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Synergistic Red Fuse ...

I installed a SR RED Quantum fuse in my ARC REF-3 preamp a few days ago, replacing an older high end fuse. Uhh ... for a hundred bucks, this little baby is well worth the cost. There was an immediate improvement upon installation, but now that its broken in (yes, no kidding), its quite remarkable. A tightening of the focus, a more solid image, and most important of all for my tastes, a deeper appreciation for the organic sound of the instruments. Damn! ... cellos sound great! Much improved attack on pianos. More humanistic on vocals. Bowed bass goes down forever. Next move? .... I'm doing the entire system with these fuses. One at a time though just to gauge the improvement in each piece of equipment. The REF-75se comes next. I'll report the results as the progression takes place. Stay tuned ...

Any comments from anyone else who has tried these fuses?
128x128oregonpapa
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 

Hi Frank,

If you take into account "all" the responses on this ever growing thread, the positive outcomes have been overwhelming. The negative or minimal improvement outcomes are very small. No audio product/component no matter how highly praised ever gets an 100% positive from everyone, it just never happens. I belie
ve Bill has a good chance of further sonic gains with additional hours placed on his Black fuses. If not, then so be it, I trust Bill's impressions in the context of his own system. Even though he and I use the same Coincident Line Stage and SET amplifiers, sometimes results are just different for whatever reason. I honestly believe my Black fuses continued to improve up to the 150 hour mark. They really click in my system.

Charles,

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 

Bill,

Enjoy those beautiful hills and trails. I look forward to your future listening impressions with these fuses.

Charles,

audiolover718
132 posts
 
Good morning fellow loon...er, audiophiles.  :-). 

This morning marks about 30 hours on the black fuse.  I hate to go back on what I originally said, but this morning the sound that I had when I first put in the fuse just isn't there. 

It got me thinking just how sensitive components are to power.  Remember, when I put in the fuse, it was about 1am, and I had the best power of the day, I was also listening low, so the pre break-in brightness, actually helped, kinda like creating a loudness curve.  

Anyway, I'm feeling like Oregon papa right now with 30 hours.  The system sounds hifi. Mind you- it still sounds fantastic.  Although, my good friend is coming over tonight for a listening session after I started gushing about the black fuse. Hope I'm not embarrased.  Lol. 

I look forward for the fuse to be done with puberty and being able to get down to business.  There are times when the sound does catch my ear and I look up startled, so that's a good thing. 
oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
^^^ audiolover ...

 Its odd how during the break in procedure for the fuses the system sounds better overall than before the fuse change ... but its that hard edge on everything that's the frustrating part.  So non involving, and like you said .. "hifi like. Its also odd how the fuses come to life in one big expansion of musicality all of a sudden like at around 70 hours or so. My friends who are familiar with my system have heard this for themselves ... to their amazement. Mine too. 

Something I've been curious about are those few who have gotten no results, or negative results from the SR fuses. I'm kinda thinking perhaps they have underestimated the amount of break-in time they allowed for the fuses. 70 to 100 hours is longer than it seems. I could be wrong here, but there must be a reason the vast majority rave about the improvements and so few do not.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,189 posts
 

Gotta point out that no thread is a scientific study. There is typically a bias to some extent. Well meaning people typically tend to happily report good news but hold back on the bad. Not unique to fuse threads at all.

So I would say it is wrong to jump to a conclusion that because most people on a thread are happy users, all should or will be.

People like products all the time for good reason but not all follow the same path. No two amps or speakers sound the same and will please all for example.

Just trying to keep it real. I am happy for those getting good results.

If 80% of users are in fact happy and satisfied, I'd say that's pretty good (80/20 rule)

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