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
I will compare stock fuse with Blue fuse in coming days and give my full feedback . Normally when i change any component in my system i can at least hear  change in sound color. But that was not the case with the fuse. 
Jay23 ....

Thank you for clarifying ... much appreciated. :=)

Actually, there seems to be more transparency and the highs are extended further than with the BLACK fuses. Not as much as with the bass though. I think I’ve gained an octave or so in the bass.

I’ve had two audiophile friends over on separate occasions to hear the difference the BLUE fuses have made in the system and both had the same comment ... "your system has become seamless."

On rolling off the highs ... I know recording engineers roll off highs while transferring analog tapes to digital CD’s to get rid of the tape hiss. I don’t like recordings like that. I’ll take the hiss and keep the highs.

verapsaneni ....

If it were me and I didn’t hear any difference, I’d return the fuse for a replacement and try again. You may have gotten a dud if such a thing exists. These are just too good for you to not hear the improvement.

Frank
oregonpapa wrote,

"On rolling off the highs ... I know recording engineers roll off highs while transferring analog tapes to digital CD’s to get rid of the tape hiss. I don’t like recordings like that. I’ll take the hiss and keep the highs."

Please someone tell me that’s not true. Mainly because if they rolled off the highs above the frequency of tape hiss there wouldn’t be any highs at all. There would be no air. I’m in deep kim chi if that actually is true since oh, I don’t know, something like 98% of all my CDs are taken from analog tapes. Since tape hiss is primarily in the spectrum 4,000 to 5,000 Hz the engineers would have to start the roll off well below 4,000 Hz to be effective, no?

The hiss reduction functionality that is provided these days in professional audio editing programs works in a far more sophisticated manner than simply rolling off the highs. For example, the user can define a very brief segment or segments of the material in which there is no music, allow the program to sample and analyze the hiss during those moments, and by taking advantage of modern computing horsepower "subtract it out" from the musical passages.

Of course, that is not to say that there won’t be undesirable side-effects. There certainly can be, but to a greater or lesser degree depending on the judgment, musical sensibilities, and expertise of the user. And more specifically on how judiciously he or she adjusts the numerous settings that are involved in using any such program, and on how aggressive he or she chooses to be in minimizing the hiss. And depending also, of course, on the nature of the material and the amount of hiss that is present to begin with.

Regards,
-- Al