fuses - the $39 ones or the 85 cent ones

Nsgarch, you should also take a look at
http://www.cryo-parts.com/fuses.html

Ceramic and cryo'd for $7.75 - no indication of sand-filled, but I have sent them a note. Now these prices are more like it (though I don't know if they are better, the same, or worse than Isolclean/HiFi Tuning ones).

Now if I can get a cryo'd, ceramic, sand-filled fuse for $7.75 I'll try them. If the Isoclean/HFT can make a difference, these must also, but for a lot less money. I'm going to try the HFT Acme and the ones from CryoParts with my Atma-sphere electronics and Merlin VSMs (both pretty resolving). Now if I can't hear a difference, it only means I can't hear a difference; which does not prove much - it could mean I'm deaf or my system stinks. But if I do hear a difference there likely is one. Disclaimer, I have not financial interest in any of the vendors or providing cryogenic services.

The HiFi-Tuning website in Germany has the prices for their fuses in Euros. The fuses are priced at 16 €, which is about US$ 23. Then these fuses travel business class across the ocean and by the time they reach US shores, they cost US$ 40. I'm glad to see other ceramic alternatives that are UL listed.

http://www.hifi-tuning.com/index_eng.html

Click on "Zubehör / Tuning" and scroll down for the full list of prices.

Pubul57 says:

"Knownothing, since you do hear the difference, it would be interesting to see if you could hear the same level of improvement with the $12 Acme. No DBT, just listening."

I dunno, didn't try them? Cheap is good, especially if its really good :-) Changing fuses is enough of a hassle that I am not likely to mess with a good thing for now, but if I get the hankering to fiddle with fuses in other pieces of gear I might give some of the cheaper alternatives a shot.

For what it is worth, the three HiFi Tuning fuses I replaced in my integrated amp taken together cost about the same as the AQ diamondback interconnects I am currently using, and the change made about the same degree of improvement in the sound quality as when I swapped the AQs in for some relatively cheap Monster cables.

Its hard to tell what my favorite tweak has been, because each improvement allows me to discern a greater degree of difference in sound resulting from the next action!?! Adding these fuses has to be way up near the top...

I just cracked open a Buss Fuses ceramic fuse. The fuse is a sand-filled ceramic tube. I'm using these ceramic fuses on my Maggies 3.6R. The fuses are mounted on the speaker frame, so they are susceptible to vibration from the drivers. There is one fuse for the mid-range driver and one for the ribbon tweeter.

For the ones who joined the discussion in the last few days, I recently compared four fuses, two glass and two ceramic, including the HiFi-Tunning fuse. The sound was a lot cleaner with the ceramic fuses than it was with the glass fuses. Of the two ceramic fuses I tried, the Buss ceramic fuse provides a cleaner, more balanced sound. There is more energy and definition on the upper-base, lower mid-range region. The highs also have more clarity and definition. The HiFi-Tuning fuses were almost as good as the Buss fuses, but the latter has a much cleaner presentation.

It seems to me that the sand-filled ceramic tube absorbs vibrations quite well, hence contributing to the cleaner sound. Also, the filament gets thicker in the middle http://cgim.audiogon.com/i/vs/i/f/1220802079.jpg

I purchased the Buss ceramic fuses from: http://www.mcmaster.com/

The fuses are under the "Lighting and Electrical" section and cost $6.06 for a pack of 5. They are UL listed.

Isanchez -- thanks for such a complete report - yes, you were using your own ears, but this was a comparative exercise to begin with. And thanks for comfirming (my for now mere speculation) that vibration might be the main problem (I hold nothing against gold or silver filaments ;-) BTW, were both of the ceramic fuses you tried sand-filled?

The reason for my interest in mechanically isolating conductors is I've have been working with Purist cables for some time now (including a pair of their new, solid core Provectus speaker cables, Albert Porter kindly lent me to audition.) And I am absolutely convinced that a properly chosen shock-absorbing material around the conductors is essential to achieving the "blackest" possible background in the final sonics.

So it comes as no surprise that something like a hair-thin fuse filament hard-mounted in a chassis (and usually not far from the power transformer!) would sing like a bird.
I wouldn't be at all surprised that the exotic filament metals in the expensive brands might vibrate less than nickle/steel, but for thirty-nine bucks, they could throw in a little silica sand too!
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