fuses - the $39 ones or the 85 cent ones


My Rogue Cronus recently blew a slow blow fuse. I was surfing to find a replacement. The stock fuse is a typical metal end cap, glass and "wire" fuse. The audio emporiums only seemed to offer these $39 German gold plated end wunderkinds. I finally found "normal" fuses from a guitar amp site. Has anyone tried the uber fuses and found the sound better? Hard to understand how it could be. Thanks for any thoughts.
joe_in_seattle
If anyone needs the 250 MA or 160 MA fuses we use in Music Reference amps we have them at $3 each or $25 for 10. They are sand filled in ceramic tubes made to our specification. The sand helps in two ways: It moderates the temperature as the current in the tube varies with the music and it fills the void when the fuse wire vaporizes as it usually does when 450 volts is applied across a short. The ceramic tube is more rugged than glass and will not shatter under the stress of vapor pressure.

BTW I agree that $39 fuses are a temptation that caters to those who believe commensurate amounts must be spent in each part of the system. Of course $39 is nothing to a listener who has spent $50,000 on a system or even a single component, but who is to decide what is commensurate. Does that mean we should replace all parts with ones that cost 10 times as much and expect the amp to sound 10 times better? Is this or that ludicrous part bought for "bragging rights"?

I have examined many amplifiers by many makers and when I look into the more expensive ones I often ask "Where's the money, I don't see XX,XXX dollars here"

There was a show on History Channel where an engineer was interviewed about structures. He stated and I agree "Anyone can over-build something but a good engineer gets the best results with the least materials". That's what engineering is about though I don't see much of it in the audio products these days.

Visit ramlabs-musicreference.com and see what we are up to.
Don't forget to install in the proper direction.

Users of the snake fuses have reported performance improvements by "reversing polarity".

Aside from the ac power reversing itself every 60 seconds.

So you'll need fast hands.

LOL
I really love my Hi Fi Tuning fuses. I needed someone to pull the covers off the amps to tell me what to order. When they arrived and he installed the fuses, he noticed an immediate difference in "weight" on my electrostats when the amps were fired up.

This is a person who likes electronics, but could care less about music, fidelity, or trying to stroke my ego. This stuff is REAL.
Count me in the group of fools (believers). I heard a difference with both the Isoclean and Hi-Fi Tuning fuses, and each sounded markedly different than the other. I liked the Hi-Fi tuning fuse better.
Just placed two 8amp large Hi Fi Tuning fuses into my Krell 400xi. I must say that across the board my system sounded more vivid, dynamic, smoother and with less distortion. Definition was enhanced as well...sexier sound overall! Soundstaging is more defined with better timbre and contrast...violins never sounded better:) FYI, I used Pro Gold on the fuse end caps to help enhance contact and current transfer.