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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
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,454 posts
 

All systems have some form of distortion to some degree since none are perfect.

The first basic trick to good sound is to minimize noise and distortion especially the more offensive kinds.

Fuses are low in the food chain in terms of their overall impact on noise and distortion compared to most of the other usual suspects.

If someone hears a difference with a fuse or other similar RELATIVELY minor tweak, that is probably a good indicator that most of the other bigger more common culprits are in check. Or maybe the original fuse needed reseating or had some other issue that the change fixed.

I don’t see how anyone would object to calling a fuse a relatively minor tweak on e the grand scale of things, but I suspect some will. IMHO YMMV and all that good stuff as always.


sgordon1
444 posts
 
Regarding fuse ROTATION... I have found "DOTS DOWN" to sound the best.

My Marsh power amp has two fuses per channel. When I initially installed the black fuses, all four dots on the fuses were facing up.
Yesterday I rotated them so their position was changed 180 degrees.

My first (five minute) impression was positive, and I was not motivated to change them back.  Eight hours later, during a longer listening session, I was feeling the way I did when I heard the improvement from the fuses for the first time.  But the sound was even better!

My cd player has a single fuse and I am pretty sure I installed it the same way.  The mains fuse on the Marsh is screwed in to a barrel...
I guess I could also rotate it and check for any differences.

I encourage everyone to experiment with fuse rotation!
"DOTS DOWN," for me!
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Mapman, 
I agree and have said  (along with others here ) that the more highly resolved (finely tuned ) the audio system the more apparent the impact of the Black fuse. Thus their effect is greater than what one would assume a fuse can contribute.  In theory a minor tweak,  but much more in reali
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
But much more in reality. 
wolf_garcia
6,728 posts
 
I was thinking about this silly thread when I bought some tubes recently…great tubes, matched by thetubestore, about 60 bucks each. Each tube contains cathodes, anodes, grids, in a vacuum of glass essentially handmade buy people with skill. 60 bucks. Fuses, notwithstanding acceptance of Magical Quantum Exposed Mojo Festooned items popular among the faithful who themselves ("I spent over a hundred bucks, and these guys SWEAR it's worth it!") are willing to try anything out there regardless of facts or logic (or have a propensity to believe hard sell hype from agenda based "highly resolved" audio system owners), are astonishingly simple and effective little circuit protection devices containing ONLY a tiny wire designed to melt before your gear explodes. Get a "special" one for 100 bucks or a little more for an "extra special" version. I get that people seem to need others to gather around and nod approvingly at their Finely Tuned sensibility (!), but when I see a shill backed with claimed absolutes like fuse directionality being an actual thing, I see fraud.  SR is laughing itself to the bank on the backs of both well meaning gear heads looking for more light in their self imposed audio tunnel, and relentless Ron Popeil Award worthy "send it back if not satisfied" hucksterism. Reality indeed.
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