The Synergistic Research Orange Fuse ... Further thoughts.

Frank
You mean you DONT drive a 38 Special?
Interesting.

But I might be with 3 easy here as having spent $600 on blue fuses only 15 months ago or so I am not overkeen on blowing $640 to replace.
Maybe I will wait for the purple in another couple years......

Do not misread this, the orange may well be a huge improvement over the blue but not for me right now.

Got a box full of old fuses already......

@oregonpapa  Thanks, Frank.  For further clarification:

I had the Blue fuses in the system for over two years. I pulled them out and installed the Orange fuses. Then, I listened to the difference.

...Amp, line stage, phono stage, and the CD player. Four fuses total.

The comparison was to your system with the 4 blue fuses in 4 components versus the orange fuses in the same components (and system)? Memory of the sound of your 'former blue system' versus the "active" new 'orange' one, correct?

david_ten ...

Correct.

 All of my evaluations are based upon what I hear in my own system, no one else's. Over time, I've been fairly consistent in saying that. Same electronics. Same music. Same cabling. The only change made were the fuses.  Out with the old and in with the new.

Frank

uberwaltz ...

I hear you. Someone in another thread, maybe it was you, asked if there was a demand on the secondary market for used after-market fuses. I've never tried to sell them, opting instead to just giving them away to my down-and-out audiophile friends to use in their systems. I also, gave fuses to a couple of naysayers to try out. :-)

By the way, my very first car was a 1936 Chevy coupe. Bought it from my uncle for twelve dollars. He gave me terms ... a dollar a month. At the end of the year, as I was handing him the last dollar, he held up his hand, then reached into his wallet and gave me eleven dollars. When I asked what he was doing, he said ... "I just wanted to see if you would meet the terms and pay me as agreed." He gave me the car for free out of respect for a fifteen-year-old kid's honesty.  :-)

Uncle Burl ... RIP

Frank

@oregonpapa Frank, I need to challenge the methodology of your ’comparison’ as I understand it (post your clarification).

I believe it is especially important since you have self identified yourself as a beta tester and have shared your findings across 3 threads (if memory serves me).

Please know I am not disputing your findings (yet)...they may well hold...but I am now questioning them.

Please know this is coming from someone who is far more invested in SR than I believe you are.

I’m also familiar with SR’s improvements (and track record with new introductions) as one moves from a previous generation product to a new one.

If I am incorrect in what follows, please offer your corrections.

1. Audio Memory is fickle and tricky. This holds even when the comparisons are close in time. Removing 4 fuses in 4 different components takes time. Installing 4 fuses takes time. Having the components settle after being off and out of system takes time. Break-in time for the fuses, though shorter now, does add another time element. Were your fuses stock out of the box or were they specially broken in for you?

2. To A/B a single change isn’t easy. 4 changes simultaneously is quite a feat.

3. I’m assuming you did not A/B/A and repeat (?)

4. Directionality? Was it checked? By specific component?

5. Was there a reason why you did not compare the fuses one fuse/component at a time? In other words only one new orange fuse in the system with 3 blue fuses. Times 4.

6. Was there a reason you did not take a stepped approach. One component, then two? For example, starting with the most upstream or most downstream component.

7. Was there overlap with your Stop It applications? From your posts, it appears so. If that is the case, how are you separating out contributions from one or the other and both?

Thanks.