Replacement Fuse's - What are my options ????

I bought an Isoclean fuse to compare against the HiFi Tuning fuse. I seriously doubted there would be any difference.

Last night I sat down and spent three hours listening to several tracks twice - first time with one fuse in, second time with the other. I jotted down a few notes from time to time. Can you guess the results?

That's right - the HiFi Tuning fuse won almost across the board. For jazz and classical I preferred the HiFi Tuning fuse because everything seemed cleaner, airier, and just more "real." The Isoclean fuse had more-defined imaging, but I felt some wind instruments, chiefly alto and tenor sax, sounded ever-so-slightly colored. The only place I might have preferred the Isoclean was with hard rock.

Just my two cents, but I thought my experience was interesting in light of this thread.

As an aside, there's a thread on audiocircle where some folks in Denver recently tested various fuses, and found a silver-plated fuse that they liked better than the HiFi Tuning fuse. You can find the thread here: http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=28274

Howard

Aggielaw -- Q: Which direction were the arrows on the Isocleans pointing when you placed them in the fuse holders?... just curious?

Are the HiFi fuses not directional? I would be interested in the German silver fuses, but was shocked to learn they are merely silver plated. Why doesn't someone make solid silver fuses where the ac would pass through quality wire, or does it make no difference at 60 Hz 120 volts?

No, the HiFi fuses are not directionalliy. As to your other question, I don't supposed we should expect solid silver for a mere 30 bucks per fuse. :-)

Geoff,

Great question. I suppose I should flip the fuse around to see if I hear a difference. (I can't believe I actually just wrote that. Then again, I didn't believe the fuses would make any difference in the first place.) The info sheet that comes with the Isoclean fuse claims it is "directional" but doesn't really say which way to point it. I assume you point it to run with the current, but considering the location of the fuse in my amp (in a slide-out "pocket" directly below the power cord receptacle) I don't know which way the current runs at that point.

For grins, I'll try the fuse in each directions tonight and report back tomorrow.

Interestingly, the manufacturer of the HiFi Tuning Fuse states their fuse is *not* directional.