Audiolabryinth, happy to respond.
I like the Furutech outlets, because they are very smooth. In comparison, the Teslaplex SE has a slightly more forward upper midrange, which, on some Mercury Living Presence CDs, can be a bit intense. My wall outlet is the Furutech, but I swapped out the outlet on the PS Audio Power Plant 300 a year or two ago, and put in a Teslaplex SE. conversely, on vocals, the Teslaplex - to my ears - more readily reveals the gutsiness of Aretha’s voice, as well as other Black singers and even David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & Tears, whose voice you can clearly hear straining at times, which the Furutech does NOT do. The Furutech is more refined, and that’s great but Aretha is NOT a refined singer, she is a bring-it-home sister like I’d hear in church growing up. Hence the Furutech at the wall, and the Teslaplex in the PS Audio. I have another Teslaplex SE, and I might put that in the wall to hear what changes are wrought, but that MIGHT become too edgy. And then again, maybe not, since the new fuse is audibly smoother than the SR20 that was previously in the Arcam. Hmmm... For now, here’s what’s interesting.
When I had the SR20 in the Arcam, the sound, plugged into the Teslaplex, was a bit too harsh for my ears. Brass had an unquestionable edge on almost ANY Mercury CD (and yes, I know they used bright microphones back then, so maybe the Teslaplex was just revealing the ’truth,’ but I don’t think so: it was a little TOO much ’truth’ to my ears. BUT. BUT. As soon as I put in the Quantum Black - from the first CD - I was aware that the harshness was gone. Then, when I read Cymbop’s description of cymbals, I though, ’Now, that’s REALLY interesting, because I have had the opposite effect. The leading transient is less ’hashy’ or white-noise sounding compared to having the SR20 in there (I never put a Red into the Arcam) and as for the dimensionality, read on a couple of sentences. Something else: I noticed that the tension of the music is slightly less than before, almost as if the music is being played at a slightly slower pace. End result? Less impact, and as a corollary, I also noticed that somewhere around the lower parts of the upper bass down into the upper-midbass, the sound is not as physical - or as HP would put it - it has less ’authority’, so I’m with Cymbop on this point. Hence, the lessening of dimensionality, or 'flatness' he discerned.
Since the midbass is what gives instruments their sense of ’solidity’ (that’s why the original WATTs sounded so holographic: the sound was weighted towards the midbass, but you only heard it with a Rowland Coherence preamp, which had a center-of-the-earth gravity from the lower midrange down to the low bass (as Dave Wilson noted in issue 47 of TAS) and then later, around 1988, when he came out with the first generation of the Puppies. Now, any lessening of the midbass WILL make images seem flatter, and I did encounter that with the RCA Living Stereo CD of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, where cut 9 is the beginning of Lt. Kije. The trumpet was less focused and ’present.’ I thought perhaps I’d moved a tube trap (even jarring them off by 1/8" can affect subtle sonics), but I hadn’t. So, the bass is clearer, but very slightly more lightweight, although I then followed that with the Labelle CD ’Nightbirds’ (you know, the one with Lady Marmalade’s famous ’voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir’ phrase on it). I’d never been impressed with the bass on that CD, yet there was WAY more of it than i was used to - and I noticed that the NAD volume setting was at a lower volume, too! Some mysteries, as well as ecstacies, live in the Quantum Black. None of the positive statements I said were wrong, but I also hear the - again - VERY SLIGHT loss of focus on instruments, although the overall presentation is more transparent and immediate, and, along with that low, low, low noise floor, it’s ZOWIE. (And the highs, on my system, were superior to the pre-Quantum era.) It does seem, though, on solo instruments, particularly guitars, that the instruments are more physically there, but on symphonies, there is, perhaps, a bit less image specificity and kick on the bass drums. Again, I think it’s somewhere in the lower part of the upper bass/midbass that the focus and specificity is not as secure as it was when the fuse was only at, say, 20 hours.
The larger picture is that the noise floor is SO much lower, and there is GREATLY reduced grain between you and the music, particularly on voice, both male and female, and more passion IN those voices than before that you might not notice the bass (and who knows, it could be that I have to rearrange the Stillpoint Ultra Mini Risers). BUT, Patti Labelle was unquestionably more forceful sounding on ’What Can I Do For You?’ as were both Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, and their harmonies were more separated (not that the NAD is the MASTER in this regard, but you get my point). I’ve had mine for a week and find it fantastic, but I support Cymbop’s observations.
I think we must all accept that there is no perfect component, and even if there is, when it comes to fuses, we have - most of us - had enough experience to realize the fuse is not perfect in every application, and it is a matter of finding the right location where it will show its magic. That magic may not be in every component. The Arcam Fmj 23 , for example, does not have "thunderous" midbass, and this was noted by a colleague who wrote about it in issue 136 of TAS. So, its bass dynamics are not the last word. The Quantum Black, after break in, may be showing that it, too, has great definition in some areas of the bass, rather than sheer quantity of bass. I don’t know: we’ll have to swap stories here on the forum and note the equipment we have, and how that equipment USUALLY sounds in the bass, both -pre and -post Quantum Black.
For all that, it is by far the most instantly striking fuse of all that I’ve used, meaning, it takes NO time to hear what it does. BUT, it does actually seem to be have more midbass when you first put it in than at 100 hours. I’ll check my observations, but that’s how it sounds to my ears.
And DavidPritchard, thanks for clearing that up.
