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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
davidpritchard's avatar
davidpritchard
866 posts
 
gbmcleod:

I did not make myself clear in discussing A/C wall outlets. Synergistic Research allows the most music thru of the outlets I have evaluated. The Furutech GTX-R gives a bigger soundstage. In my three systems I am using a total 14 Synergistic Research Teslaplex outlets and three Furutech GTX-r outlets.

I agree there is a much bigger improvement going from the SR-20 fuse  to Black than going to Red, and a bigger improvement going from RED to BLACK. Black is clearly a better sound than SR-20 or RED.

David Pritchard
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
Update on my experience.  The black has about 40 hours of burn in time in my Coincident Line stage.  A few minutes ago, I reversed the direction of the fuse.  Degradation of sound quality was immediately obvious, so I had the optimal direction to begin with.  I am going to wait a few more days and put the stock fuse back in to get a feel for how much burn in has helped.  Preliminarily, I would say this is a worthwhile and cost effective upgrade, but it falls somewhat short of transformative.  As a comparator,  I just replaced the stock feet on my ModWright Sony HAPZ1 with Edensound bear paws, a $160 upgrade, and enjoyed a much more significant improvement in sound. 
The ModWright Sony takes 2  3.15 amp slo blo's, which is also what I would need for my Coincident franks.  I will probably order a pair next week and try them in both the Sony and the Franks and evaluate the improvement.  It is likely either the Franks or the Sony will benefit.  If not, I will send them back and perhaps try the AM beeswax fuses. 
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,239 posts
 

Hi Bill (Brownsfan),

Thanks for reporting your findings. My moment of truth occurred at the 60 hour point and Frank's(Oregonpapa) around 70 hours with the Black fuses. It will be interesting to see if additional hours make a difference in your case. As always you have to call it as you hear it. I appreciate your input.

Curious to see where you find the greater impact between your Sony digital  or the Frankenstein.

Charles,

oregonpapa's avatar
oregonpapa OP
4,867 posts
 
^^^  What's surprising to me, Charles, is that with all of the terrific results garnered by most of us here with the SR Red and then the Black fuses, that there are the few who hear no positive results at all. I wonder what the cause of that could be? Are they system dependent ... working in most systems but not in all? 
benzman's avatar
benzman
387 posts
 

Talk about giving a mouse a cookie!!

 I started by placing a Red in a 9.9 Modwright power supply. Nice bump but wasn't really realized until my buddy brought over his 9.9 and it was a significant improvement when comparing side by side.

Then a couple Reds in in a Aurender N100s music player. Slight improvement, nothing earth shattering. 

Then the blacks were introduced so I put one in a Mccormack pre and right around the magic 100 hr mark everything kicked in. So much more body to the music and defined bass.

The Kismet Monos have a total of 8 rail fuses so that wasn't going to happen. I tried to score the HiFi  Silverstar but they were all sold out so picked up the Golds for 9.95 each. Definite improvement but then one of our fellow Audiogoner's was upgrading his Kismets from the Reds to the  Blacks..... I  should have his Reds in a few days and all broken in.

I got a new Odyssey Candela pre tonight so installed a Black in that, figured may as well break in everything together.

Before I took the McCormack out of the chain, I switched the fuse around. I must of had the proper orientation the first time as it took all of 3 minutes to switch it back. You will definitely know when you have it right!!  

  These little tweaks is what makes this hobby so exciting and keeps it fresh. I don't even want to tell you about USB clean up and LPS power supplies..... that's for another day.

Enjoy your night,

Russ   

        

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