Way back when, Peter Aczel had a magazine called the Audio Critic.
I subscribed to it, as I did to Stereophile and TAS.
Back in the mid 1980's I think, he ran an article about how damaging speaker protection fuses were to the sound of whatever they were used with.
He suggested bypassing them altogether , using speakewire or partialally clad solid copper wire.
Magnepan owners were the first to reap the benefits.
I am not surprised that younger Maggie owners haven't caught wind of this, because over the years Peter Aczel has become the poster boy against things that are purported to make an improvement.He is the great Myth buster to a lot of folks.
But have no doubt,back in the old days when he was young enough to hear differences, he was spot on about speaker fuses.
I took him up on his stand and until the onset of better made although prohibitively expensive for some($60. to $85.00)I used different chunks of solid copper and threw the cheap $1.00 fuses into the garbage where they belong.
Yes a fuse is just a fuse and it's only purpose in life is to blow if there is a fault somewhere in the system.
Except of course it's not that simple.
It's a sonic bottleneck that even old Pete heard back in the day.
So,is it that great a stretch to reason that if a speaker fuse degrades the sound that fuses in general degrade the sound wherever they are used?
Afterall until the high priced ones came around, most were the garden variety that the manufacturer had to throw into the amp so it would pass code.So most everyone had the same fuse, albeit in a few different configurations based on the cicuit.
Then after 30 years someone got wise and decided to market a better made fuse, unfortunately it costs more than the $1.75 some folks feel it should cost.
I am not saying that the price is a steal or a ripp off.
But someone is making money off the $1.00 fuse aren't they?
To me the deal was done years ago, fuses degrade the sound.
No fuse or a DIY bypass(try one in the Maggies)is better than the cheap ones that come with most gear.
I used to use solid copper and threw out the old stock fuse in all my gear, amps included.
I was lucky and never had a failure, fire or malfunction.
When the designer fuses came out I bought the Iso Cleans and after hearing what they did on my power amps I upgraded all my gear to them.
Now I use the HIFI Supremes,a bit more expensive, but I can afford to enjoy the improvement they make.
When you think about how much money is wasted on swapping out amps, speakers, interconnects, speaker wires, etc,the cost of a fuse that can improve your sound really isn't that much as things go in this hobby.
Some people have no qualms about spending big bucks on NOS tubes that may or may not improve your system and they may be of questionable vintage and quality.And those folks buy them on faith or word of mouth.
And yet the poor little upscale fuse continues to take a backseat.
I know I will never convince the folks who know the fuse can't make a difference, or convince those who think that $60.00 is akin to shutting the door on their kids education.
All I can say is that what Peter Aczel said back in the 80's still applies today, fuses degrade the sound.It's not fiction to me, it's been a fact.
The great thing is that now I get the added protection of a fuse without the degraded sound.
