NEW PROTOTYPE FUSES COMING >>>

twoleftears ...

4,300 posts "Improvement over improvement over improvement over improvement over.... One begins to wonder where the system started out from to allow for so much...."

For me, the trip down the stereo road all started out with a Nikko receiver, a Micro Seiki turntable, and a pair of Sonab 400 speakers way back in, I think, 1972. I thought it was great. Then, I discovered tubes. It has been a quest for better sound ever since.

Millercarbon ...

You are exactly correct. It is all about the love of music. I remember as a little kid back in the early 1940s during WWII ... I must have been only three or four years old. My parents hung out at the beach a lot. There was a dance hall right there on the boardwalk. I used to wander off and sit right at the front door and listen to music. Little did I know at the time that I was listening to some of the best big bands of the era. Orchestras like Tommy Dorsey, Glen Gray, and Glenn Miller come to mind.

I’ve carried the love of music with me all of my life. I’ve traveled through the Doo Wop and Rythem and Blues era. Through the BeBop jazz era. Through the Big Bill Broonzy blues era. I protested the Elvis and Beatles era and refused to listen to them because I believed they were making a fortune off of the backs of the great Black artists who came before them. Then, I settled in on West Coast jazz with the likes of Brubeck, Tjader, and Howard Rumsey’s Light House All-Stars. Then, other music-loving friends introduced me to classical music and opera. I wonder how many posters here own any Rita Streich albums, let alone ever heard of her?

So, that brings me around to my present-day stereo system, and all of the tweaks done to it. The only reason ... and I mean the ONLY reason I go through all of this is to GET ME CLOSER TO THE MUSIC, THE ARTISTS PLAYING IT, AND THE INSTRUMENTS THEY ARE USING TO PLAY IT.

At this point, I have collected well over 5000 LPs and several thousand CDs.

It is an incremental journey for sure, but some of the latest innovations like these new fuses ... and other things I cannot talk about in public, have worked to get me there in giant steps. Kudos to the designers for allowing that to happen.

Mega Kudos to the sweet lady in New Hampshire.

Frank

She's the best.

@oregonpapa 

Frank, I was trying to follow the thread but the tiresome from down under has made it difficult. 

I'm I right to so you think the fuses your review were in the same performance range as QSM yellow? If so, how do they rate price wise?

Do you have any opinion as to what type of equipment they would be best suited to? You mentioned it has "tube sound" so may it be better suited for solid state components?

Thanks

pauly ...

Thanks for the questions.

1. Yes, they are in the same performance range as the QSA Yellow fuses. I now have three of the prototype fuses to play with, and two of the QSA Yellow fuses as well. Overall, I’d say that both fuses are a revelation in the fused world, but overall, I am preferring the prototype fuses by quite a margin.

2. When I say tube-like, I’m not referring to that old-time tube gear sound. I’m talking about the more neutral sound of modern tube gear like Audio Research. It just seems more life-like in the area of a three-dimensional presentation like tubes do. The QSA does a nice job of fleshing out the details as good solid-state gear does. But the prototype fuses are no slouch in the detail department either ... just in a more relaxed way.

I took a date to a musical at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in Los Angeles one evening. We were early. There was a jazz quartet playing in the foyer. Bass, drums, keyboard, and soprano sax. We had about 45 minutes to listen before we had to enter the auditorium. What struck me the most was how relaxed that live, unamplified jazz combo sounded. I kept closing my eyes and comparing what I was hearing to my stereo rig at home. No contest. Real, live music is relaxed. It is detailed, has beautiful tonal structures, and is again relaxed. THAT is what I am getting from these prototype fuses. Not so much from the QSA Yellows.

3. Which fuse is better for tube or solid-state gear? I’d say it would be a matter of taste. As you can see from the above ... I’ve made my choice.

4. On price >>> I’ve made my humble opinion known to the manufacturer on a couple of occasions. If they stick to that, they will be VERY competitively priced. Once the word gets out, I think they will sell like hotcakes. What audiophile in his/her right mind wouldn’t want this?

On a side note, one of my audiophile friends came over last night for another listen. He’s the one that I did the first a/b/a/b/a/b comparisons of the two fuses with. His comment last night was ... "Frank, I actually think these prototypes are doing as much for the system as your Perfect Path Technologies "Gate."

So, I can’t say it any better than that. Take care ...

Frank

"Frank, I actually think these prototypes are doing as much for the system as your Perfect Path Technologies "Gate."

Impressive!