[PhoenixG]

...
On my vintage equipment I will also scrub the prongs of the AC plugs if they are brass. Again, very little investment for peace of mind.
...

That's actually something I was going to discuss as well. You can get some increased performance from that if there is a permissivity issue (mediocre connection to wall power). It is a smaller scale problem since most amps have stuff between the socket and the fuse, like a transformer, possibly capacitor bonding (on two prong amps), and chokes. Cleaning the AC prongs is a real thing. If you have a dedicated power source that provides clean AC, why not make it a good connection. I think that does more than ANY boutique power cable when the original cable is a) appropriately spec'd and b) not corroded or damaged.
 
Ok, part two, fuses IN the signal path.
 
While it is unusual to see a fuse in the signal path of most amps, it does sometimes happen. The question is, does a boutique fuse matter here either? Well, it depends where it is. If the fuse is before the output, no. No way. Keep it clean and replace them if they pop or warp, but long story short, not they don't.
After the output, I will be honest, it is possible to have a difference. Some boutique fuses are sliiiiightly lower impedance than their cheapo bretheren. I'm talking fractions of an ohm. Why does that matter? Damping factor. Any good salesman will tell you that their amp has a damping factor of a kazillion. Bigger is better right? Well that number can get HUGE! A billion? Sure! But my amp has a trillion, so there! The way you get that is dividing the impedance of a speaker (8 ohmn nominal) by the internal impedance of your output (typically as low as possible). If your output fuse is .0001 ohms and the boutique fuse is .00005 ohms, your damping factor just jumped by a factor of twenty. WOOHOO! 
But does it matter? Ehhhhhhhh, I won't say it does. Pretty much anything above 20 is the same, especially since most people have a wire in the mix and not just speakers welded to the amp output. For you head phone guys, your damping factor can actually invert on a vintage amp. If you have low impedance cans hooked up to a mega-amp with dropping resistors, you can easily get below one. Silent One with with his Sansui G22000 Probably has 500 ohm dropping resistors in there to keep from blowing up a 32 ohm can.The nominal damping factor on that setup is tiny. Granted, it moves closer to one with his high impedance cans. You can debate it all day and not find any correlation between damping factor and quality.
 
Two more paragraphs and I swear I'll be done.
OK, so where can a fuse make the most difference? If you guessed in a speaker, you'd be right! It is common to have fuses right in the input of speakers. Endemic. And nobody ever checks them. Like, ever. I've bought probably a half dozen "dead on arrival"/"Parts only" speakers that just had a blown fuse. Great deal for me, but they could have checked. Also, those suckers are always dirty. They sit on the floor and move air around. Think how dirty your AC unit would be after 50 years without a filter. If you want to spend some money on a boutique fuse, do it there. Boutique fuses are slightly nicer quality and don't corrode if they're gold plated. Also, speaker fuses are the *most* likely to have been run really hot and warp. When I get a new pair of speakers, I always clean every contact in them. Fuses and brackets, driver connectors, and L-pads. If you want an infinite return on investment for your ears, do yourself that favor. But I digress.
 
So why do people swear by boutique fuses? Let's not debate the quality. Gold plated is pretty sweet, let's be honest. Look closer though. They come with a polishing cloth and instructions to CLEAN the fuse and bracket. So there's the biggest gainer right there. If you were to pop a squeaky clean five cent fuse right in there after cleaning the bracket, I'd bet it sounded pretty good too. It might need to be replaced one or two extra times in its life if you live in a humid area though, but that's it. Also, marketing  can be pretty strong stuff and they are packed full of it. If you are told your music is better, then you'd probably believe it. I dare you to put it to a blind test and see if you can tell the difference.

 

[dogwan]

 
Two more paragraphs and I swear I'll be done.
OK, so where can a fuse make the most difference? If you guessed in a speaker, you'd be right! It is common to have fuses right in the input of speakers. Endemic. And nobody ever checks them. Like, ever. I've bought probably a half dozen "dead on arrival"/"Parts only" speakers that just had a blown fuse. Great deal for me, but they could have checked. Also, those suckers are always dirty. They sit on the floor and move air around. Think how dirty your AC unit would be after 50 years without a filter. If you want to spend some money on a boutique fuse, do it there. Boutique fuses are slightly nicer quality and don't corrode if they're gold plated. Also, speaker fuses are the *most* likely to have been run really hot and warp. When I get a new pair of speakers, I always clean every contact in them. Fuses and brackets, driver connectors, and L-pads. If you want an infinite return on investment for your ears, do yourself that favor. But I digress.
 
So why do people swear by boutique fuses? Let's not debate the quality. Gold plated is pretty sweet, let's be honest. Look closer though. They come with a polishing cloth and instructions to CLEAN the fuse and bracket. So there's the biggest gainer right there. If you were to pop a squeaky clean five cent fuse right in there after cleaning the bracket, I'd bet it sounded pretty good too. It might need to be replaced one or two extra times in its life if you live in a humid area though, but that's it. Also, marketing  can be pretty strong stuff and they are packed full of it. If you are told your music is better, then you'd probably believe it. I dare you to put it to a blind test and see if you can tell the difference.

FWIW, a lot of vintage amps can have speaker fuses either inside or accessible on the back. I want to clarify that while I mentioned the Power Supply in my posts I was also talking about the speaker fuses. My thing with teflon tape is something I've done to those fuses, and in all likelihood where I've thought I noticed some change for the better. I believe the original post that got us started on fuses was referring that situ since he mentioned 2 back panel fuses. Nice write up BTW.

 

[buson160man]

  So, do you use Bussman or Littlefuse??  Or perhaps the boutique brand Schurter? LOL

 I have used hifi tuning gold ,silver and the supreme fuse on various pieces that I have and have never been disappointed in the results and I have never gone back to the original fuses even after cleaning them and doing comparisons with the premium fuses . Looks like I have set off a bit of controversy with my well meant suggestion. My most recent piece(since june 2014) my pride and joy my concept 16.5 received a fuse upgrade s few months ago when I replaced the rear accessed fuses with isoclean premium fuses. The change again was easily noticeable and much for the better . My receiver sounds much more open sounding and is much quieter as well. I am able to hear the low level information more clearly .In fact the clarity of sound in general has been much better since the fuse upgrade. I know there are a lot of people who would never spend the 50 to 100 dollars for a premium fuse. But I ask how many of you would pay hundreds to thousands of dollars for an after market power cord ? I am sure  there are a lot of you  myself included who have done just that.
   I have to say the amount of improvement you get of course depends somewhat on the resolution capability of the equipment but if it is a decent piece the results are rewarding . And a lot cheaper than those expensive power cords .

 

[buson160man]

  Just to get the thread back on track and because everyone likes a picture of a vintage receiver...I'll be getting this "little" fella (Luxman R1120) in a few weeks...
 
 
  
 
 

 Gosh I just love the wooden case on your luxman. I need to have a case made for my receiver like the one on the luxman. it looks so rich . It would cost a bit but it would be worth it . Of course the luxman piece is a real beauty as well. Congratulations it is a real looker.

 

[pedalhead]

 
 Gosh I just love the wooden case on your luxman. I need to have a case made for my receiver like the one on the luxman. it looks so rich . It would cost a bit but it would be worth it . Of course the luxman piece is a real beauty as well. Congratulations it is a real looker.

 
Cheers yes gotta love the wood cases on these old things. Just looks so great with the solid aluminium switches, knobs & faceplate. They sure don't make 'em like that any more!

 

[SpeakerBox]

Accidentally posted this in the vintage speaker thread - but meant to post here:
 
One interesting thing I have noticed lately is vintage audiophiles congregating at the vinyl records in Goodwill.  I tend to make a sweep through GW every week or so to look for vintage audio and embellish my record connection.  At that time I usually run into another audiophile perusing the records.  The subject of vintage and a general dislike for CDs will generally come up.  This past weekend a guy was telling me that someone just gave him a Sansui 9090 (I told him to hold on to it as it was a keeper).
 
I am building the original Leach phono stage so my interest in vinyl has been re-ignited.  I bought the boards from Professor Leach back in 1977 and just never got around to building them.  Anyway the power supply is nearing completion and the phono stage works.  Hoping that the better parts I am using will yield improved sound (all film caps for EQ and Elna Silmic II for coupling - toroid transformer to boot).  Going to set it up to run with dual mono PS so that should help.  Right now just running with one supply.  Having a great time with this.

 

[SleathX1]

   
Cheers yes gotta love the wood cases on these old things. Just looks so great with the solid aluminium switches, knobs & faceplate. They sure don't make 'em like that any more!

That sure is right! I very recently realized what kind of old gear my grandfather had at his place, it all is just so elegant and smooth.

 

[Ryman86]

How much should I pay for a  Pioneer SA-510 which appears to have not cosmetic blemishes and is in excellent working condition?

 

[pedalhead]

  How much should I pay for a  Pioneer SA-510 which appears to have not cosmetic blemishes and is in excellent working condition?

 
A quick look at completed ebay listings suggest those sell for $100 or less in decent condition.

 

[Oregonian]

Check these two out........went to my local Goodwill, which usually has zero vintage and mostly junk.........till yesterday.

$50 apiece would buy you these. A Truetone and a Realistic.

 

[SpeakerBox]

Never heard of Truetone and not sure that Realistic would be in the same category as their silver faced ones.  But to your point I see very little vintage in GW any more.  I really just end up getting Vinyl and CDs there now.

 

[dogwan]

Check these two out........went to my local Goodwill, which usually has zero vintage and mostly junk.........till yesterday.

$50 apiece would buy you these. A Truetone and a Realistic.

 
I wouldn't. 
 
That Truetone I believe is mediocre low-fi from the 8-track era. Don't know why I have that notion, or where it came from. I could be wrong.
 
That Realistic could be pretty good, but I hate sliders for anything, especially volume. And, especially if they're split. 
 
From what I've seen from your posts I think you already have gear that blows either of them out of the water. Maybe if they drop the price and you happen to hit it on a 50% off purple tag day. No way you would ever get your money back at that price.
 
That's my opinion. But, I'm in the mode of trying to stop picking up more stuff that doesn't top what I already have. And, that's a struggle sometimes. 

 

[Oregonian]

Oh man, I didn't buy either of those pieces of crap. LOL

I was just pointing out that I finally saw some vintage at Goodwill!

This thread just needed more activity.

 

[Oregonian]

And here's a great craigslist score. Vintage 1991 Polk Audio M5JR bookshelfs for my family room system. This is as big as the wife would allow or I'd have my Klipsch 3.2's in here. Got these, a Polk center speaker in great shape and a 10" sub for $70. Sub is in my audio room now in my TV system.

Surprisingly,these things thump and sound great out of the SX-1050.

 

[dogwan]

And here's a great craigslist score. Vintage 1991 Polk Audio M5JR bookshelfs for my family room system. This is as big as the wife would allow or I'd have my Klipsch 3.2's in here. Got these, a Polk center speaker in great shape and a 10" sub for $70. Sub is in my audio room now in my TV system.

Surprisingly,these things thump and sound great out of the SX-1050.
 

Nice!
 
Here's my latest CL score.... Free as long as I promised to give some love instead of parting out, Epicure Model 5's. Quite literally picked them up from a guy that lived in a "van down by the river". Gotta love PDX, where the young go to retire on the streets. I'm kidding of course. Pretty amazing that he had WiFi and internet access in his RV. Super nice guy.
 
Anyway, all drivers test good and looking for surrounds. The grills have some snags, but still have the emblems! Looking forward to a shoot out between them and my Polk Monitor 4's (early version with the Peerless tweets) for my bedroom system.