Hi $ Fuses

[Tickwomp]

Anyone have first hand experience with boutique fuses?  I'm running out of things to upgrade....

[jrihs]

Well...they are on sale on partsconnextion. I bought a couple. one went in the crack. I'm not sure I got much improvement. I have them in all my Ayre and Linn gear and I did notice a slight, (perhaps just hopefull...perhaps just the full moon) increased openess. At $21 bucks perhaps worth a try if you have already invested in boutique power cords and other areas of your power section...?

[STURMJ]

I bought some when they were on sale too, I did notice slight improvements as well. Tighter bass (slightly) is what I noticed.

[4krow]

 I think that there would be more to offer upgrading something like the RCA jacks used in gear. One thing that troubles me is the amount of upgrading doesn't ever touch the unnoticed poor quality pc boards. And while I'm at it, the fuse can only be as good as the holder it sits in,   right?

[Doc B.]

I don't have any experience to share about fuses, but the PC boards in our kits are only used in non critical parts of the circuit. That is to say, if you study the circuit you will find that the signal path never goes through a PCB trace.

[Beefy]

Anyone have first hand experience with boutique fuses?  I'm running out of things to upgrade....

Not first hand experience...... but philosophically speaking, I would NEVER spend money on a boutique fuse. I would MUCH rather put the money towards a new amp, more music, or key alcohol-related audio tweaks.

[jrihs]

I would MUCH rather put the money towards key alcohol-related audio tweaks.
[/quote]

Good point!!

[Grainger49]

   .  .  .   key alcohol-related audio tweaks.

Ok it literally had me

I agree!  I prefer Bourbon.

[Roger]

Plenty of alcohol. One of the best tweaks around.
Roger

[Tickwomp]

Nothing to lose but money...  I think I'll give 'em a try.

Someone mentioned jacks, and I've already done that... Installed Audionote Silver in both the Foreplay and Paramounts.  My Audionote DAC came with some pretty sweet jacks as well (among some other sweet upgrades).  Also installed Better Cardas Binding Posts in the Paramounts too.

[earwaxxer]

Anyone have first hand experience with boutique fuses?  I'm running out of things to upgrade....

Quite a coincidence! - I just ordered 4 Hi-Fi Tuning fuses for my amp from Ultra Systems. I put one in my Transporter DAC some time ago. Its hard to remember how the sound changed, but I do remember it being significant. Its kind of a no brainer. The fuses last forever. You can carry them over to new equipment if you upgrade. The price has come up a bit. I remember paying about $29 for the silver fuse. They can go as high as $50 now. Ultra Systems has a $5 off now on all fuses.

Take a quick browse for reviews on the Hi-Fi Tuning fuse. I bet you buy one today!

[jrebman]

Hi Ken,

Sorry for the late input, but I've tried a few of these boutique fuses and didn't get much thrill from them.  Ok, maybe better ins some ways but altered the sonics somewhat too.  In general I think the ceramic body standard fuses are a bit cleaner than the glass body types, and a ceramic fuse with a band of antii-vibration magic on it and the caps treated with the Jena Labs contact enhancer did far more than the boutique fuses... and you can do a lot of fuses and other things for the money for one bottle of AVM and the contact enhancer from Jena Labs.

BTW, the contact enhancer is non-conductive and is the only thing I use anymore (except deox it for cleaning) and works great on tube pins with no danger of shorting out, dripping inside, etc.  In fact, a drop in the end of a usb cable connector had a very nice effect -- do that with any other conductive contact enhancer and you can pretty much forget about using that cable again.

So, ceeramic fuse, AVM and JL contact enhancer and  it's about as good as it gets, and no worries shorting thing out.

HTH,

Jim

[John Roman]

Audio improvements can really seem "out there" sometimes. IMHO a fuse is a fuse and if you are hearing a difference then something else has changed. There seems to be no degree to which the audiophile will invent new ways to charge way to much for the simplest of connections.
John

[Tickwomp]

Not about fused, but an interesting read nonetheless:  http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/lessloss4/blackbody.html

[earwaxxer]

Not about fused, but an interesting read nonetheless:  http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/lessloss4/blackbody.html

Just finished reading it - I think I blew a fuse in my head! First off - way too expensive (with or without knowing what is in the box - it better be  a kilo of pure silver behind that glass) to experiment with. I would say that if they were to charge say $25/each it may be worth a try -  so that puts it in a category that ONLY the super mega bux audiophile would even go there. That in itself is very annoying. In the same league of the $10K to $25K component. I will say though, that the reported sound improvements are generically similar to those of other tweaks I have experimented with (fuses, cables, power cords, caps). None of them cost $1K a pop! It makes the $40 fuse look like a bargin.