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The new Synergistic Research BLUE fuses ....

New SR BLUE fuse thread ...

I’ve replaced all 5 of the SR BLACK fuses in my system with the new SR BLUE fuses. Cold, out of the box, the BLUE fuses stomped the fully broken-in SR BLACKS in a big way. As good as the SR BLACK fuses were/are, especially in comparison with the SR RED fuses, SR has found another break-through in fuses.

1. Musicality ... The system is totally seamless at this point. Its as if there is no system in the room, only a wall to wall, front to back and floor to ceiling music presentation with true to life tonality from the various instruments.

2. Extension ... I’ve seemed to gain about an octave in low bass response. This has the effect of putting more meat on the bones of the instruments. Highs are very extended, breathing new life into my magic percussion recordings. Vibes, chimes, bells, and triangles positioned in the rear of the orchestra all have improved. I’ve experienced no roll-off of the highs what so ever with the new BLUE fuses. Just a more relaxed natural presentation.

3. Dynamics ... This is a huge improvement over the BLACK fuses. Piano and vibes fans ... this is fantastic.

I have a Japanese audiophile CD of Flamenco music ... the foot stomps on the stage, the hand clapping and the castanets are present like never before. Want to hear natural sounding castanets? Get the BLUE fuses.

4. Mid range ... Ha! Put on your favorite Ben Webster album ... and a pair of adult diapers. Play Chris Connor singing "All About Ronnie," its to die for.

Quick .... someone here HAS to buy this double album. Its a bargain at this price. Audiophile sound, excellent performance by the one and only Chris Connor. Yes, its mono ... but so what? Its so good you won’t miss the stereo effects. If you’re the lucky person who scores this album, please post your results here.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRASONIC-CLEAN-The-Finest-Of-CHRIS-CONNOR-Bethlehem-Jazz-1975-NM-UNPLAYED-...

Overall impressions:

Where the RED fuses took about 20 hours to sound their best, and the BLACK fuses took upwards of 200 hours of total break-in, the BLUE fuses sounded really good right out of the box ... and that’s without doing anything about proper directional positioning. Not that the BLUE fuses don’t need breaking in, they do. The improvement continues through week three. Its a gradual break-in thing where each listening session is better than the last.

Everything I described above continues to break new ground in my system as the fuses continue breaking in. Quite honestly, I find it difficult to tear myself away from the system in order to get things done. Its truly been transformed into a magical music machine. With the expenditure of $150.00 and a 30 day return policy there’s really nothing to lose. In my system, its like upgrading to a better pre amp, amp, CD player or phono stage. Highly recommended.

Kudos to Ted Denney and the entire staff at SR. Amazing stuff, guys. :-)

Frank

PS: If you try the SR BLUE fuses, please post your results here. Seems the naysayers, the Debbie Downers and Negative Nellie’s have hijacked the original RED fuse thread. A pox on their houses and their Pioneer receivers.

Frank



128x128oregonpapa
ps
747 posts
 
OK- now I've grown interested and am considering purchasing some of these fuses.  Can any of you somehow quantify the improvement of the Blue over the Black?  IE: If the Black is a 7.5 with 10 being the best, where would the Blue be?  Or, put another way, in percentage, how much better is the Blue compared to the Black?  Also, in an all-tube system, with mono amps, where in the chain would the fuses be most effective?

Thanks in advance.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Ps,
I can’t answer your first question as I am still using the Black fuses (quite happily) in my system. The 2nd question regarding most effective location for the upgraded fuse is going to be a specific individual scenario. It honestly will vary via system and components. There isn’t any universal "best site" in my opinion. It’s reduced to trial and error.
For me it was DAC, Line Stage then power amplifiers.  I'm sure there are those who will report the reverse order of mine 😊.
Charles 
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
@ps 
My experience earlier this year was to replace the fuses in my BAT power amp with a pair of sr black and there was an immediate and definite difference, much tighter bass, wider soundstage, lower noise floor, no I would not have believed it if I had not heard it as I was a true sceptic.
Then a few days ago I replaced the fuse in the ps of my exogal comet plus dac/preamp with another sr black and this time not much change. BUT i was then advised to try changing the directionality of the fuse, something again I took with a huge pinch of salt.
WHOA, say what! I simply could not believe the difference this time!

So overall for me I would say the dac/pre had the largest change but only after I had experimented with fuse direction.
So if you bite the bullet be prepared to at least try the idea of changing fuse direction as well.
Good luck and report back with your findings if you go that route.
mtseymour's avatar
mtseymour
22 posts
 
I'm upgrading some of my Black fuse to the Blue.  Just waiting for my dealer to fill his back-orders.  It's interesting that some SR products pop up in high-end non-SR systems. 

For example, I recently heard a demo with Linn Klimax, Soulution 520 pre/511 amp, Focal Sopra 3, and Nordost Valhalla 2 cables.  SR showed in the form of the Ground Box, Tranquility bases and Blue fuses.

In What's Best forum, I read about this interesting system with 
-Eera Tentation CD player on Stacore Advanced passive air isolation platform..
-NAT Audio Utopia 2 box pre-amplifier with outboard power supply. 
-NAT Audio SE2SE 211 SET mono amplifiers.
-Zu Definitions Mk. IV (Rev. B) speakers.
-Sablon Reserva ICs, speaker cables and Sablon Elite power cords.
-Westwick 8kVA balanced power isolation transformer on Stacore isolation platform.
-isolated AC line to the room w Oyaides dedicated lines & Furutech duplex outlets.
-Entreq ground boxes for all components.
-Symposium Isis rack and amp stands.
-Synergistic Research Black fuses throughout.

It seems that fuses can make a difference!

mitch2
3,969 posts
 
Curious whether any of you burn your fuses in using something like the audiodharma Cable Cooker?  If so, did you hear any changes?
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