Best fuses for under $50?

Finally got around to putting a PADS fuse in the 'ol Marantz integrated and it was like it coughed up a hairball. 🐱

Well, not as drastic as that but I can't see things getting any better for the foreseeable future. What I had before was some really good sonic representations of the music and now it has a more corporeal feel to it. Not 3-D but more of "hey, there's someone actually singing over there, or, that guitar sounds a bit too real."

Add in more thump to the bass, a more liquid presentation and when called for some outstanding separation and you get the picture. Also, as with the fuse changes in the SACD player, everything is now louder than what I'm used to hearing. I've had to turn it down 2-3db to get the same level that I"m used to. My old setting is just too loud.

I normally listen with SPLs at around the mid 70s, with peaks into the low 80s. When I used to turn it down to the 60s, it was listenable, but weak, and lacking in dynamics. After the fuse changes, I turned it down for a moment and realized I could hear everything with the same level of enjoyment and appreciation as when louder. All that was lacking was the oomph from normal levels.  I always thought that because my speakers are only 85db that I had to turn that volume knob up to wake the speakers up but that is now not the case.

Head scratching time.

All the best,
Nonoise

@auxinput, As much as I'd like to try something new, I'm quite satisfied with my TWL American Series power cords. They brought everything up a notch or two when I first put them in and they're staying put. 😄

All the best,
Nonoise

Auxinput: I don't disagree that the Furutechs are "transparent." However, they achieve that by "leaning out" the power range of music. And my system was assembled with several different components in each section: I have 5 speaker systems, two preamps, (CJ and Convergent), Nordost and MIT interconnects, Shunyata power cords of different vintages (NONE of which would be lean, save the current line, which I find does not have the bass weight and power of previous generations, and I have gone through the entire Zi-Tron range: Vipers, to Cobra, to Python to Alphas (analog, digital and hi-current) all the way up to the top of the line (I forget its name), the $2495 cord. ASL amps (3: Hurricanes monos (not remotely lean. In fact, the best mid bass of any amps I've had and I've had plenty of the 'big boys') an ASL integrated, Arcam and NAD integrated, Simaudio and several other integrateds, including Hegel, Parasound and Rogue. 

Furutech has always had a "lightening" effect in the music, something my old mentor, HP, noted in one of his reviews when he was comparing Furutech to Nordost back in some issue in 2010 or 2011. He found the same thing. And he was well aware of power supply issues. And he and I found the same thing. So, transparency sometimes comes at the cost not of an imbalance elsewhere in the system, but because of a leanness in the component (fuses included). Nordost had this very problem until their second generation (meaning, 2nd generation Frey, Try,  and Valhalla, and I had ALL of them), wherein they improved in the lower midrange and upper bass. It's not always a matter of 'balancing' the system: sometimes it comes from not recognizing (until years later) that a component had something - not so serious as a 'flaw' but just, perhaps, a 'subtractive' or 'additive' quality so slight, it was easy to miss. I've tried the Furutechs in every component in my system and, based on the fact that they released the NCF line outlets a few years after the GTX-D line, they, too, realized what was missing, because it is EASY to hear the difference between the two (again, I had both, and if you read prior posts, you'll see I sold my Rhodium to someone who posted on this thread).  Quite a few posters on the 'Whats Best' forum came to the exact same conclusion, and their equipment was FAR superior to mine (although I don't know that their ears are).

This is why HP used the Gold instead of the Rhodium: a certain kind of "accuracy" at the expense of both sweetness and musicality. I don't make statements until I've thoroughly tested something repeatedly. And having had Hi Fi Supremes, Synergistic originals, then Reds, then Black fuses, along with AMR and Audio Horizons,  and placed them in ALL my setups, there might be the slightest chance I'm wrong.

 But as strongly as YOU feel it can be explained by technical issues in power supplies, I feel that if something consistently demonstrates the same issue through 5 different manufacturer's lines of product, and 3 different setups,  it is unlikely I need to be an electrical engineer to trust my deductions. It is best for people to be aware of BOTH of our assessments. Think of us as filling in for the now discontinued, and fabulous,  inter-commentary system that TAS used to have. Now we, the consumers have to do the work that they once did for us thru that system of different reviewers with completely different systems commenting on a component. Only now, the components are of the more microscopic variety: 1" long, and 1 ounce, instead of 24" long and 50 pounds. It's what we used to call 'getting down to the real nitty gritty.' Now it's capacitors, fuses and internal wiring. Will it never end???

Will it never end???

I hope so very soon, this fuse voodoo is certifiable !!!!!!!!

Cheers George