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
Thank you Frank for the effusive compliments on my audio systems.  The Altec amps only have the casework and transformers remaining.  At SR, the tech suggested 8 amp fuses after the amp rated 5 amp fuses blew.  This was after I informed him the the amps have two massive (7" X 3") storage caps which cause a great sustained inrush of power to fill.  On my solid state gear and speakers for my Video system, he told me to stick with the rated fast blow fuses. 

Grover Huffman uses the Mel Torme CD for auditioning equipment such as at the Newport Show.  As to Sinatra, there are many very fine CD/LPs which match Torme although I have many of his as well.  Remastering of his Capitol LPs on CDs has been an issue with the earliest being weaker sounding and the Norberg 2000 period remasteing ruined with his overuse of Sonic Solutions software, filtering out the highs.  I found an excellent reissue box from UK which has the best sound for the Capitol mono LPs which are very inexpensive (probably the reissue of the very expensive UK older set).
https://www.amazon.com/Capitol-Years-1953-62-Frank-Sinatra/dp/B00OAF8D3C/ref=sr_1_7?s=music&ie=U... There are several top quality remastered Columbia 78 CDs as well including Andreas Meyers
https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Frank-Sinatra-Columbia-Years/dp/B00009PJS2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&q... no reverb added remastering

The last item I want to address is the increased benefit of the Black SR over the Red SR duplex outlet.  It's effect is the same as the fuses but less prominent in my system once I installed the Black fuses.  I haven't tried the Black outlet with standard fuses and I'm not going to bother. 

Both my Altec and Dynaco ST70 amps are not conventional and are voltage regulated designs.  Grover dislikes ultralinear amps so his designs are different.  The Dynaco is the best Frank or Robert ever heard and it's not expensive to change a few components and the transformer tap.  Superb tight and deep bass from a ST70 is a rare thing, going down to 20 Hz on my Signature IIIs.

Hi fleschler, would you mind expanding on what you mean by your Dynaco ST70 is not a conventional amp?  I have a couple and was wondering if you replaced the fuse in it and if so which rating did you use?  If so, was there much of an impact?
Thanks
Well, I installed a slo-blo 4 amp fuse on SR advice as a 3 amp may blow too easily. It removed an upper end brightness as well as tightened the imaging bass and brought out more detail, more music. Then I plugged the whole system into a black SR duplex (free fuse with the duplex-a win win situation)

The amp does not use the ultralinear center transformer tap. I don’t know what Grover does exactly but it changes the amp from slow to fast, deep and powerful. He installs a storage cap which runs diagonally nearly the length of the amp underneath. He installs solid state rectification but keeps the tube for soft turn-on purposes. The 7199 tube is really a great input tube and some modern designs use 12ax7s instead. To get the fabulous dimension, dynamics and tonal richness I have mullard el34s. You could phone Grover for advice on the design. He’s behind in making cables so he can’t do any mods right now. I have another amp waiting to be modded for over a year. Of course I am using his tremendous bargain Empress cables throughout my systems.
Thanks fleschler for your response.  I agree with you that so far the Mullard EL34s are the way to go for my amps.  I would assume that you are referring to the old production Mullards. 
Al             03-14-17

"  Also, regarding the correction that you subsequently made to your post that I quoted from, FYI you can edit a post during the first 30 minutes after it is submitted. Click on the gear shaped icon at the upper right corner of the post, and click "edit. "

Thanks Al. I do find this information very helpful.