2. amps-preamps
  3. 1448317474

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
22,102 posts
 
I posted yesterday eve and it was apparently deleted within the hour.

I spent a fair amount of time last night carefully comparing and writing the results just to have it deleted.

The fuse was fine but I can't say I  heard any clear difference either way.

After a deleted post sharing honest results. I'm not very inclined to invest more time with this at this point.  Makes me wonder what's going on with censorship of these forums.




mapman's avatar
mapman
22,102 posts
 
OK,   my original post was found on another thread.    I'll put it back here where it belongs. 

Thanks once again to Al once again for locating my missing post.    Not sure how it landed there.    its possible I updated the wrong Synergistic Thread.    I was in a bit of a rush yesterday eve.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,102 posts
 
Ok initial listening session done.

I spent about an hour swapping fuses in the arc sp16 and comparing. Also changing fuse direction. I left the quantum sticker thingy off.

So look, the red fuse sounded good. So did the stock fuse that came in the arc sp16 new. If there was a difference it did not jump out at me. Both sounded similarly good with great dynamics big soundstage excellent detail and the whole nine yards. I cannot really attribute anything unique to the red fuse so far.

I listened to 3 very good quality recordings, all lossless flac files ripped to my music server using dbpoweramp: The Mariners Revenge Song by The Decemberists, The William Walton Crown Imperial Coronation March on Mercury Living Presence,. And The Grand Duel by Luis Bacalov from the Kill Bill Pt 1 soundtrack.

System used was Squeezebox Touch to mhdt Constantine DAC to ARC sp16 pre-amp to BelCanto Ref1000m amps to Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mkII speakers. IC from DAC to pre and pre to amp both DNM Reson. Audioquest CV-6 speaker cables to Dynaudios.
Post removed 
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,102 posts
 
So even though I am not hearing a difference so far that's two scores now for Synergistic Research in any case  1) 500V rating would appear to denote an unusually rugged and durable product and 2) good customer service.

Its to be expected that some will hear differences and some not with many more esoteric products.  

So given all that I would say the Red fuses are a sound product possibly worth the investment for some but probably not all.   That's not so bad, is it?

Myself, I would probably only buy a fuse from an audio specialty company for a premium only if I hear a clear difference I like.  Otherwise,  were I to need a fuse, I would probably go with a quality product for much lower cost from a commercial electronics supply house,   just like I often end up going to products from companies that deal with pro audio rather than home/high end for effective tweaks at reasonable cost.
More to discover