I’ve replaced all 5 of the SR BLACK fuses in my system with the new SR BLUE fuses. Cold, out of the box, the BLUE fuses stomped the fully broken-in SR BLACKS in a big way. As good as the SR BLACK fuses were/are, especially in comparison with the SR RED fuses, SR has found another break-through in fuses.
1. Musicality ... The system is totally seamless at this point. Its as if there is no system in the room, only a wall to wall, front to back and floor to ceiling music presentation with true to life tonality from the various instruments.
2. Extension ... I’ve seemed to gain about an octave in low bass response. This has the effect of putting more meat on the bones of the instruments. Highs are very extended, breathing new life into my magic percussion recordings. Vibes, chimes, bells, and triangles positioned in the rear of the orchestra all have improved. I’ve experienced no roll-off of the highs what so ever with the new BLUE fuses. Just a more relaxed natural presentation.
3. Dynamics ... This is a huge improvement over the BLACK fuses. Piano and vibes fans ... this is fantastic.
I have a Japanese audiophile CD of Flamenco music ... the foot stomps on the stage, the hand clapping and the castanets are present like never before. Want to hear natural sounding castanets? Get the BLUE fuses.
4. Mid range ... Ha! Put on your favorite Ben Webster album ... and a pair of adult diapers. Play Chris Connor singing "All About Ronnie," its to die for.
Quick .... someone here HAS to buy this double album. Its a bargain at this price. Audiophile sound, excellent performance by the one and only Chris Connor. Yes, its mono ... but so what? Its so good you won’t miss the stereo effects. If you’re the lucky person who scores this album, please post your results here.
Where the RED fuses took about 20 hours to sound their best, and the BLACK fuses took upwards of 200 hours of total break-in, the BLUE fuses sounded really good right out of the box ... and that’s without doing anything about proper directional positioning. Not that the BLUE fuses don’t need breaking in, they do. The improvement continues through week three. Its a gradual break-in thing where each listening session is better than the last.
Everything I described above continues to break new ground in my system as the fuses continue breaking in. Quite honestly, I find it difficult to tear myself away from the system in order to get things done. Its truly been transformed into a magical music machine. With the expenditure of $150.00 and a 30 day return policy there’s really nothing to lose. In my system, its like upgrading to a better pre amp, amp, CD player or phono stage. Highly recommended.
Kudos to Ted Denney and the entire staff at SR. Amazing stuff, guys. :-)
Frank
PS: If you try the SR BLUE fuses, please post your results here. Seems the naysayers, the Debbie Downers and Negative Nellie’s have hijacked the original RED fuse thread. A pox on their houses and their Pioneer receivers.
I may have to try one of these BLUE fuses sometime in my source equipment. Maybe next year because I already have too much stuff on my project list for now.
That being said, there are several good points mentioned here on both sides. The fuse is NEVER going to be a magic bullet to make your system sound perfect. It is a tool/tweak to allow you to tune your system in a direction that you want to go. On the other hand, yes it is only a 1" length of wire, but that wire can have a significant effect on the sound as the unit pulls in A/C current for its power supply (which has a big effect on overall sonic signature).
In my research/testing, there are several elements that can contribute:
- resistance/slew - this affects how fast the power supply can start to pull in current from A/C when there is a drop is voltage. This can affect how fast the audio sounds and can also affect leanness in sound.
- electrical resonance - the fuse will have an electrical resonance/vibration as it charges/discharges. This can affect the harshness of the sound and can also cause sound to be weak/distorted (if there is a lot of resonance).
- metallurgy - this will have an affect the sonic signature just like anything else (such as interconnects). Silver vs gold vs copper vs rhodium vs brass. It all has an influence. For example, a gold plated copper Isoclean fuse can be fine for pulling in large amounts of current, but it may not respond as quickly for tiny/fast changes (which can affect high frequency resolution). This can translate into a warmer/richer type of sonic signature. This is probably hand-in-hand with the resistance/slew characteristic above.
Hello Rauliruegas, and Frank very good comparisons showing that as myself and others have found many factors determining the extent of improvement With the blue fuses . I have yet to see a fuse ruin equipment unless it was not The correct size . There ard all kjnd of wave generstors , tuning disks and other Platforms, and exotic items if you want to totally lighten your wallet. That is above where I am willing to venture .
I found acoustic bass to be fantastic with the Black fuses. The Blue fuses take it to an entirely different level ... super fantastic.
If you don't have it already, here's a must have CD collection. Its a four disc set. The opening bass lines on cut one of disc four is worth the price of the entire thing.
Its definitely a demo CD for demonstrating how well stand-up bass can be recreated in the home environment.
I really cranked the volume up last night and played an organ cut from a demo quality CD I have. I swear, I'm getting at least another octave of deep bass due to the Blue fuses.
33% off right now if you use coupon code: Indian Summer on the checkout page.
I did not intend to cast dispersions on the Black Fuse as I always found it to be excellent (and still do). The improvement in bass quality is remarkable with the Blue fuse as you say and invites such criticisms in comparison.
I, like you, have spent countless hours optimizing speaker/listener placement, room acoustics, cabling, vibration elimination, component matching, RF/EMI reduction, and started with a very good room so it is easy to hear exactly the sound characteristics of each fuse. I do believe that combining SR fuses with SR's power cords results in a synergy that may not be as pronounced with other power cords. Your thoughts?
I replaced the Black fuse in my DAC’s external power supply with a second Blue fuse a couple of hours ago and there is further improvement in transparency, razor sharp dynamic response, and a distinct lowering of the noise floor. Brass has that illusive live energy rarely experienced with an audio system. Awesome.
I've found tweaks to be, well, tweaky. Inconsistent. I probably would be looking for another preamp right now had the Synergistic fuse and the Sain power cord not been so effective. But I did try aftermarket fuses in Ayre amps, when I had them, with little change in sound. I tried a Sain power cord on the D'Agostino. Nope. A little too lean. I went back to the stock cord. So, my experience with tweaks is that what might work well in one component or system might not be beneficial in another. Has anyone found a tweak that is universally beneficial, fuse or otherwise?
Agree with you tools re: the amp being the least benefited by boutique fuses. My theory is that the current is less constrained in an amp that uses, say, an 8 amp fuse than source and preamp which typically draw 1 to 3 amps max so the latter benefits more from whatever it is that these fuses do to the AC signal. Kinda like the magnitude of sound character differences often found between top phono sections vs top preamps due to the minute signal involved in the former.Only a theory and no I don’t have a clue how to measure it.
I also find it easy to believe that some find other brands of fuses to better suit their component, system, preferences. My experience is that while the SR products in general can approach sonic magic, they share a tonal lean-ness in the mids that can exacerbate the same tendency in a system. If the system has an over-wrought midrange warmth or tubbiness in the mid-to-lower midrange, the SR stuff is helpful to balance it out. I don’t see the SR Black or Blue fuses doing a lean/bright system any favors musically compared to say HiFi Tuning, Audio Horizons, Beeswax or other proven audio-grade fuses. I truly wish that there was more discussion on the contrast of sound character between brands instead of the intentionally unwinnable and emotional mass media-style arguments regarding their efficacy.
The next big craze should be mixing and matching...
The secret tweak is ready to go. An instructional DVD will be coming with it. The DVD is under development. Believe me, the wait will be worth it.
Dave ...
The SR level III power cords were a revelation for me. They replaced some very fine PC’ s custom built by Dave Magnan. If you’re familiar with Dave’s work, you know they were good.
On the synergy thing ... I have a combination of SR’s PC’s and Von Gaylord’s "Return of the Legend" IC’s and Speaker cables.
This combination, plus the new Blue fuses allow me to hear exactly what you’re describing on brass instruments. The brass on the big orchestral stuff sounds "burnished." And that’s what I hear while attending live concerts. But its not just the brass that sounds right. All instruments have a natural and relaxed character about them. Just as I hear live. I can crank the volume up and there’s no "cringe" factor. Low, low distortion I would guess.
I do remember the Magnan IV ICs. Stereophile A rated for many years back when that actually meant something :)
I am slowly but surely moving on past my SR active Tesla ICs and speaker cables (recently replaced my 7 year old Tesla Precision Reference speaker cables with Cerious Graphene Extremes and am very pleased - thanks ozzy and wig), but have yet to hear better power cords than the SRs in my system. Even the older X2 and Tesla SE active power cords are quite good and the Element CTS Digital power cable is superb, all improved significantly by Michael Spallone’s MPC upgrades. From what I have read and heard from owner friends, the Atmosphere Level 3 cord you have is among the very best two or three out there, adding a dose of refinement and musicality never offered by SR’s previous power cords, good as they are IMO.
Hoping to get the Atmosphere Level 3 as the feeder AC cord when I upgrade my Powercell 10 UEF/FEQ to the 12 UEF...
Thanks for another fabulous recording. On Ray’s Time, I have noticed the unusual separation of bass guitar (right ch) and saxophone (left ch). Did you experience the same? I am streaming off Tidal right now but thinking of nabbing the 4 disc import off Amazon.
I replaced four SR black fuses with blue ones in my PS Audio DAC, BHK Preamp, and BHK Amp 250. The improvements are very obvious, similar to what you all described. These fuses are definitely directional, but different from the black fuses for my components. First I inserted the blue ones in the same direction as the black ones, heard certain differences, but couldn't say a big improvement, after a day, the same, I was wondering maybe it needs more burn-in time, but I went ahead to change the direction after talking to the PS Audio technician to verify the current flow, instantly I heard the improvement you guys were stating. I was really amazed how much improvements, not just sounds different, but definitely improvements, considering recently I put in the SR PowerCell 12 UEF SE in my system.
On my system the bass is about 4 feet behind the right speaker and a little to the left. The sax is about the same behind and to the right of the left speaker. Good jazz. Glad you like it.
Interesting. Ray’s Time via Tidal has the bass clearly to the outside of the right speaker and the sax clearly to the outside of the left in my system/room.
Raul Can any one of you ask your self why amps, preamps, speaker, cdp high price$$$ manufacturers just don't use the fancy fuses?.
I started a thread asking that exact question and I got bombarded with responses and then a battle took place. You make some sense to me. And maybe it is not logical because I have a high end system. I really have not heard a major impact like some people are talking. So, maybe if my system was say lower end I might hear more improvements. I tested a Padis fuse versus the SR Blue versus my $2.50 Auto Parts fuse. I did hear a slight improvement with the Padis. I did not get anymore improvement with the SR Blue. I left the Blue in for over a week playing it 6-8 hours a day. Yes, I did thoroughly enjoy my music. Today, I switched back to the Padis fuse. There is absolutely no degradation of sound and imo it might be better than the SR Blue. I am lucky because the cost of equipment is not a factor. But for the person on a budget the $30 Padis fuse is pretty damn good. I would love for the SR people to test for themselves and report back honestly if you can.
Interesting thing about the Conte Condoli All Stars album. Tidal has two versions: one with cover art that has the "Crown Records" emblem on the lower left hand corner and another with cover art showing "Masters of Jazz" and "The Ultimate Jazz Collection" which I assume to be a remaster (released in 2011). The latter sounds cleaner with more detail and air compared to the former. Great music either way. :)
Here’s another Conte Candoli remaster that sounds really good if a wee bit too warm on the bottom, but no extreme panning of instruments to the left and right on this stereo version:
^^^ Very nice Dave. I have four of the Conte Candoli albums. I’m a real fan. Most of my Candoli recordings are on the Lighthouse All Star albums. The lighthouse, in Hermosa Beach, CA., was our local jazz club when I was in high school. We were there all the time it seems.
Rauliruegas, you may wish to keep in mind that it is not simply "lesser systems" that show improvement. My buddy, the late Harry Pearson, also discovered fuses a couple of years before he died, and used them. He only got as far as the Hi Fi tuning fuses, but that’s not the point. The point is: I doubt Frank or anyone else had systems to match Harry’s, and I doubt you’d be stupid enough to call his systems "lesser." They probably surpass ALL of the systems most of us have - by far. And Harry was not sentimental about equipment. He tested the claims of the fuse makers, picked the one that he found worked best and used it. So, ixnay on the ’euphony’ stuff. Some of us can evaluate as well as Wolf or anyone else on these forums. And it is not necessary for us to offer "reasons" theories or anything else. We know because we’ve tested it extensively. And unless the idea is that the HPs of the world were "paid" to say this (he’d throttle you) because of their ’exalted status,’ perhaps the possibility exists that it works better in some equipment than others, as Harry and I both found. If the fuses cost $10, I doubt you’d object. But because a cottage industry has sprung up around fuses, some find it necessary to disparage - and worse - DEMAND proof. How would we do that short of inviting you into our homes. And Harry was pretty scornful of people demanding he do exactly that. Simply believe what you want and desist in the snob approach ("Lesser fine tunned audio system always will shows " improvements " but in these lesser systems almost any change can makes a listeable difference for " the better.") If you believe that, your credibility just vanished. Completely. I believe I have said several times that certain fuses did not improve the sonics OR musical expression of my system, the same as I have said for outlets and even in my reviews, components themselves. Some of us know what LIVE (and the usual qualification: "unamplified") music sound like. Why would we ever need to prove to someone - any more than adding a new power cord or line conditioner - that it benefitted my system? Why is a component of complicated construction more believable than one of supposedly ’simple’ construction?
I once had the best turntable on the planet (the Versa Dynamics), along with several other "bests" (Jadis preamp and amp: Goldmund turntable, Goldmund amp and Goldmund speakers); VAC integrated and VAC amps, Wilsons, Spectrals, Transparents’s HIGHEST LEVEL speaker cable and interconnect; MIT’s HIGHEST SPEAKER CABLE and interconnect. Were my pronouncements more believable then than now, now that I had "lesser" equipment? Your argument is based on economics - at least as you yourself have worded your latest thread. (The Snob Approach, and a disgusting one at that. "My system is better than your system, so my conclusion is the best." Fine. Well, then, between 1986 and 1996, my system was better than most people’s systems. So, whatever I pronounced was ’The FINAL WORD’ (aside from HP and other TAS writers)??? So, only the most expensive systems are the arbiters and not an the actual owner and his acuities in discerning his room’s acoustic properties, (and lack of), their ability to extract the maximum performance, and hear the real from the pretenders? My 20K system outperforms - in musical expression only - my local dealer’s $150K system, which I demonstrated - in HIS show room. Don’t be a wanker, mate.
Like every tweak, component and system dependent. I have some expensive amps and preamp from same company, AF fuse made nice improvement in preamp but degrade in amp.
Another example is AF fuses made no differences in, LOW end, Sonic Frontiers pre or amp.
Don't lose sleep over it but simply return for refund within 30 days if doesn't work for you.
Have SR black at $120.00 now they are suddenly not the best anymore i should dump them for the blue SR sure knows how to make a big profit.Well i will think it over and maybe get 1 for my CJ ET5 i love this hobby.
I have 15 blacks in my system so the thought of changing them all out is a bit challenging. I did bite the bullet however and swap in 3, two in my VTL monoblocks and one in my pre-amp. Definitely an improvement. The Blues make the Blacks sound "blousy" (i.e. rather blown out and romanticized). At first you might think bass is diminished and there's less sparkle but what it seems to me is that there is a more even and natural presentation -- if your system tends towards the "laid back" the Blacks may be a better fit. Overall a worthwhile change and in the context of tweaks very cost effective. I'm simultaneously upgrading all the shelves in my system to Marigo composites away from acrylic and while this has a greater impact then these fuse changes the cost is many times more.
After replacing the Blacks with the Blues in my preamp’s and DAC’s external power supplies two days ago, I completely agree with folkfreak’s description of the sound character differences between the two and also with Frank that the Blues require time to settle before sounding their best (mine may not be completely there yet) yet the Blues did not go through the wild ups and downs that I experienced for several days after initially installing the Blacks.
The sonic differences between the Black and the Blue remind me in many ways of the differences between the better copper cables vs the better silver cables, respectively.
Nah! Ridiculous would be judging someone else's results without hearing the results for yourself and then posting your uninformed opinion on these pages.
What does the "I've seemed" in "I've seemed to gain about an octave in low bass response" mean? Did you, or didn't you? If you did, that's quite remarkable---an octave of bass from a fuse. So, your system reproduced only down to, say, 40Hz, but now to 20Hz? Didn't previously not hearing that octave bother you?
Incremental improvement is one thing, dramatic transformation quite another. But then, my people are from Missouri ;-).
I’m not equating the two in any other way, but the sonic effect of effective room treatment on bass response has a very similar result of creating the perception of new ultra-low frequency bass response. That latter was, of course, there before, just masked by over-wrought mid-bass frequencies in the untreated room. The Blue is voiced differently than the Black in the bass and creates a similar perception.
And I completely agree with jkuc that the weakness of the SR fuses is timbre, thus the earlier suggestion to experiment with mixing and matching brands to achieve the best balance of benefits from the different voicing/sound character of each.
I second the recommendation of mixing and matching fuse brands. Every component is different, as with any tweak I don’t see much prudence in fitting your entire system with SR Black or Blue fuses. If that’s what you prefer, by all means go for it.
In my rig, I am using a combination on SR Black, HiFi Tuning Supreme and HiFi Tuning Supreme Cardas Cu (Copper Fuse made from Cardas Low Eddy Copper). The Cardas Cu were godsend for my Aurender. I end up preferring the CU’s organic, slightly warmer tone compared to SR or Silver Supreme’s.
Can anyone explain the science of how a fuse, which is a piece of wire designed to pass current and melt with a defined excess current flow, can change the sound of a system? And what is the “secret wire” in a 100 dollar fuse vs. a 50 cent fuse?
No one can explain this - because any difference in sound exist only in the mind of the ones that can "hear" it - they want to hear a difference - so they do.
I'd rather spend $100 on 5 or 6 new albums, but that's me - as they say - to each his own.
You're new at this, aren't you? It's not science. It's just better manufacturing. Go back and read up on the other threads lest we rehash the obvious. Doing that gives rise to the same old trite and tiresome arguments that have already been laid to rest.
Don't get me wrong - I'm all for better manufacturing, personally I'd choose a well made fuse by Bussmann or Littlefuse just to name a couple of well made fuses.
Do a blind test with any of the above against the Blue, Black, Red or what ever color you'd like fuse - then repeat it. (You can see my post above in this thread trying to throw a little humor into this ) If the change in sound is there then surely repeatability of the result is possible.
Hello All, I have a little different perspective on this or any other tweak that we audiophiles are obsessed with all the times. What I found so far is that any change in my moderate system changes the sound and the change is not always better. Also sometimes it is very difficult to get your final verdict out on the change because it sounds different from one track to another and also from one position to another (like direction of fuse or the placement of the footers underneath any component). So you end up spending so much time to fine-tune your system just to see another tweak or upgrade has been released. So the question is do you keep on doing these adjustments or be content with a level of upgrade that suits you and then enjoy the music which is why we are putting in all such efforts...
@pbnaudio , No, that was not directed at you. I'd never do that to you. That was for the post from @drjoed. Your post came in while I composed my retort to him. Sorry about the confusion.
Same experience here with the synergistic blue..added one to a rogers pa1a phono amp and I wasn't expecting it to be that much better than the black but wow what a wonderful upgrade for modest money. Plan on getting more.
Other than being a genuinely nice guy yourself, what duty of courtesy or respect is due someone that intentionally interjects the same old inflammatory insults to others’ judgement and sensibilities despite being asked Frankly (pun intended) in the OP to refrain from exactly that activity?
“No one can explain this - because any difference in sound exist only in the mind of the ones that can "hear" it - they want to hear a difference - so they do“
@pbnaudio
As Frank say, this crazy hobby is about having fun. You chose to do so by purchasing albums and some of do so by tweaking. I am sure you read the following somewhere,
About a year ago I stumbled across the SR red/black fuse thread. After days of reading through the entire thread I decided to try a SR black fuse in my Classe amp. After breaking the fuse in I was really surprised how it changed my system for the better. It sounded way more detailed and focused. Based on my previous amps, Classe amps are a little warm and laid back. The SR black fuse was a perfect match for my amp. It was not only more detailed and focused but it brought the presentation a bit more forward (which was what it needed)..... I recently purchased a Simaudio amp and was wondering if anyone has tried a black or blue fuse with that brand? Also I use a Nordost Qbase (power distribution) strip that has a fuse, anyone try replacing that fuse?
papa,
there is nothing to apologize for. I don't intend to offend you but you
are not competent to discuss ... the fuses. It's nice, you have
started the discussion but accept if someone has different experience, opinion.
These are not attacks, just different experience, opinions, different
perception. Papa, no offence.
I don't expect you to cough up.
lalitk is spot on when describing qualities of HT Supreme Cardas.
@dlcockrum , Hey there. I guess it's just the way the other poster came on with his very first (or was it second) post that screamed "troll" whereas with Peter, I didn't take it as an insult. I just read past his post without a second thought.
Frank & Tommy, while it may not make a great deal of difference, I thought I'd point out that the initial part of Jkuc's post that has been considered to be particularly offensive was a quote from a post by someone else, that other post having been subsequently deleted.
Its nice there is a new product out that is easy for a variety of hard core audiophiles to get excited about. Beats spending 10s of thousands on the newest and greatest same old same old speakers.
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