Best fuses for under $50?


I need six of them for a power amp therefore I need something more economical...  say $50 or less. Any suggestions?


robertsong

@nonoise - if you believe the rest of your system is up to par, you could try a Furutech fuse in one component (such as your preamp), and then go from there. You may decide to convert to Furutech one component at a time. However, like I said, the Furutech is very much a DOUBLE EDGE SWORD. It can reveal every little problem in your system. It will reveal poor quality electrolytic capacitors that contain a lot of electrical resonance and all of a sudden your system sounds too bright and harsh. It can reveal speaker drivers that are ringing/break-up/blare because now your system is so strong that it has a rock hard muscle moving these speaker voicecoils. If you are ultimately after more resolution, air, extension, decay, deep bass resolution and punch, etc., the Furutech may be your end-game and I believe the work is worth the effort. However, it can be a lot of EFFORT!.

The SR20 is very clean and I have seen it excel in tube electronics. Listening to it, I think there is somewhat of a roll-off in the very high frequencies, so you will probably not get as much "air" and "ambience" as the Furutech. The SR20 are 60% off at Parts Connexion right now (clearance sale), so it might be worth it for $23 a fuse to try them out.

oh, expect a 200+ hour burn-in process for Furutech and anything that's rhodium.  Rhodium will go through several painful areas during the burn-in process.
@auxinput-Thanks again for the feedback. I just came back from rereading your link and the one I linked to back to an audiophile in Singapore who tested all the fuses around before the SR Blacks came out and what he had to say as well. I then checked out his system page and he has more invested in his gear than some people have in their homes. And surprise, surprise, what he has in his system are the SR20 fuses for his Calyx Femto DAC and Telos QBT-18 fuses for his Conrad Johnson GAT and ART mono blocks. 

Costs are not a concern of his and he chose the SR20s. That, and what you just told me will have me checking them out as well as the Furutech brand, which I think are made by the same folk who make PADIS fuses, which I can get from Germany via eBay.  

By the way, I don't mind the wait that it takes for rhodium to burn in as I've replaced the spades for bananas on my Zu Event SCs and they are rhodium over copper and the jump in sound quality is most appreciated.

Time to do some sleuthing. 

All the best,
Nonoise
After checking out the prices on the SR20 fuses I went and did more research only to come back and find that the inventory just about vanished. Seems like I'll be leaning towards the PADIS or Furutech. 
Man, they went fast. I guess a lot of people read these threads. 😫

All the best,
Nonoise

PADIS. Wow, that’s so interesting that I had to go pull one of my own Furutech fuses. Surely enough, it does have the Padis "PFA" logo printed on the fuse in addition to the "Furutech" label. Interesting. Research indicates that Padis is a European distributor for Furutech. The Padis marketed fuses are cheaper. However, it’s unknown whether they are the same as the "Furutech" branded fuses.

https://www.amazon.de/Padis-FUSE-Feinsicherung-Stromst%C3%A4rke-Ansprechverhalten/dp/B005LF1ZL2

A translation of the above PADIS listed on Amazon indicates a pure silver conductor (which is the same as the Furutech T13A fuse targeted for European usage). It is not the same as the standard Furutech TF series fuses.

A couple of things that I could not find on a generic PADIS fuse:

- special low induction copper alloy conductor (probably Phosphorous Bronze or Beryllium Copper).

- ceramic body with special damping filler

It’s unkown to me if the generic PADIS fuses have these two characteristics or if they are just non-filled fuses with silver conductors (which will cause it to sound much different than the Furutech branded fuses).  The generic PADIS fuses are definitely cheaper than the "Furutech" branded fuses.