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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
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
Fascinating Fuse thread.

The problem I have is I can change nothing and things may still sound subtly different to me day by day, listening session by listening session for reasons unknown.

But the differences are subtle and seldom ever affect my end enjoyment. I suspect my own mood and perhaps mindset of the hour to be a factor especially when it comes to any emotional response to what I hear.  "Dammit Spock,  I’m a person not a listening machine." Probably a good thing.

I do not have time to dabble with fuse directions normally. If there was a problem to start with and I thought it might be that, I probably would. but I can’t even account for how things that vary regularly out of my control like weather, air pressure, humidity electricity etc. are affecting what I hear exactly at any particular time versus another.

Or how can I even assume my gear always works consistently and that there is not some natural audible variation over time? There is a lot of complex technology in these toys.

So I just throw in the towel and be happy I like it as much as I do regularly. Not the "audiophile" way of thinking I’m sure.

I guess if you flip or change fuses enough with enough a/b tests the results become obvious.
davidpritchard's avatar
davidpritchard
866 posts
 
On the Subject of Fuse Direction.

The synergistic Research Fuses are Quantum tunneled in one direction-
from the "S" of the word Synergistic  towards the "h" in the word Research. So at least this corresponds to the arrow of some other fuses. You want Current to flow from the capital "S" towards the other end of the fuse where the last letter "h" is.  
So on some fuse holders ( like the tray type holder next to power cord connectors) , it is easy to figure out the "hot" side and the "neutral" side and put the fuse in in the optimum position on the first try. The other spots one has to experiment for optimum results.

I hope this helps.
David Pritchard
aolmrd1241
1,039 posts
 
Mapman...Your common sense is a breath of fresh-air...

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 

Hi aolmrd1241,

I think there's been an  abundance of common sense provided on this thread based on actual listeners experience with their systems.

The point that's been made repeatedly is , simply try and hear for yourself. The beauty of these fuses is the simplicity of their use. Pop one in, take it out and compare with another. Listen for a while in one direction, reverse direction and listen again, very easy to do. Afterwards determine if you did or didn't notice/hear a difference. Results may not be uniform amongst all listeners.


All I can report is what I hear with various fuses in my components. They go well beyond subtle but fall short of "jaw dropping to the floor". I relate to Oregonpapa's written comments because my listening impressions are nearly identical to his. This is as easy as rolling various tubes, yet the potential change (of fuses) is greater in some cases.

Compared to cables and many audio products the premium fuses are inexpensive yet yield very noticeable improvements. This has been my experience and I'm very happy to have them. No doubt YMMV.

Charles,

aolmrd1241
1,039 posts
 
Hi Charles,thanks for your reply. Don't get me wrong,I do appreciate this thread. I am just trying to soak it all in. How a single fuse can make so much of an impact on ones sound system is beyond my comprehension. But,I am here to learn...I want to thank everyone for their time. Please...carry on.

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