Graphene in fuses and cost

Pop quiz! Hurray! 😀 Why is the new Synergistic Research Blue Fuse blue?

We know why the SR Black Fuse is black. I'm not sure we know why their Red Fuse is red. But here's a multiple choice quiz, why are SR Blue Fuses blue?

a. They're sad. Well, kind of blue, anyway.

b. The Graphene turns blue when it's hit with a millions volts.

c. The Graphene turns blue from the new Cryo treatment they're subjected to. You'd turn blue, too. 

d. They use blueberry paste inside for vibration control.

Geoffkait 8 tedious hours for the amps. Plus you are on a roll today!

I pick E none of the above.  As for C only till your brought back up to room temperature, but you would have a lot more carbon in your system,
at least that's what happens with steel.

A reasonable educated guess would be that it costs SR $37.50 to make a blue fuse. They then sell that fuse to a retailer for $75. Gross profit would be $37.50. Before they start making any net profit, they need to sell enough to recover whatever amount they spent on R & D to develop it. After that, they need to cover ongoing business overhead, so net profit on each fuse will be something less than $37.50. I’m thinking $15-20? How many can they sell? IF they can sell 10,000, they might make $200,000.

By SR’s own admission, the number is more likely to be nearer to $25, in their indicated 6:1 ratio. There is a cable bible of a sort issued by TAS, IIRC. In it synergistic states this ratio for a given company viability in the cable market.

As a manufacturer, I say that’s cutting it close. The dealer get the lion’s share but does the least work/effort these days. Many retailers are doing what they can to not stock anything and push the stocking of product on distributors and manufacturers. This is the end result of the manipulated financial crunch(es) and slow pump/drip elimination of the western middle class.

Thus dealers are many times killing their own reason for existing, in the eyes of the manufacturers and in some ways...distributors. Distributors are supposed to be a stock and distribution buffer for a manufacturer. If not... then they are a waste of time for a manufacturer.

To top it off, the manufacturer carries the entire weight of the sale ad infinum... and definitely has the smallest part of the pie.

The economic squeeze due to the past 20 internet years is only part of what is squeezing the previously functional model dry, so that many manufacturers are going it alone (direct to dealer) and/or going direct (direct to customer).

Prices are all over the place as the model is still not stabilized or finalized in it’s changes.

My thoughts are educated in having dealt with these subjects at the personal manufacturing (direct to customer) level and up into the ~$10m a year systems of distribution and dealership concerns, over the past 20 years. (started in sales and working with the public at age 9--that’s 44 years experience now) (I’ve got no final answer, there is none...but I’ve got a decent window view)

The op is saying something about an ’over $100 profit for somebody’. No such beast exists. No one is sending their kids to universities on the backs of this one. The market is too small to have the product throughput to do much more than help everyone involved earn a living. Somewhere near zero of the people involved are buying yachts or expensive cars.

Importantly, People make and sell this sort of stuff as they like and love music, the money is secondary for a huge number of the manufacturers in the world of audio. It’s not the best area of choice regarding financial futures. It’s a terrible choice, actually.

Who cares what the math is? The real advantage of such a product as the Blue Fuse is that it can’t be duplicated and (probably) a lot of folks want one. So, you’re kind of compelled to buy it for whatever price they’re asking. Infuriating, ain’t it? 😩