Best fuses for under $50?

You don't necessarily need the CB to be inside the chassis. You could wire it into the power cord externally and either bypass the existing fuse holder or put a very high amperage fuse in the existing fuse holder. Maybe all these uber expensive power cord manufactures should put a CB in them. Or even the fancy power receptacle manufactures could include a current limiting device similar to what they do with the GFI circuits. A current limiting device will protect everything past it. So that would actually add protection to the power cable too. Not really necessary, but still an advantage.

Welcome to Audiogon, robzz.

gbmcleod, your post above is an excellent example of the kind of post that has been long awaited on the topic of fuses vs the usual banal debates.

Recognition that fuses can and often do made audible differences, that there are individual sonic differences between and within brands, that it is key is to find the one that best suits a given piece of gear and listener preferences and, most importantly, going further to provide specific observations/recommendations to another on different fuses in a specific component based on your actual first-hand experience is, well, Wunderbar.

Hat off to you.

Dave

My stereo amp uses 7 fuses !
Replacing the original glass fuses with ceramic fuses made a positive 
improvement , I then purchased an expensive fuse for the main power
and while I did hear an improvement over an off the shelf fuse I can't say it was  big enough to justify the many times the price I paid .
I did discover that you should purchase a name brand fuse ,
I had used generic fuses from my local electronics supplier
and discovered the difference in sonics after one blew and I replaced the 6 on the board with Bussman fuses. Wow what a positive difference.
I went further and replaced the 6 sets of fuse holders on the baord
with Littlefuse solid copper silver plated holders and
I replaced the 20 amp main fuse holder with a military spec 30 amp
holder.
AND NO YOU ARE NOT A FOOL AS analogluvr WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE.
IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT AND YOU HEAR AN IMPROVEMENT GO FOR IT .
Being an audiophile is fun, it's personal and it's expensive .

 

@gbmcleod 

i bought one of the those furutech outlets from you. After over a year in my system I don't disagree with you. But, after having installed the gold hifi tuning fuses the something is off little niggle I couldn't put my finger on is now replaced by a wonderful balance. I lost an SR20 fuse right about the time PartsConnexion had 50% off the HiFi fuses. So with this bit of serendipity or just dumb luck whatever you want to call it the sound that was leaning lean for me is replaced with a more natural fullness along with no loss in detail. Oh and the bass is sounding more like a bass as well. So excited to have purchased something that really is not subtle or is of questionable value to performance ratio. Now I'm sure I'll be thinking about those NCF outlets but for now things are definitely Bueno. 

Finally, a sane discussion on the differences with fuses. I've been so tempted, as of late, to get some SR Black fuses to replace my HiFi Tuning Sliver Stars but lately, from what I've read here and on other threads, the Blacks may be too much of a good thing and lean things out. 

It took me about two years to just try reversing the HiFi fuses in my Marantz SACD player (I was very hesitant) and the improvement shocked me. It just sounds so right as of now. 

Can anyone chime in who has been in my particular neck of the woods on any noticeable improvement by going up to a Red or Black fuse over a HiFi Tuning Silver Star? It would be most appreciated.

All the best,
Nonoise