a better job than those assemblages of little wood blocks that people hang on the walls. The blocks are harder than books (more reflective) and the differences in height too small to do anything much below 10 KHZ where you really need it. I don't understand corner traps at all. At the corner there is a node in a standing wave where there is virtually no air motion to be trapped. I think the people who design room treatments don't know much about sound waves, which is unfortunate. I thinks audiophiles trust that someone who makes something knows what they are doing. I find quite the opposite is true when it comes to tweaks, fuses, cables, burn in devices, etc, etc. I don't understand why people listen down the length of a room when they can listen across the width and reduce side wall reflections. Instead of pulling your speakers way out from the wall and your speakers into the middle of the room try putting a heavy drape on the wall behind the speakers and a shelf full of books right behind your listening chair. Its a handy place to keep the books too. I recall one time a fellow told me something that was simply untrue, something that could easily be shown to be untrue. I asked where he got that information. He told me he read it in an advertisement so it must be true. The Admen have finally reached their goal.
This isn't unique to audiophiles. This is a general truth about our species. Heck, who among us hasn't exploited the trust of another at least once in his/her life? Memes drive us and the overwhelming majority of us embrace ideas on faith alone (I'll abstain from painting that parallel explicitly). It should come as no surprise that memes which ought to break our credulity fuses pass right around our critical analyses. The raison d'être of advertising is the manipulation of our decision making. Advances in neuroscience promise to create ever more potent mind viruses. It may seem sinister, but it's just natural progression. 'Quantum' is one of those hot words. Toss it into the description of one's product and it gets an instant whiff of deep physics at work (however pseudo it may actually be). We have a defense. In the vast ocean of information we call the Internet, all is not misinformation. A real and deep education is available to anyone who can read this post. On the other hand, this is a hobby. It should be fun. I have 'cable risers' (for instance). I purchased them from an electrical supply house for a few dollars a piece, and I spray painted them high gloss black. I like the way they look and I consider them part of my cable management scheme. I have some OCD tendencies (as most of us do), and they are an outlet via which those tendencies can escape. With a little education (such as visiting the link you posted earlier, and viewing the breadth of variables which must be considered when selecting a fuse), HiFi Tuning fuses scream, "Danger!" It is only by highlighting what fantastic conductors they are (I'm not validating that claim here) that we are distracted from the aforementioned details. The advertising press provides memetic reinforcement and embellishment. Satisfied customers add their voices to the choir. The meme spreads. The sonic improvements don't have to be real to be experienced (the point of the link I provided earlier - I could provide many more). In most cases, the fuses will never be tested (called upon for protection), so the risk they impart will never be realized - they can get away with being inappropriate. In other cases, the worst on which I stated that I'd wager will happen. No matter - the blame can always be shifted to the equipment designer. We are an irrational lot.
