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
Wa chips on the black fuse lightens down and makes more organic sound but in my system is better off without
Hi holydio,

I did mention in my setup, the WA chip seemingly is fighting the sonic characteristics of the Black fuse. It is just doing opposite and giving a different sonic perspective from what i gather the B.F is doing.

This may be counterproductive, but one needs to try, no risk or obligation if you already have the WA chips taken off your old fuses.  It is a very contrasting effect and , some may like that presentation better.

Some background that i decided to order the fuse about the same time the Oregonpapa actually had them. Mine took weeks to be ordered and have them for a month now. 

I was intrigued that tweaks i did not understand commanding an absurd profit margin over what i could figure the cost was,. In many, cases, some costing much more than just 1 B.F gave mindblowing results. When you consider that many of us may need in the region of over 10 fuses, even S.R was surprised that one poster here needed like a quite a number. It shows that the pricing was possible not commensurate with the typical expected number of fuses many of us require. It does add up quickly to a cost of a good cable.

Depending on where one would draw the line on expenditure, i would strongly recommend even the SR20 fuses, furutechs etc (i find these 2 are much better than stock fuses like bussman or littlefuse brand). However,  if many are needed and investment in a better powercord where the resale value  would still holds up better tweaks may make more sense as a starting.

It is much more difficult when starting to compare good aftermarket fuses to even better ones. Foe example i have many years ago tried gold plated, pure silver fuses and platinum ones. From a first go, the sonic presentation was totally wrong for my preferences much preferring the SR20's and Rhodium Plated variants offered.

I have spent over these years, the equivalent of a good (read rather expensive) power cord.

The black fuse does things good, no real nasties i could not live with. But curious from day 1 reading about Graphene, and what or how S.R has incorporated it into the fuse. I guess for the asking price and cost involved, it was either a pure Graphene fusable element,  layer over the fusable element or Graphene fused to the endcaps. No mention of the black dot or substance on the fuse was ever made.

I concluded that the fuses are generic fuses as before, quantum tunneled and with a Graphene dot adhered. Photo of Graphene lead me to point to this black dot. A small 5ml bottle costs $75, but could still possibly treat a hundred fuses this way.

S.R has made reference to this thread, but never stepped in to clarify the real differences over their SR20 or red fuse which still remains in the product. Well, i do not blame them, it is proprietry what they did to the fuse, however simple and i respect that decision.

I might just pickup a bottle of Graphene mixture to play with :).

Disclaimer. I am a believer of Graphene (possibly because of its similarities with C-13 or 16 carbon isotopes (if i recall correctly) as i had a game changing set room tweaks which is said to be based this principle and was the reason why i gave these fuses a shot (mind you, no money back 30 day trial) or non-US customers. That was really one of the few transformational tweak i have used.


Justtubes2 wrote,

"The black fuse does things good, no real nasties i could not live with. But curious from day 1 reading about Graphene, and what or how S.R has incorporated it into the fuse. I guess for the asking price and cost involved, it was either a pure Graphene fusable element, layer over the fusable element or Graphene fused to the endcaps. No mention of the black dot or substance on the fuse was ever made."

The (primary) advantage of the extremely high conductivity of Graphene is undoubtedly that it makes a great absorber of RFI.  Besides making the fuse a super conductor as it were wouldn't actually do much good since the rest of the wires in the system are you know, copper. If one wishes to make a better contact on the end caps one can always use a contact enhancer like Quicksilver Gold or whatever. Also, since Graphene by definition is one atom in thickness most likely the black color you see on the Black fuse is some sort of tape or perhaps paint for protecting and capturing the Graphene, as it were. Someone else on this thread had mention a black dot but looking at a photo of the Black fuse it appears that the entire outer surface of the fuse is black.

So, like Audio Magic Super Fuse and perhaps others aftermarket fuse manufacturers, SR is hip to the whole RFI/EMI thing, with the fuse just sitting there, exposed. If one wishes to cut strips or dots or squares of Graphene, what with Graphene being one atom thick, one must use very small and delicate scissors. Lol

geoff kait
machina dramatica
justtubes2

Thank you for an excellent and descriptive post of the sonic changes with the Synergistic Research (SR) Black fuses and the WA Chips. I could not get the WA Chips to improve the sound in a system that had SR-20 fuses. But as you pointed out it is worth experimenting in each system.

In my fuse auditions I have found the Synergistic Research (SR) Black fuse to simply have the best effect. I previously rated the SR-20 fuse (the least expensive of the SR line) as the most effective in more locations than other fuses. These included Furutech, Isoclean, and Silver Hi-Fi and SR Red.

For those on a " Fuse Budget" I would strongly recommend the Synergistic Research SR-20 fuse. It does a lot of things right at a low cost.

I think many systems will sound fabulous with  SR Black fuses only located in the main fuse of the audio source, preamp and amp. After evaluating the sound at these locations, I then added Black fuses to my systems other fuses locations - for a total of 11 fuses. I continued to hear improvements with each fuse installed and broken in but the main power fuse location I think are the mandatory locations to upgrade.

As you pointed out the 30 day trial policy of the Synergistic Research fuses makes this audio upgrade experiment worth doing.

I would love to hear the Carbon 13- 16 based acoustic room modifier in my house! I am sure it is impressive.

David Pritchard