Synergistic Red Fuse ...

Tommy,
Regarding break-in of the Black fuses, it varied among my components. In my DAC the placement of an upgraded fuse resulted in an immediate improvement that progressed further with additional hours.

On the other hand my amplifiers and Line Stage actually took a step backwards when going from a broken-in Red fuse to a new Black fuse. It required roughly 60-70 hours before the Black fuse overall sounded better and then improvement continued as the hours accumulated. The upgrade fuse was more impactful with the Line Stage compared with the power amplifiers.

For whatever the reason may be the break-in process wasn’t uniform across the board with my particular components. The common ground factor with  them was the end result of improved sound quality.
Tommy I’m happy for your positive outcome with the CEC transport.
Charles,

Tommylion wrote,

"I had really been enjoying the CEC with the stock fuse. I was hoping for a nice improvement with the black, but am rather stunned at what I hear. I was expecting to go through the 100 hour break in period before getting a clear idea of what it does. Instead, after warming it up for an hour, the "magic" was there right from the beginning. I’m still going to do the full break in; maybe it will improve even more?"

I suppose we can assume the fuse was installed in the correct direction.

;-)

With a 50/50 chance, I got it the direction right the first time once out of 3.

There's a line where what you're listening to stops being a recording, and becomes a musical event. That line is not always clearly marked or defined, but you know when you've crossed it. For me, that's what this hobby is all about; turning recordings into musical events.

Adding the black fuses to my system, especially the latest one in my CD transport, has made it much easier to cross that line.

Tommylion ...

I could not agree with you more. That's exactly it.

This morning I had an early morning listening session. I love listening to the system with the purity of the power that comes into the house around 5 am or so.

Two nights ago, my good friend "Mister Record" (Robert) dropped off a rendition of Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" with artur Rodzinski conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  recorded in 1956. This is a CD transfer from a Westminster stereo analog tape recorded in 1956. I already had a budget CD of the work that I thought was pretty good. In fact its very good,. BUT ... while listening to Robert's CD this morning, I was transported right into the recording venue. What a beautiful performance. This is the best Analog tape transfer of the work that I, or Robert, has ever heard. Yes, there's a small amount of tape hiss, but that's a good thing as the highs aren't rolled off. 

Then, I put on the Reference Recording of John Rutter's "Requiem" performed by the Turtle Creek Chorale. Wow! That chorus was spread out from wall to wall ... and so believable. And so utterly beautiful. I haven't played this CD in a couple of years, having put it on the back burner. It has never sounded as good as this. Its a reflection of the improvements made to the system over the past year, with a big jump due to the SR Black fuses. 

This is the budget version I already had. Its quite good. I found it on Amazon. Its a two CD set.   This is a must have. You NEED this CD. :-)

 https://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Nutcracker-complete-Symphony-No/dp/B00005OLDM/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&...

Here's the Requiem CD. If you like choral music, you'll need to jump on this one. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/John-Rutter-Requiem-Five-Anthems-Referecne-Recordings-RR-57CD-Still-Sealed-/...

So many recordings in the collection ... so little time to listen.

OP