Fuse or braker for dedicated lines?

Vdub, I suppose you don't help much with household chores, because you forgot to mention that carpets are vacuumed in about half the time with ceramic fuses installed! Cheers,

Assuming that the ceramic fuse does make a difference. Placing a ceramic fuse in the amp etc.. the effect would be heard.

If you were to use a ceramic fuse at the breaker we can assume the effect would also be heard.

Now we add a power conditioner that is suppose to remove noise etc.. off the AC line. Wouldn't the PC negate anything the breaker fuse did to the AC?

Next question...Anyone place ceramic fuses in thier speakers?

Ctyler, after I had done the tweak, (AC line) I did not find any change in any of the parameters, we audiophiles generally listen to. I also cannot say, that the lines were quieter, the silences more black, none of that. I did feel however, that overall dynamics were improved, there seemed to be more snap to the presentation, that is all I can say.

Besides, I doubt that it is the ceramic material, which makes a difference, possibly- at least here in Switzerland - the old stile fuses, especially if held properly clean with Kontak or such, give a better contact than our circuit breakers. As far as fuses in our gear are concerned, I also doubt, that it is the material, glass or ceramic, which makes the difference. I rather have the hunch, that it is vibration. In the glass fuses, the wire hangs free, but in the ceramic fuses it is completely embedded in the material, so no vibration. Just a wild guess, but it might make sense. Here by the way, the difference is much more obvious, not only dynamics improve subtly, but everything seems to clear up in the sense of less or no grain, less or no haze.

I have not done direct comparisons between glass-insulator and ceramic-insulator fuses. I have listened extensively to the same system running through fuses and through breakers and have never noted a difference but haven't done ABX comparisons, which I think would be discounted by the folks who are chiding me, anyway....

I have a considerable concern about the use of magnetic circuit breakers because they have a built in inductor through which the power passes on its way to the outlets. The chance of that being an issue is small, though, because magnetic CBs are rarely if ever used in domestic wiring.

With respect to causality of perceived sonic differences with varying insulator materials, I'd be as much or more concerned about the internal construction of the circuit pathway and the materials used therin. So far as I know, there is no easy way, short of dissecting and bench-testing several brands of fuses, to know if the ONLY difference between the fuses was the insulating material. That point being made, even various brands of ceramic or glass fuses might have different innards. My suggestion would be to get as wide a variety of fuses as possible and test them and choose the one that sounds best. Pretty simple.

Now, as to the tone of my post. As I noted in a private email to cfb, I do have a wicked sense of humor. I have no intention of abandoning it but perhaps it will be easier to tolerate if you realize that (1) I am just as willing to turn that sense of humor on people in my own camp as on people in other camps and (2) I am not given to taking offense when people poke fun at me. I do, however, take offense when people tell me to shut up or, in cfb's case, to take my finger off the submit key.

Finally, my point in that post was that there exists a continuum of opinions about the sonic effects of various components, cables, tweaks, et alia. For example, in the current issue of $ensible Sound, one of the reviewers says that all amplifiers sound alike. Sheesh! Does he have any ears at all? On the other hand, a fellow opined to me the other day that hanging a picture in one's listening room that happened to be framed in metal would "render the sound utterly unlistenable." I reserve the right to sound both bemused and, yes, possibly condescending about such extreme opinions. As to the rest of us who fall somewhere in the middle, my position remains unchanged:

IF YOU PERCEIVE A DIFFERENCE IN THE SOUND, AND YOU LIKE THE DIFFERENCE THAT YOU PERCEIVE, AND YOU CAN AFFORD TO MAKE THE CHANGE, THEN DO IT.

And for goodness sake lighten up. We're supposed to be doing this because it is fun.

Willie

Well, in Japan they argue endlessly over the best paper pulp to use for cones (Yes, paper is still considered the best in many parts of the world not afflicted with the marketing need to bring NASA materials into evereything ) and magnet materials. And, I have long wondered why the little iron output transformers David Hafler had hand wound four decades ago in those now cheap Dynacos sound so good. Iron is iron... eh? Anyway, one guy I respect, David Deckert, argues that music sounds better at night because the sun, and its electromagnetic influence, is on the other side of the earth. I'm open to anything except some of my favorite people being short with one another.

"Life is too short to be short."

Let's not short circuit over a fuse issue.

Sincerely, I remain