This fuse costs £4200

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the What HiFi community: the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products.

shadders

Well-known member
It's the icing on the cake.

....Meanwhile, over on the Wam forum, somebody posted that he's listened to a £200 fuse.
He thought that any improvement there may have been, wasn't worth the money.
However, he went on to suggest that the price of this one might make it better.
Hi,
The hypocrisy amongst the subjectivists is astounding.

My take is that speakers and amplifiers make a difference, and perhaps DAC's do too, if i exclude discrete R2R and NOS (i am excluding vinyl too). Everything else is pure imagination.

For this fuse, and any other, then it plays on peoples expectation. For a component that is designed to fail, then £4k is a lot of money.

Regards,
Shadders.
 
  • Like
Reactions: daveh75 and Gray

Gray

Well-known member
The only people who should be pleased by that line of thinking are the likes of Future Shop and the fuse maker in question.
It's surely the makers' unofficial business model .

For those that like a challenge, see if you can think of a more useless product, that's currently available to buy.

(Unless in a transparent plug in an unhidden socket - you wouldn't even see it.
Apart from being financially poorer, you would have no clue that you actually owned it 🤔).
 
  • Like
Reactions: shadders

Gray

Well-known member
Would need to be something like a rubber spanner...
That would have some entertainment value - and could be a brightly coloured kids toy.

It's wrong to say this fuse is useless.
It would be of use to replace a blown one.
But unless you could one day salvage its silver content, it has no additional value over a 21p fuse.

(Some standard fuses even have silver end caps).
 

Gray

Well-known member
'Dear Futureshop
I note from your website that you are 'very excited' to introduce the QSA fuse.

However, today I was reading a forum where the participants were comparing it to a rival product with regard to its usefulness.

After careful consideration they put the (£4,200) fuse in second place.
The rival product was a rubber spanner.

I think you can assume that these people do not share your excitement'.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Friesiansam

nopiano

Well-known member
Makes you wonder how they can get away with ignoring regs.
Just as well they probably only sell, what do we reckon? 1 maybe 2 of them in a year? If that.
It’s possible that they have never made any, let alone sold any. It could just be a ruse to market the ‘cheaper’ ones at £50 or whatever, and the buyer thinks they are getting some of the silly priced version’s ‘benefits’.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gray and Al ears

Samd

Well-known member
I think the other thing with these fuses is the mismatch between what it might reasonably cost to make them and the asking price is of such magnitude that it beggars belief. I'm sure the manufacturers would say that they are amortising the costs of their 'decades of research', and that others would say they are looking to part (rich) fools from their money. I suspect no-one needs ask which way forum sentiment leans!
Perhaps their marketing is aimed to con-fuse!
 

nopiano

Well-known member
Thanks, that’s a really interesting article. I’d come across negotiation anchoring but didn’t recognise the term ‘anchor’.

I recall an apocryphal and ancient story about a wife selling her husband’s goats at market when he was unwell. She misheard his recommendation on price and asked significantly more, but was so sure it was right she persisted and achieved the price. When she got home he could scarcely believe it!

On reflection that’s probably not a good example, but it’s a clever story.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 12th Monkey

podknocker

Well-known member
Fantastic article and does make me wonder how many sites use this tactic, to 'steer' customers towards cheaper, but still way too pricey products. It would be interesting, to place an order, to see if it came up with 'out of stock' at the checkout and, indeed, was a ghost product. A bit risky, however, if this thing is actually available. I'd hope you could cancel the order, before the product was shipped. Scary.
 

Friesiansam

Well-known member
Fantastic article and does make me wonder how many sites use this tactic, to 'steer' customers towards cheaper, but still way too pricey products. It would be interesting, to place an order, to see if it came up with 'out of stock' at the checkout and, indeed, was a ghost product. A bit risky, however, if this thing is actually available. I'd hope you could cancel the order, before the product was shipped. Scary.
I have an email address and false identity, for exactly this kind of purpose, so my true identity is not disclosed. I went all the way to where I was required to enter card details, no problem. Appears you can order the fuse.
 

podknocker

Well-known member
I have an email address and false identity, for exactly this kind of purpose, so my true identity is not disclosed. I went all the way to where I was required to enter card details, no problem. Appears you can order the fuse.
Wow! That is scary. I'm now wondering if this range of fuses, like lots of stuff online, was actually priced at something fairly reasonable and someone made a typo. The price that then appeared on the website, still attracted enough custom and the company just went with it. 'Look at these idiots, actually paying silly money, for a bit of wire, in a glass and metal tube, costing a few pence to manufacture'. They wouldn't correct the price and stop this trade, if it made them a fortune. There are many people out there, willing to buy this stuff. I'm not one of them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Friesiansam

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts