Synergistic Red Fuse ...

David:

Well put. It is the unforced addition of detail that is at the heart of the sonic contribution of the SR Black fuses and outlets....

Andy

David, Oregonpapa, et al,
I'm back with an update now that my SR Black fuse is fully burned-in. I'm using the Black fuse in a high power SS amp and a Red fuse in an ARC CDP.
  First the good; some of you have used the term transformational to describe the effect on sonics and I agree. The soundstage has expanded in width and height, imaging is deep and precise, and a very noticeable lowering of the noise floor.

But and this is a BIG but...my system has gone from smooth, natural sounding digital to hyper-detailed. Let me emphasize that there is no harshness or glare, in fact CD's sound smooth, but music no longer provides an emotional engagement. This is the same effect I experienced when I auditioned the SR Black UEF PC; too much detail from individual instruments in orchestral music. The music does not sound cohesive.
(I've even checked speaker phase and polarity).

My CDP is naturally detailed (ARC CD3 mk II) and my speakers are Gallos with their very resolving tweeter.
So what to do...would a SR Red fuse be a better fit for my system?

BTW, when using the SR Black, music was sounding very two dimensional. After reversing the fuse in the holder, the reward was a glorious soundstage of music.

Maybe you could try the AM Beeswax. I have one in the pre (and SR Blacks in the amps that are now 110 hours burn in), and it is very very good, maybe less demonstrative but more nuanced with more subtlety in the rendering of feeling the "music" in the way you described it. You should try it in the Pre as a kind of rebalancing the sound of your system.
it is just a guess

Hi Lowrider,

If I recall correctly you are using a Sunfire 300 amp, with its "current source" outputs connected to the tweeters, and its "voltage source" outputs connected to the lower frequency drivers. In looking at a rear panel photo of that amp I see that in addition to the mains fuse there is a 5 amp slow blow fuse that is apparently in series with the "current source" output of each channel. I presume that what you replaced with the SR Black is the mains fuse.

Just a guess, but given especially that the amp is probably a dozen or more years old you might try removing the current source fuses that are in series with the tweeters, cleaning their contacts with a good contact cleaner such as one of the Caig products, reinserting and removing them a couple of times (so that the residual cleaner on the fuse might benefit the holder as well), and perhaps even try them in various positions of rotation. (See the comments by Atmasphere that I quoted in this thread on 8-3-2016, on page 49).

Good luck. Best regards,
-- Al

lowrider:

Thank you for a most interesting post. I am glad you auditioned the fuse in both directions.

Too much detail - and the emotional response to this change. This is a fascinating situation. The RED fuse does have less detail and background noise reduction than the Black. I hope you will send the Black fuse back for a refund. Synergistic Research is very serious about wanting you to return the fuse if it does not help.

In my system I preferred a Black fuse in the CD player and in the Tube amp over a Red in the CD player and a Black in the amp.

barbapapa's point idea may well work but it is difficult to return an Audio Magic fuse. It may be your system is now "there" from an emotional satisfaction standpoint. After replacing my fuses I did benefit from a small readjustment of speaker toe in. 

What is the value of the amp fuse? 

David Pritchard