2. amps-preamps
  3. 1448317474

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
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 

Thank you mapman. I’m going to leave it alone for now and use the fuses if/when I really need to.

By the way, I mentioned this fuse "magic" to my brother a couple of weeks ago and suggested he try them in his older Magnepan 1.5QR speakers by replacing the stock (tweeter) fuses. I don’t consider him an audiophile type of person but he appreciates good sound. Besides, he hardly ever takes my advice seriously on anything. Well, I guess he took my advice this time. He called me yesterday literally 5 minutes after he had installed the new fuses in the Magnepans and had only played one song. He was literally freaking out about how much better they sounded. He said they now sound just like they sounded when had bought them together over 25 years ago. He simply could not believe replacing the fuses could make such a dramatic difference. And these were just the red ones not even the blacks. Go figure.

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Hat's off to Al whose analysis almost convinced even me. Al would have undoubtedly made an excellent defense attorney in the O.J case.



mapman's avatar
mapman
22,088 posts
 
kalili in the case of magnepans fuses are directly in the signal path of the speakers I believe a case where they are more likely to make a difference. I don’t think anyone has challenged the greater likelihood of their potential effect on sound in that particular case.

As Al cited fuses are used in different places in different ways in different devices so mileage likely to vary overall.

It could also be due to a better/fresh connection with the new fuse in compared to old. The way to know would be to replace each a few times and see if the better sound occurs consistently with one fuse or another.

whitestix
707 posts
 
I put a SR Red fuse into my preamp yesterday and it blew immediately.  I put the Radio Shack fuse back in the preamp and the preamp powers up fine.  That was a $50 "butt dart".  

The notion of directionality of fuses, as so much of his thread revolves around, is as silly as the notion that pricey fuses make an audible difference.  However, I thought the same thing about PC's and recently got both a Shunyata Venom 3 PC and Silnote Poseidon PC and the improvement in sound in my system is significant.   Caveat emptor, my friends.  
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
mapman, that was my takeaway too, e.g., fuse directly in the signal path, etc., and sort of proves my "seat of the pants" theory. The more (directly) the fuse is placed in the signal path, the more the improvement in the SQ. Its a theory (for me) because I only have one data point first hand to prove it but might explain why we have a dividend camp.
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