Agreed. How many times have you thought a change was better, then 2 hours later decided it isn’t?
If you determine there is a change it’s proves the point that fuses do sound different depending on orientation.
Yup.
It’s the ring main circuit that led to the requirement of a fuse in the UK.
While it allows more current on thinner gauge wire and a much simpler consumer unit, saving on space and copper, it can be hard predict whether both sides of the ring are balanced in a given load situation. As a result, the fused plug was seen as a reasonable tradeoff to ensure safety considering all the other benefits.
It wasn’t designed with audiophiles in mind.
All things being equal, after leaving the UK, I much prefer unfused plugs and the granular control of a consumer [unit] that’s as tall as I am.
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Hi 
…
I’ve been testing and evaluating products for decades, also installing and optimizing music-systems for others for decades.
Has also started a Hifi and Music Association which became known all over Sweden.
In that association,.we also carried out tests on hi-fi products, where reviews were written and reported in newspapers.
No one needed very long time to hear a difference,.so I don’t understand what you are doing @Innocent_Bystander ,why do you make things so circumstantial and awkward.?
Most of the time you hear it quite immediately,.then you may need more time to be able to detect different nuances.
Then,.you should also respect the so-called “settle-time”, where there is usually already after between 15 minutes to an hour a marked difference.
But after a few hours up to a day,.this “settle-time” has had the time it needs.
Regarding the Tune-Dem evaluation
method.
When Linn and Naim collaborated in the early 80s,.they evaluated based on the same method.
When the collaboration ended,.Linn began to call that method their own, and it was named Tune-Dem.
The method is based on evaluating according to musical standards, NOT hifi standards.
Some cannot/never learn or understand that method,.we have many examples of that here in Sweden.
You,.Innocent_Bystander is an example from UK who doesn’t understand the method 
.
It is also based on the fact that it should play equally well in the entire room,.in other words the so-called “sweet-spot” is uninteresting.
Many also describe it as,.that when you get the music-system correctly installed according to this method…
SO,.it should also play just as well in adjacent rooms.
OF COURSE,.I always do follow-up tests the next day, and even later…
This is to confirm my impressions at the time of the first evaluation.
So far,.in all the decades of evaluations, the first impression has always stood.
SO,.Innocent_Bystander don’t make life so complicated and awkward,trust yourself and your impressions.
I have never used “blind tests” and never will,.there is no reason.
Instead,.I trust my knowledge and experience.
And so far,.no one has been disappointed when I have installed and optimized their music-system.
Or,.reported reviews that those interested in hifi made changes from, or tested products from.
AND,.in this case…
How To Optimize The Music-System By Finding The Direction Of The Fuse For The Best Possible SoundQuality.
So good luck Innocent_Bystander, write less and use the remaining time to test and evaluate what is proposed instead.
Good luck…
…
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You could try as a test to qualify your findings or is that a bit too scary?
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Hi …
Were those the conclusions you drew from my longer writing above.
I have never performed it in my own evaluations.
However,.of course I has been involved when others wanted to do it…
AND,.always came to the “right conclusion”.
However,.in certain contexts at the constructor level, it can add something.
BUT,.I know a number of Swedish hifi designers with products on the world market, they do not use “blind tests”.
However,.it is common in educational contexts at university level to use and propagate for “blind tests”.
If you are unsure and want to verify what you hear,.go ahead, but I am confident in myself as described above.
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The blind test comments crack me up. Ok I can hear a difference when I test a speaker, amplifier and oh a fuse or cable. But in the matter of cabling or fuses even though the difference is as significant as a component change I need to do a double blind experiment because ‘how can this possibly be that a fuse (wire) pointing in the wrong direction can make a difference.
Dr Floyd Toole of Harman Research once said in a university lecture that there is no audible difference between silver wire and a copper one. I remember arguing back and forth with a somebody about just testing that claim. Their argument was ‘measurably they are the same so they cannot possibly sound different.
If somebody conducts these tests and doesn’t hear a difference in their system and reports that back I’ll respect you more than those who don’t bother trying. Not that I have any doubt that you will. Unless of course your room is so difficult you cannot pick up on the differences. lol.
Or furthermore. Don’t ‘test’ it at all. Just check the orientation of your fuse when you’re setting your system up and forget about it. It’s what the manufacturer of your gear has recommended so why not.
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Not just fuses.
We have a small wind farm contributing to the National Grid near us.
It is definitely noticeable that the quality of electricity reaching my system is better when the turbines are facing east rather than the normal west.
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While subscribers to “If it isn’t the same - it’s different” (I’m of this bent) can go occasionally go fully Looney Tunes - could the arch rationalists among the audience let me know what can make a difference?
Can CD Players sound different?
Can speaker cables make a difference?
Can headshell leads make a difference?
Can equipment support make a difference to solid state equipment?
Can speakers make a difference?
How and why did you chose you system? What made a difference?
… and so on.
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I think we shall now open a new fascinating thread about boutique fuses. It will be epic.
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Please God, NO!
There’s enough madness already!
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@frenchrooster ,.I am just fascinated here…
Since even Naim themselves have recommended this,.to turn the fuse in the right direction for the best sound quality.
@Richard.Dane has also confirmed it with a post in the thread.
Still,.some continue to oppose 
.
You just have to try it yourself,.it doesn’t take many minutes.
Then you know…!!
As Simply As That…
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I recall you said a day or so ago that you were going to stop posting about this. So why don’t you? It’s boring.
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Talkers gonna talk!
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Hi …
And yet,.isn’t it more boring than you continuing to read the thread.
It might be better to spend the time flipping your fuse 
.
But thank you in any case,.for the nice response.
I hope you have a really nice Sunday evening…
I was just a bit tongue in cheek. But yes, I believe, as all matters. You can place a sheet of paper under the streamer and the sound will change.
What I found funny is how this thread took a serious orientation, as it’s only fuses direction.
Perhaps I took also a bit of step back for all the tweaks and cables matter.
I have now some titinus, and will try a hearing aid very soon , as I have-10 db loss in one ear vs the other. So fuses direction is behind me actually.
Firstly, in my case to try reversing a fuse is not the quickest or simplest of things in practical terms as first I would have to manhandle a 45kg amplifier out of its cupboard to access the plugs which are behind it. This was what triggered my response to your saying it would only take 10 minutes.
But indeed I don’t find it particularly easy to compare things and identify/assess differences in sound, and it does tend to be time consuming (certainly more than 10 minutes unless the difference were very extreme): I’m not sure why it might be any more so for me compared to you or anyone else, but it’s not through making things complicated - most likely it is because I don’t do it often. I actually find it hard work, and don’t enjoy doing it: I have to get in the right mindset. I guess it must be a combination of my ears (which are pretty good generally, though in the past year assisted by hearing aids due to the inevitable effects of age) and my psyche: I find all too often that I just get drawn into the music and forget I’m supposed to be analysing what I’m hearing!
In terms of complicating things, as I have mentioned, I do tend to use blind testing, not for initial hearing but to be certain about changes that either are going to cost me any significant amount of money, or to rule out being influenced either by expectation bias, positive or negative (as would be the case with directional fuses). However simple blind testing is in itself not at all difficult, other than needing to focus on staying in evaluation mode.
Surely it’s all down to the relative orientation of our planet as it rotates relative to the sun, the relative position of our sun to the super-massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy, and the relative position of our galaxy to neighbouring galaxies in an expanding universe.
By listening at different times (in relative earth time) all these variables must be influential. Not sure how you’d perform a proper trial to demonstrate this - but my ears tell me so it must be true 
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Inspired by your post, I replaced all my fuses with toenail clippings.
Unfortunately my nails are not in top condition and the resulting sound was somewhat brittle with too much colouration, so I had to reinstall the fuses.
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