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
ptss......I appreciate your concern but I would think if there was any danger of the fuses damaging the equipment neither Steve Deckert of Decware nor Paul McGowan of PS Audio would recommend them in their products. Maybe it's an elaborate scheme on their part to get me to  destroy my equipment so they can sell me more? ;)
Just curious, did Decware and PS Audio simply recommend the Synergistic brand in general, or did they specifically suggest you use a larger value fuse than originally chosen for the gear? 

That's how I read ptss's post. The ONLY reason to have a fuse in a piece of electrical equipment in the first place is for safety -- to protect the equipment from more damage than necessary if a component fails, and also for the safety of users. Fire and shock hazards are always a risk if the wrong component in an electrical device fails.
Maybe it's an elaborate scheme on their part to get me to  destroy my equipment so they can sell me more? ;)
More like pandering to the voodooist to keep them on side so they buy more stuff off them. (keep it in the family so to speak)

Cheers George
Neither Decware or PS Audio endorsed any one brand ( actually PS Audio did mention a specific brand in their literature but I don't remember which one) but advocate trying differant brands to obtain the sound you like best. Paul McGowan wrote an article specifically about fuses and how they effect sound quality. I don't have the necessary knowledge to know if or why they work, but I'm willing to put my faith with the many here that love them and more importantly the men who designed my equipment endorsing their use. 

My intention wasn't to belittle ptss's response, my response was in jest. My apologies if it came across negatively. I agree that fuses are put in a device only for safety reasons. Pauls article mentions how when designing one of their amps the prototype didn't have a fuse and when one was added for production the sound quality diminished to the point they had to make some design changes to get the prototype sound quality with the fuse. I checked with both manufacturers about fuse values and both said moving up one value wasn't a problem but going higher than the 1 amp for the Perfectwaves wasn't necessary, so I didn't higher values for them.
"My apologies if it came across negatively."

mac, that's like apologizing to the school bully because your face hurt his fist.

Dave