Guys,

Synergistic has been quick to respond and replaced any of the fuses I popped at no charge and were willling to work with me to analyze posssible causes. My solution was easy. I turn my Carey SLP-05 preamp on first and then the power supply. The problem we all seem to be having is the current rush when we turn the power supply on. It is apparently a bigger issue with tube equipment. Also our gear could have weakened caps? Since I have replaced all my gear with Orange and now some purple fuses the music has become more real and musical. Improved imaging and detail, etc. The purple are even better. You do have to have good equipment to here major improvements and decent hearing as well. I replaced the fuses on my othe system in FL with the orange fuses but the improvements were not as dramatic. Good equipment there too, but not like my main system here in Chicago. I still wonder whey the cheap fuses never popped?

Greg

Glad you got yours figured out, Greg

I had a post last year where I tried the SR Blue in an integrated amp and it blew upon first power up.  The dealer recommended going to a higher-rated but Audio Research did not condone nor recommend this.  There was no problem whatsoever with that amp and this only occurred with the SR fuse.

The current ORANGE30 sale had me considering another go as I have changed electronics to different ARC models now with separates.

I talked to another dealer today, nice lady out in CA, and she said many customers up the values but nonetheless if I want to give it another go at the mfg ratings they are happy to sell and give a full refund if they pop.  This frustrates me that the problem even exists.  Spending $110 each at this point in the game is meaningless....I really wish I could comfortably try them out to let my ears decide if anything happens....oh well.

It's a dilemna for sure,

They really do sound better with good gear. Synergistic told me the cheaper fuses are not very accurate on their rated values so they could be significantly higher than their rating. If that's the case the manufacturers would have to be careful not to rate their recommended values as high.  Moving to a higher amp rating is  Synergistics normal suggestion and they say their amp ratings are very accurate. It worked for me and the technician at Cary was OK with a small jump in amp rating. I called first just to clarify things.

God luck

Greg

"Synergistic told me the cheaper fuses are not very accurate on their rated values so they could be significantly higher than their rating."

Have you ever looked at the catalogs from the major fuse companies? Maybe by cheaper fuses they mean imported fuses from dubious sources such as China.

If you buy fuses from a major US company than you can be sure of it's rating. If you pull up that fuse type and current rating data from that company there is likely an entire page detailing every characteristic that can be measured! They need to know exactly  how the fuse they are selling, that will wind up in consumer products, medical products ad other diversified electrical gear will behave under adverse conditions. Things like how quick it will blow during a direct short, how long that a 10 amp fuse will last passing 10.2 amps of current before it expires, if a current surge, say during startup that exceeds 10 by a large margin will hold for a specific time before it blows and so on. These important facts are presented in the manufactures catalogs. They MUST meet certain standards to get UL approval and to get that approval is not easy. 

Do these fancy fuses have all of that behind them? Even if they start out with a UL listed fuse, by modifying them, they will not meet the specs anymore.

Wait until someones house burns to the ground and the investigators pinpoint the cause to an amplifier and to there horror find it has snake oil fuses in it. That will be the end of that particular company until they open shop in another name.

BillWojo

I blew a purple Saturday and am bummed. The system was off and it had to be static electricity. SO I ordered another at 2 amps versus 1 amp SB from ALfred. I assumed it was my fault. I really dont like he stock fuse.