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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
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mapman's avatar
mapman
22,183 posts
 
One would hope Synergistic will do something to help out in a case like this.    It is an expensive experiment for someone and not user fault if apparent correct fuse blows unexpectedly.  One the right fuse is found, should not be a common occurrence anymore I would hope.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
"It is far, far from my intention to cast a pall on SR product, as I've greatly enjoyed tweaks for my setup over the years and was very much looking forward to this one, and it's not in my nature to be a downer on something so fun for all of us."

Hmmmmm, interesting.

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
The main function of a fuse is to provide protection. I'm inclined to agree with Mapman and Ozzy in that the SR fuses could be  made to err on the side of being perhaps more sensitive and easily blown(Al's example of specification range). Better to sacrifice the fuse rather than damage the components. It seems that the SR protects with a quick trigger in addition to sounding far superior to the stock fuse. 
Charles, 
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,183 posts
 
Its really not possible for anyone other than vendor to generalize accurately . Anything is possible including shorter triggers by design or for other reasons.

For these prices in particular you’d hope that the vendors would be as happy to fix an obvious problem in matching fuse to component at the outset and not alienate customers. These aren’t your everyday 50 cents a pack fuses.

Its funny thinking that many years ago selling hundreds if not thousands of fuses at Radio Shack and Lafayette radio I do not recall ever a case where customer demanded blown fuses be replaced for no charge. For pennies a fuse buying new fuses until the right one was found was not an issue.

No discussions about how fuses "sounded" back then either though I always preferred slow blow with more substantial filaments if an option. Simper times.
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