Synergistic Red Fuse ...
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Think of it as a mental exercise. You’re the one that’s been guessing the whole time anyway. And incorrectly I might add. ;-)
" So your saying I should waste more time trying to figure things out rather than asking the experts? IS that what you tell your customers when they ask ask about your teleportation tweak? Geoff if I indulged in your recommended mental exercises I think my mind would wilt. Maybe that would make me more likely to buy something from you? :^) |
The beauty of this hobby is there is no right or wrong. David says more power to the fuses! Geoff says none and sells the overpriced Sony Walkman to prove it. And beeswax is right out! Just when I thought I figured out if I prefer tubes or transistors.... You guys just set me back 40 years. Oh well, back to the drawing board.... |
I also think that using a "better" fuse with a fused speaker like Magnepan, where the fuse is actually in the signal path, has the best chance of reaping the biggest rewards. But hey I gotta agree with Geofkait at least somewhat on this one. Having speakers with no fuses at all ain't such a bad thing either. |
In all fairness, as I mentioned earlier, the fuse I replaced with Synergistic Red in my Audio Research sp16 looked quite substantial and well thought out, not your garden variety fuse to start with. Why would a company like Audio Research limit performance of their highly regarded products with a 10 cent fuse? It does not appear that they did. That fuse surely would cost more, maybe as much as a few bucks even assuming ARC buys their parts in bulk and gets a better price accordingly. |
Charles, thanks. That’s what I was assuming. I guess eventually SR will update their website to reflect the newer product. I hope they shed some light on the Graphene question. Geoff seems to think its used in the casing for shielding which might be fine but the vendor blurbs mention nothing about that but do cite the several million times more conductive thing. I’m hoping these things will be clarified at some point in the future. Many may not care about technical details but some do. |
Can someone help me out with this? I see red fuse and sr20 quantum fuse products on synergistic research website if I search it for the word "fuse" but no "Black" fuse. I do see reference to SR black fuse at highend electronics website here: http://highend-electronics.com/products/synergistic-research-black-quantum-fuses and the highend site is where the use of graphene and other SR specialty technologies are mentioned. Does SR cover the Black fuse on their site? Also what is the sr20 Quantum fuse? One would have to assume that is a different product. Where are people buying Black fuses? Highend-electronics? Any others? |
Fancy fuses are obviously not for everyone. Is there something wrong with that? Not everyone who bites apparently gets the same results. Some more, some less, some negative some none perhaps. To me its not reasonable to gloss things over and think that everyone will play the game and will get the same results. Look I tried and the music I am most familiar with still sounds pretty much the same. So I should wait a hundred hours of burn in time for that magical transformation to occur? One better be prepared to get that in before the 30 days is up for sure. Just saying. YMMV as they say. |
" as Charles has said it’s the listening that matters not the technology. " Thing is you have to buy to listen. Seller benefits first. Maybe even in the end if not returned. You have to make the decision of what to try and buy next based on something. It can’t be listening if you don’t have it yet. Unless you hop over to a friends or dealers and do some serious listening to various fuses. Just trying to stick to bankable facts. What we hear is what we hear. No one else hears those facts directly or even the same way. |
If only someone with a credible technical background would come on here and be known as a fancy fuse fan my interest might be rekindled. Where are those people? Unfortunately Geoff does not count in my book. He is apparently a smart and educated guy who loves theories and science fiction but has no credibility as a result of machina dynamica. |
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You are such a cynic." Hmm, am I? Well, in that case let's just all buy one of Geoff's hot rodded portable cd players and call it a day. Won't run you much more than black fuse. :^) http://www.machinadynamica.com/index.html |
I think everyone has to find their own path. Pied Piper geoffkait will be happy to lead anyone in need and with some time and money to waste on their hands. You never know....maybe he’s on to something! His hot rod products could end up saving someone tons of money. Until the "Last Tweak" syndrome kicks in of course. Like fuses and a lot of high end audio, only one way to find out. |
I suspect there are many others out there either sitting on the fence or waiting to be convinced who would appreciate a balanced discussion. But nothing wrong with a good old fashioned rah rah thread either if that’s what one is looking for. Hey Fox News and CNN each get to put their own spin on things uninhibited for teh most part and draw good ratings so why not fuse threads. |
I am open to either possibility. In fact its on record several times in this thread alone I believe where I’ve said I have no doubt a fuse CAN make a difference. Its the rah rah mentality and attempts to silence dissenters that I disapprove of. Especially since the most trusted technical people on this site are at a loss to explain what people hear. That does not discount what people hear. It just means that the book is still open in terms of understanding things. Directionality is another issue. So rah rah is fine by those who have realized value but it is clearly not a lock that others will. Especially if a long burn in is truly required and return period is 30 days. That’s a losing combination for sure that many could face. i think it was a skeptic who pointed that out earlier. Shunning dissenters is a sure way to skew the results that others might look to for guidance. |
It is worth noting that leaving tube gear in general on has a downside compared to SS. Although some SS amps do consume considerable power when idle. The class d amps I use do not so I leave them on however the manual also has warnings to users about replacing fuses voiding warranties and such. These things do matter and are worth pointing out don't you think? |
Its true that some tube devices have rep for running tubes harder than others and individual tube life varies so it will vary but still worth noting. I’m on third set of tubes in ARC pre-amp that I’ve had for four or 5 years now. It has 3 tubes in main pre-amp section and 3 in phono. The tube in first slot in phono section is the one that matters for phono noise levels I have found and needs replacing most often. I elect to not leave the ARC on when not needed to preserve tube life in taht I do not find warmup to be a significant thing for me. You would think most tubes have a long life and would not be impacted by an extra hundred hours or so but I’m sure it varies. Bel canto amps (Class D not tube) stay on most of teh time unless away for extended periods. Same with BC c5i Class D integrated I have. Bel Canto actually recommends this I believe. The devil is always in the details and usually varies case by case. |
Seriously I wonder has anyone ever heard a room done up with synergistic research stuff at a show? Do other rooms manage to compete or sound better in people's assessment? How do they demonstrate the effects of their stuff? Can they switch it in and out for comparison the good old fashioned way somehow? Does Syn research do Capital Audiofest? I hope to get there this year maybe and am interested to see and hear how this stuff all works. |
All systems have some form of distortion to some degree since none are perfect. The first basic trick to good sound is to minimize noise and distortion especially the more offensive kinds. Fuses are low in the food chain in terms of their overall impact on noise and distortion compared to most of the other usual suspects. If someone hears a difference with a fuse or other similar RELATIVELY minor tweak, that is probably a good indicator that most of the other bigger more common culprits are in check. Or maybe the original fuse needed reseating or had some other issue that the change fixed. I don’t see how anyone would object to calling a fuse a relatively minor tweak on e the grand scale of things, but I suspect some will. IMHO YMMV and all that good stuff as always. |
Charles that is a reasonable approach that helps clarify the pecking order of things and helps put things in perspective. Minor tweaks are minor tweaks and only really of value once the big ones are addressed first. I'd just hate for people to get the impression that audiophile fuses are the easy solution to fix whatever ails their setup. Maybe they are but only after many other things are in order first and also probably if the investment in dollars is such that a few hundred more for expensive fuses is not a problem. After all as fuses go they ARE expensive. Way more so than most. I think that is hard to argue. But perhaps they are worth it once a big investment is made and now one wants to dot the i s and cross the t s. Just because I have not seen the value so far or that others have does not assure the next guy of anything. |
" You view 100 dollar fuses as very expensive as you compare them to generic fuses,believe me, I get your point. " I doubt it’s just me. Someone do a proper survey. It can be of "audiophiles only" even to skew the results in a useful manner. They might not want to come on this thread to state their opinions and be thought of as a cheapskate. :^) Inquiring minds want to know. Personally I'm a renowned cheapskate who kicked and screamed all the way while still sinking as much money as I have into my Hifi habit. |
That is interesting because as I mentioned the filament in the ARC sp16 is clearly asymmetrical as I recall so it should be easy to specify which way to insert that into the fuse holder mounted on the back of the unit "correctly" by the pre-amp maker who should know. Oh well, there is always hope still for a non-believer I suppose. At least I get to choose my own favorite fuse direction or not bother at all when I can’t tell a difference. That is more convenient than there being a "right" and "wrong" way for sure and maybe getting it wrong I must say. The customer is always right........ OP BTW thanks for not banning the cynics from your thread like some fuse threads in these parts and giving us someplace we can roost and banter perhaps for the benefit of those whose minds are not made up. |
" if one can’t hear the improvement the SR Black fuses make, then one needs to pay attention to the micro-vibrations first " I’m still not sold that one will always hear an improvement even then which is probably old news but first things first for sure. So if I ask that guy at ARC he’ll be able to tell me which way to properly insert my fuse I took out in order to try the Red Fuse? Otherwise I guess its still just try it both ways and see which means whichever way I like is the right way and there is no wrong answer. That’s a pretty easy test to pass and smart marketing to keep everyone happy and not make it hard for the paying customers !!! :^) |
Charles I use isolation stands and platforms under speakers. Gear rests on rock solid very heavy table on ground level concrete foundation with thin dense carpet and pad. My main speakers are in an adjacent room from my gear. My speakers in my room with my gear can go as loud as possible even with turntable sitting a few feet forward of them. It's all rock solid. The only moving parts are the turntable. I use music server with wifi connection to streamer. No wires. Also mu metal foil around phono step up former. Also good quality Pangea power cords and power conditioning. Digital and line level gear in separate outlets from power amp. Very highly tweaked to minimize noise and distortion. It it sounds really good hard to beat IMHO or at least I like it a lot and would not trade. Took a long time and a lot of attention and some money to get there. Wish you could hear it. Cheers. |
