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
I posted 'auxinput's' contribution from another thread earlier about how the signal is about 98% A/C voltage and no one has shot that down yet. Glossed over maybe, but not disputed. 

Taking that into consideration (at the very least), doesn't it leave open the 'weak link' aspect of the fuse? Just to consider it doesn't mean you've fallen prey to some devious aspect of marketing. Granted, there's a lot of hype that's right up there with the Amazing Randy but THAT'S the marketing side of things. I can see where everyone's BS meters go off when they read the 'science' behind it but that's a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. 

Like teo_audio points out: a solid copper bar will ruin you forever once you've heard what it can do and have to put that fuse back in. That tells me that a better made fuse should improve the sound. I could care less about the theories behind the marketing claims. I just know better made fuses work because I've heard them for myself. And  yes, they shouldn't cost as much as they do. I can see an argument for that, and I'd support it, but not the efficacy of better made fuses.

All the best,
Nonoise
Nonoise 3-25-2017
I posted ’auxinput’s’ contribution from another thread earlier about how the signal is about 98% A/C voltage and no one has shot that down yet. Glossed over maybe, but not disputed.

Taking that into consideration (at the very least), doesn’t it leave open the ’weak link’ aspect of the fuse?
The salient paragraph of Auxinput’s post, which you quoted in this thread on 3-9-2017, was:
In a power amp circuit, the output transistors have to create massive gain (turning a 1V input into something like 15-100 watts or more). It has to use the A/C power coming in to create this voltage, so your signal is actually something like 98% A/C voltage.
Obviously just about all of the power that is put out by an amplifier (or any other AC-powered component) is **derived** from the AC power that is provided to the component. However, saying that does not provide any kind of meaningful explanation as to how an AC mains fuse may exert an audibly significant effect on the output signal of the component, given all of the intervening circuitry that is present, that is (or at least should be) designed to minimize the sensitivity of that output signal to differences in the incoming AC. And it certainly does not provide such an explanation that would stand up when analyzed quantitatively, or that can even be analyzed quantitatively. Or (as I’ve said in earlier posts) that would explain the high degree of consistency of the reported benefits, among components that are completely different in design, that perform completely different functions, that are used in very different systems, and that are powered by AC having very different voltage and noise characteristics.

Simply asserting that a fuse may be a weak link in some way is not an explanation that would be viewed as meaningful by the court of electrical engineering. Which is not to say that a ruling by that court is definitive. It is to say, however, that the proffered explanation is not definitive either, or even meaningful.

Best regards,
-- Al

Al, you have the most gentlemanly way of refuting. It's not absolute and not insulting: a trait we call can benefit by.

All the best,
Nonoise
While I have no problem with those few that don't believe SR black fuses can improve the sound in our audio systems I would like them to answer a simple question I've asked three previous times on this thread without an answer. Maybe I can prevail upon almarg to do so.

Since the fuse is the weakest link in the AC pathway, is it not possible that some improvement....whether it's better conductivity or more EMI/RFI shielding.......could improve the sound of a component? It's not just my assertion that it would but Paul McGowens' of PS Audio also. It seems to me it's at least a possibility. Please tell me why Paul McGowen and I are wrong in thinking so. Thanks.