No fuse for power wire

The fuse/breaker will sometimes stop the amp from becoming a paperweight.

well wouldnt the fuses on the amp blow before it fried the amp?

and by sand do you mean iraq? you in teh military? if so what branch?

OK, picture this, you are working under your hood and you accidently arc out your battery, all the sudden you blew every fuse in your fuse box and made the amp go smoky smoky all because you didnt install the inline fuse that came with the kit. Second senario, you are wailing the sh*t outta your stereo and you push your amp past its limits and for whatever reason, the fuse in your amp doesnt blow, chalk it up to a malfunction cause it happens more than you would probally think. Anyways you push the amp and instead of blowing the inline fuse because you are pulling to much power through the line, your amp just keeps on taking power till it cant handle anymore and decide to fill your car with smoke while driving down the highway at 130 kph. Smoke blocks your view of the road and before you can pull over you drift into the other lane and hit Billy Bobs pig transporting, 18 wheeler and your dead, all because you had no fuse. Third senario, your amp craps out because its sick of life and just wants it to end. Lets say the amp all the sudden decides that shorting out and grounding the power wire would be a good idea, battery blows up and now you have acid all over your motor and wires under the hood as well as possibly having carpet burnt from the wire melting. Not very pretty huh. Last one, lets say that the power wire on your amp wasnt done up tight and it comes loose. Lets also say that that is like a 4 gauge wire. Wire comes out and grounds itself out on the body of the car. Blows battery up and changes your entire electrical system into a big melted ball of rubber coating and sh*tty wire. Now you have a 2300 pound paper wieght that used to be your car. All this happened because there was no fuse inline. What a shame.  These are obviously the worst case senarios and I have never actually heard of anyone dying like in the second senario, but hey, it could happen.

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double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

A fire started from the hot, shorted power wire is much more likely.

to answer your question in a more lucid manner, it's usually a case of insurable liability....  in our province (state) every direct connection to the battery MUST be fused within 12 inches of the battery or your vehicle is not insured.... if you hook up an amp or fog lights, etc directly to the battery and the wire shorts it will almost invariably start a fire

most insurance companies will insure again a potential mishap, not gross stupidity..........

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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer

Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979

This answers my question. The fuse is not a must, but definately is a plus. Fires are bad, at least in vehicles they are.