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What's going on with Synergistic Research fuses?

I live in California and a couple of weeks ago we had strange lightning storms that started the many fires burning in the State.  It also fried the fuse in my Pass XA30.5.  I got the amp second hand and it came with a SR Blue fuse.  I called Pass and they recommended a very cheap fuse which I ordered and installed.  Because I was curious, I took the SR sticker off the old burnt out fuse and found that it was a very cheap SIBA brand fuse underneath.  It is clear that SR is either not making the ceramic casing for this fuse or using the SIBA fuse and then doing stuff to it.  At the very worst, it's just slapping a sticker on it and charging a ton more

The thing is, I'm pretty sure I could hear a difference for the worse when I installed the cheap glass fuse post lightning storm.  Could it be that SR is modifying an existing fuse to make it sound better?  Maybe some more technically minded folks here on the forum could help me understand

thanks!
adam8179
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,940 posts
 
Is that the best you can do, Georgie? 

There is gear out there with decades of use that've never had their fuses replaced because they were properly designed. Pull those fuses out and they don't look anything like the ones you use in your silly slide shows.

I don't know (or care to know) what gear you use that has such an UNREGULATED inrush of current that it damages fuses in such short order, but, there you go.

All the best,
Nonoise
spenav
443 posts
 
@georgehifi
You really should talk to @atmasphere I know what he said. As for me, I am sorry, I cannot dismiss what I heard and am still hearing for what you believe based on theories. I choose reality. I wish I was like you, convinced beyond doubt that my ears and brain are lying to me but my imagination is not that fertile. When reality hit me as hard as the orange fuse, I have to tap out and admit that my theories are inaccurate or need further refinement. Sorry. 
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,962 posts
 
You’ve been told, many times, that the way a fuse holder is shaped doesn’t change over time unless you use a hammer to remove and insert a fuse.
The problem is many fuseholders are not exact, but fuses themselves even less so. I've seen many where the end contacts were not concentric with the glass bit, on crooked and the like. Combine that with a holder that is not made perfectly and its really easy to see how shifting the fuse around a bit to get a better fit can affect things. How I do it is to simply measure the voltage drop across the fuseholder, then rotate the fuse until I see the lowest drop. Easy enough for someone that isn't going to zap themselves (which you can do easily enough, so don't mess with the fuse if the circuit is live).
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,542 posts
 
To answer the posters question: Synergistic claim is they use millions of volts of electricity to charge the wire. I personally think that process weakens the value of the fuse. They do seem to blow quicker than regular fuses. Perhaps use a slightly higher value with the SR fuses.

ozzy
adam8179 OP
72 posts
 
Thanks for everybody's input on this topic!  I always learn a lot from there forums (fora?).  

Another complication:  After installing the new fuse, I was hearing a very slight almost inaudible mechanical hum coming from the amp.  (not coming from the speakers).  I re-installed the fuse and it has gone away.  My auditory memory is not sufficient to say that this accounts for the degraded sound I was hearing from having the SR fuse in there.  From what I'm hearing from a lot of you guys, it seems how the fuse is sitting in the amp can have an effect and by re-installing (I also rotated it) I was getting better contacts?  I guess the only way to be sure is to buy a new SR fuse and do an A/B.  I guess I'd be willing to do a $160 experiment.  With the amount of money I've poured into this hobby already that's chump change.  Whether or not I'm a chump remains to be seen :)
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