Fuses that matter.

I'm sure different fuses have different electrical properties that can affect the signal passing through it.

Personally I will not lose any sleep over fuses though. There are many other more straightforward ways to tweak the sound as needed.

Might have to consider getting into the audiophile fuse business though. $$$$$$$$$$$s

Goldeneraguy, I agree. When I was first told to change the direction of a fuse and it made a big difference, I had to face the fact that I had no clue why. Since then I have just accepted the reality that there is no explanation in EE to account for this. This, of course, means that there is no predicting which fuse or which direction will be best. For a long time I used IsoClean fuses that indicate with an arrow which way the fuse should go. Initially, I did listening tests to see if the arrow was going the right direction. It always was. Then the question is which end of the fuse is directly connected to the wall. The arrow should go from that end. Of course, with no arrow, you have to try both ways.

Well, there must be an explanation if a difference is heard.

MAybe the fuse line material is not electronically consistent from end to end resulting in non symmetric electrical properties that come into play when direction is switched?

When a fuse blows, the gap can seemingly occur anywhere,wherever the conductor is "weakest", and commonly towards one end or the other so that would be consistent with this theory.

Mapman, could be. There are many hypotheses.

Only a fool would buy an expensive fuse. I bought two.

Hi Tbg - I recently bought Hifi Tuning fuses for both my amp and my preamp. Didn't notice much of a difference with the preamp, but definitely noticed something with the amp. I'm using the Silverstars, simply because they were cheaper than the Supremes. A $50 fuse rather than a $90 fuse. That's my idea of fiscal self restraint. No wonder I don't tell my wife.

I haven't experimented much with direction. For the preamp, I made sure that the arrow was pointed "downstream" (For the skeptics: Yes, I know it's alternating current, so it flows both ways). I confirmed the fuse's orientation by checking the preamp's internal wiring.

For the amp (Pass XA30.5), I can't tell whether the fuse is pointed downstream or not. The fuse is held into the chassis by a cylindrical fuse housing that screws into the rear panel. Anyone know if there's a typical orientation for those kinds of fuse holders?

On the face of it, it's baffling that a fuse's orientation could affect sound quality. I haven't experienced it myself, but I'm open to the possibility. I suspect we're going to hear from people who are not.

Bryon