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
Just to point out that in the twenty or so years since aftermarket fuses first hit the scene, you know Iso Clean and HiFi Tuning, to name two, most likely the first two, there has never been a single documented case where a failure of one of those persnickety little things caused a house to burn down. Are the trolls out of ammo? What’s the next silly claim - that they cause cancer?
Georgelofi 2-7-2017
Moving up in amperage with mains fuses, is unsafe.

Doing this is a very unsafe practice.
It will very likely burn out more than just the fuse.
EG: regulators, rectifiers, or maybe even the transformer.
+ whatever caused the fuse to blow in the first place.
The worst is it could start a fire, and take out your house.
On the other hand, though, given the various reports we’ve seen in this thread of SR fuses blowing when they shouldn’t it could be argued that going up one or even two rating increments with SR fuses is likely to result in the fuse having a melting point (as measured in amps squared x seconds) that is **closer** to that of the stock fuse than an SR fuse having the same current rating as the stock fuse.

Although admittedly the basis for such a contention is muddled by the fact that some (although by no means all) of the reported false blows have occurred at turn-on, when very brief "inrush" current surges, that are expectable in many designs, may greatly exceed the rating of the stock fuses.

In any event, given the lack of meaningful technical data on the SR fuses I don’t think anyone can provide an answer to this question with any kind of certainty, and it is a question about which the opinions of reasonable people (and technically knowledgeable people) can differ IMO. Also, given that some have reported good results with SR fuses that are rated even a bit lower than the ratings of the stock fuses, the answer certainly figures to be equipment dependent.

FWIW, my opinion on this question was stated in a post in this thread dated 1-14-2017, near the top of page 64 (if posts are sorted most recent last). Which was to the effect that I personally would have no qualms about going up one or even two rating increments.

Regards,
-- Al

In any event, given the lack of meaningful technical data on the SR fuses I don’t think anyone can provide an answer to this question with any kind of certainty
Given this when playing around with mains voltages, I’m saying it’s better to be safe than sorry.
I understand that you have "no qualms" personally yourself doing it as your capable of monitoring it. But surely your not giving the go ahead to other to do it as well, as it is mains safety issue were talking about.

Cheers George
The reliability of any fuse is something you should ABSOLUTELY be able to count on, as well as trust that the manufacturer of any fuse is sophisticated enough to accurately rate what is essentially (or only) a safety item. If they're not able to at least do that they should get their act together or take the product off the market. Qualms…I got qualms...
Hey, Wolfie, are you losing it? All fuses have less than 100% reliability. Even the LITTELFUSE.