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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
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
What fuse is used on a Pass X350.5? and where is it located? Thank you
I believe it is a 5a fuse and it should be located directly above the iec power socket in a round twistlock holder.

But you should double check your manual or with Pass themselves

Good luck
davidpritchard's avatar
davidpritchard
866 posts
 
Pass Labs certainly make some wonderful products. The PassX350.5 amplifier does not use fuses but instead uses a circuit breaker.
Many of the smaller Pass amps such as my Pass Labs INT-60amp, their headphone amp HP-1, and the First Watt 7 do use fuses which are easily removed (as uberwaltz3 described). I have upgraded these three amps with the Synergistic Research Blue fuses and am very happy with the sonic improvement. The sense of increased soundstage depth and a more relaxed flow to the music makes the Blue fuse worth trying.

David Pritchard



uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
Shoot!
My bad, I misread and was looking at the 30.5!
Yes indeed the 350.5 which is a heck of an amp, very nice , uses breaker technology.

Thx for correcting my blunder David.

😔😔😔
gita
37 posts
 
I own a decent solid state integrated. I put in some hi fi tuning fuses that I'd bought on sale and was satisfied with the results. Not dramatically different but noticeably better, though not nearly of the magnitude of improvement resulting from the Nordost Frey 2 power cord.

Recently I bought my "last amp" (don't laugh.) A new Cary sli-80 integrated, an all tube unit with all the factory upgrades. 

After burning it in for over a hundred hours, the first order of business was replacing the abysmal stock Electro Harmonix tubes with nos Amperex, RCA, and Psvane kt120 output tubes. These tubes completely changed the amp for the better. 

Somehow, the SR Blue fuse caught my eye. Even though I'd exceeded my budget and burned through all my "fun money", I decided to take a chance. Heck, I could always send it back. 

Shocked, stunned and amazed are adjectives a bit too strong for my reaction but it's safe to say that I'm more than pleasantly surprised. 

It ticks all the audiophile boxes but I'll particularly mention that activity deep in the soundstage that was previously vague is now clear and easily identified.

I've been in the audio hobby for decades, including 12 years in retail (c-j, Airtight, Accuphase, Verity Audio, etc.) I've heard many tweaks. I'm pretty confident in saying that, for me, in my system, this is the most cost effective improvement I'm aware of.




clive101
8 posts
 

Please add me to the club

I have two power cables supplied by Bryston came as a matched pair for the amps ( caveat, although the same, could measure different. Assume the same ? ).

Both plugged into Torus TOT AVR and up to the Headamp GSX Mk2 so at the Amp end could not see the difference when I changed the power connection over.

I picked the Blue fuse several times not once did I get it wrong, better sound by far more transparent, clean natural vocals etc. Worth the extra for me.

Note this was with a New Fuse not burnt in

More to follow as I will try 5 with my main system in a few weeks as these are burning in at the momnet


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