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
Charles, you have been and are the solid and reasonable rock for this thread.
As is the case in many a thread.

George (Jetter), your 13 point summary (as amended) gets my nomination for best post of the month.  Perhaps the year!

Best regards,
-- Al
 
@mac48025 

"...a fuse CAN'T effect (affect) sonics? Why not? Doesn't AC quality do so? Don't quality power cords do so? Why not the spot where all that AC current is condensed into a frail wire designed to disintegrate upon too much amperage? If that's not the weak link, what is?

You all miss the point - including Wolf. Anything could indeed affect sonics if equipment is badly designed or poorly maintained or malfunctioning. 

A power supply is supposed to be designed to provide clean power to the audio line signal and amplification and processing circuits. A great power supply design should NOT be affected by simple differences in a fuse under normal operating conditions and if said fuses are both adequately specified. 

Audio equipment should be designed to amplify and preserve the detail quality of the AUDIO signal (low S/N, low distortion etc.)  under normal operating conditions (includes significant variations in A/C power during the day as well as from location to location). This includes replacing the fuse! 

Audio equipment should NOT be designed to amplify minuscule differences in a fuse or an infinite number of other extraneous factors (room temperature, humidity, vibration etc.) Just look at all the isolation and various designs to minimize vibration pick up and rumble from a turntable!!! A great turntable minimizes distortion from the pick up of extraneous vibration a poorly designed or malfunctioning turntable picks up too much vibrations. 

Faulty or poorly designed equipment or poorly executed equipment setups are the reason a mere fuse can make a huge difference.

So there is No Can't - anything is possible in this crazy boutique world of high end audio  - only there should Not be big differences in fuses on excellent equipment.


A fuse can have a significant effect on the sound of an audio system when that fuse melts. Suddenly, no sound. All fuses that hew to proper ratings, and are made by reputable companies (Littelfuse…been around forever, their stuff is first class), do the same thing…contain tiny wires in either fast or slow blow configurations, and somehow manage to NOT degrade anything in any meaningful way in countless piles of well sorted gear ("Marge, back away from the Magicos, I think the fuse in the Diavelet is degrading!"), regardless of what Paul McGowan might believe (they "can" lead to better sound? Not exactly a ringing endorsement...And exactly HOW do they do that, Paul?). You may be led to believe they do improve everything by reading posts loaded with astonishing claims and ZERO explanations of why they do a better job and that's fine for some, but In the face of the hype and my own experience with SR fuses, I simply call baloney. Also, blind testing, the suggestion of which does strike fear into the meek Faithful, isn't useful for all things but for this would at least be interesting and the results could be ignored if they rocked anybody's emotional boat. However, unless the "break in" instantly wears off when a Magic Fuse is removed and replaced by a less precious fuse back and forth in such a test, I bet it the results would be very revealing.