Fuse Direction for Pass Labs Amp and Preamp

I have been in this obsession (euphemistically, a "hobby") for some 50 years and I can still hear the better part of the human range. The SR Purple Fuses are major --  repeat major -- audible improvements, both in my VTL 7.5 iii preamp and more latterly, my Sansui TU-X1 tuner (ca. 1979), often regarded as the finest tuner ever made.  I am beyond audio "snake oil" and can hear --  or not hear -- the difference.

I don't know the physics, but with my simple but experienced ears, I do know you have to tell which fuse's end is in and which points out, to hear which way is better. Neal

@nglazer 

Thanks for bringing to my attention that there's a fuse in the tuner, which I've overlooked all these years. Now I have something to look into..

All the best,
Nonoise

"It’s funny that us audiophiles sometimes believe we understand electronics better than electrical engineers do. If DCS, Pass, and other good brands ship their products with standard cables and fuses - shouldn’t we be able to reject the urge to upgrade those?"

If you leave the "US" and "WE" out of the post you might be close. I’ve worked around a lot of different engineers. Every sound engineer was working on sound walls and every EE was working on CANN Buss/OBD2 equipment. They normally were working out a way to add another computer to the mix.

Sound is as subjective as anything on earth and very prone to BIAS. I understand that. The difference with people that are PAID to listen vs people that PAY to listen is pretty simple. Music SQ vs a strange noise in the engine compartment is just a little different skill set.

It took many mechanics decades of learning to hear and then feel a potential issue.

I bow to only a few when it comes to better hearing and with better skills.

I suggest many people and the way they learn to listen is the greater issue. It’s only a problem if "WE" can’t learn to change and learn a BETTER way to listen.
I understand just like fine wine, eventually it all turns to vinegar (hearing).

With that said, what can I say about this:

"Our customer that brought them in exclaimed how they were so transformative. We ran a comparison, just for fun, between them and our shop cables, which we made up from 10ga oxygen free copper wire. Everyone in the shop was challenged to hear a difference. Our speakers though are 16 Ohms and speaker cables are far less critical when driving 16 Ohms as opposed to 8 or 4 Ohms."

OK you got me, you win, 10ga OFC spools cable is just as good as SRs speaker cabling. I suppose you hooked it all up and did a side by side on two identical systems too? GIVE ME A BREAK, you did NOT. Second if you can’t hear the difference in a UP-OCC/teflon weave from your 10ga OFC spool wire. QUIT trying your hearing is SHOT. Stick with the old scope.

The thing about any mechanic worth his salt is to question his/herself abilities before others do.. I’m not the one that couldn’t hear the difference. I suggest a little training is in order. Start with the easier ones first. 2-4ohm 90-92% efficient speakers. The more efficient the speaker, the easier it is to learn about cables, not WIRE.

It’s not hard to understand that a mechanic is usually a pretty skilled engineer with dirt under his fingernails. Certainly had to go to school a LOT longer. I still attend 3-6 classes per year, 40 years after my Master Certs (7 years). I taught hydraulics with OHM for over 20 years.

We both worked with James Bongiorno and a few of his crew. He would chew anyone out for not paying attention to single wire or cabling. 35 years ago? He did some amp board work for a series of cranes we has issues with in the heat..

Carver use to teach a winding class for 2nd year guys. Cheapest guy I ever new, but not with other people’s money.. :-)

Can’t hear a difference? "just for fun" try to learn a new skill set.

My best to you all.

PS Ralph, I think you're one of the finest contributors to the forums with a wealth of knowledge and as always a gentleman all the way.. We've met in passing many years ago..

Inescapable FACT: No one understands exactly how electricity works.   

      That’s why there’s so much Electrical THEORY.     

People risk their lives on electrical theory, just as they do the theory of flight. I suspect you might mean 'hypothesis' rather than theory.

OK you got me, you win, 10ga OFC spools cable is just as good as SRs speaker cabling. I suppose you hooked it all up and did a side by side on two identical systems too? GIVE ME A BREAK, you did NOT. Second if you can’t hear the difference in a UP-OCC/teflon weave from your 10ga OFC spool wire. QUIT trying your hearing is SHOT.

My hearing certainly isn't what it was, but I hear differences easily enough. However my employees' hearing is much better and they couldn't hear any significant difference either; neither could the guy that lent us the cables! That might be different if the speakers were 4 Ohms but they are 16. That makes a big difference.

@atmasphere -

     Perhaps I should have said, "That's why there have been so many theories and theorems."

                                                               ie:                                                                                     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_electromagnetic_theory

     Many folks are still wrestling with the High School level understanding, of shoving electrons around, in a conductor.

     Such that do, are still stuck with theories proposed in the 1800s.

     To help you understand the difference between a hypothesis and a theory, a copy/paste from another post:

     The goal of the Scientific Method: to answer WHY observed phenomena occur.

                           The steps of the scientific method include:

         1) asking a QUESTION about something you observe.

         2) doing background research to learn what is already known about the topic.

         3) constructing a, "hypothesis".

         4) experimenting or testing the hypothesis.

         5) OBSERVING the results

         6)ANALYZING the data from the experiment and drawing CONCLUSIONS*.

   ttps://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/scientific-method-steps     

     When one of the Sciences runs into a phenomena, for which it hasn't yet figured out a method of testing (experimenting) the HYPOTHESIS, or: can't yet understand (analyze) whatever data might been found during experimentation, there can be no categorical, answer* to the question, "WHY?", and a, "THEORY" is proposed.

             *Without definite conclusions, there can be no categorical answers.

           "I suspect you might mean 'hypothesis' rather than theory."