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
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
Marklareen:

I hope you will audition the Synergistic Research Black fuses in the Magnepans. I think it will be an interesting $6.80 experiment ( return USPS Priority Insured Postage) to hear if any effect in the tweeter protection circuit.

I think there is a good chance it will improve  the soundstage. When putting the Black in my SACD player, even the fuse going to the laser assembly made a sonic difference.

David Pritchard
Markalarsen, I have had nothing BUT luck with all of the fuse brands I have installed in 3.6R's.  SR Blacks yet to come........