A couple of friends had their Sony and Oppo units modified by ModWright and the outcome was substantial improvement of the sound quality across the entire sonic spectrum. If the Sony HAPZ1 is similarly improved then I would say it's money well spent just as Bill (Brownsfan) states.
Charles |
Hi Nyame.
What components did you use these two power cords on in your system?
Charles, |
Hello Frank,
I just received your CDs today. 7 of them! I'll be doing a lot of listening beginning with the Montgomery Brothers later tonight, I must hear Buddy play the vibraphone. Frank thanks so much for taking the time to do this favor.
Sincerely,
Charles |
Hi Frank,
I listened to 5 of the CDs last night and it was an enjoyable session for certain. Buddy Montgomery was a treat to hear playing the vibraphone, I’ll seek out more of his recordings as a vibraphonist. He’s equally proficient with the vibraphone and piano, what a talent.
The very pleasant surprise was Zoot Sims. I’ve always liked him but your recording is exceptional mono, so palpable and such a strong breathing flesh and blood realism. Jerry Lloyd’s trumpet was excellent, he can play. All of my Zoot recordings are stereo (that were recorded well).
The Israeli Percussion Orchestra was really well recorded and very enjoyable including the female vocalist. The drums were realistic to say the least. With the full orchestra playing it seemed as though I was sitting in the live audience. Very dynamic recording particularly track 4. I used my sound level meter set on C weighted/fast. That track had a low to peak range of 55 db !!! Yikes 😊
The Almeida was good, especially so when the Cellist joined in. Emily Remler was good (I have one recording of her).
Next up are the classical guitarists. I have to play the Zoot Sims again tonight. Thanks again Frank.
Charles
|
Frank,
It just is another example of how two very different audio systems can yield such similar musical/-sonic results. With the exception of the Black fuses our speakers, source, electronics and cabling share no overlapping brands. What we have in common is the goal of constructing a system that emphasizes and serves the beauty and emotional power of music.
That’s all I want from my system and based on your numerous comments on your captivating listening experiences at home, you most certainly have achieved that as well. Yes a 60 year old mono recording thats full of musical beauty and communicates straight to the soul. Toes tapping and head ah bobbin, absolutely 😊. Full bodied,rich and fat tenor sax tone, oh yes Zoot and company were in the house!
Charles |
Frank,
I am a Hugh fan and admirer of Milt Jackson and have a sizable collection of his recordings. I don't have any from the Roost label/mono era but will seek them out. My recordings of Jackson are with him not with the MJQ but with others. I believe that the MJQ format actually restricted his talents and often held him back. His efforts with Wes Montgomery, Ray Charles, John Coltrane and Ray Brown for example are all excellent.
Charles |
Frank,
I don't have the Savoy titles of Jackson. I do have Miles Davis "Bags Groove" a 1954 Prestige mono recording that features Milt Jackson (and Thelonious Monk ☺) and sounds wonderful. If Savoy matches this in quality oh boy.
Charles |
Frank,
I’m looking forward to hearing these recordings for sure. Lucky Thompson? Nice! He can really play the tenor saxophone. I figured that you likely had "Bags Groove", you have such good taste.
Charles |
Bill,
It's difficult to assign a numerical value sometimes but definitely the SR Red fuse is very good. If budget is a concern for anyone I'd enthusiastically recommend their base SR 20 Quantum. These were a clear improvement over the stock fuses in my components.
Bill by the way I read your comments on another thread on the Duelund wires and I'm not surprised by your impressions. I use their CAST copper foil capacitors and know the quality this company is capable of.
Charles |
Bill,
I'd describe it this way based solely on the positive results in my system. Red ="very"good, Black=superb. SR Red fuses at 1/2 price =superb value 😊. Bill I believe that you've experienced premium fuses in the past with your various projects and appreciate their contributions.
Charles |
Hi Bill,
I'd follow the strategy of one Black fuse at a time. Again the SR Red fuse is quite good but the Black is a clear level above. You may as well aim high.
Charles |
Bill,
Which component are you starting with? In my system the greater perceived impact was Line Stage and DAC (equal) then the power amplifier. Of course there's hierarchy variations depending on system/components. Wow! What a comeback win for the Detroit Lions 😀
Charles |
Hello Dave,
I believe that the final sentence of your post is the essence of wisdom and truth. No matter how strongly one may attest to the quality or attributes of an audio product there are going to be contrary rebuttals, it’s just life. Doesn’t matter if the topic concerns fuses, footers, equipment/component stands, tubes, wire etc. There will never be unanimous concensesus on anything, ever!
The beauty of it all is we as individuals get to make these choices based on our specific desires and standards. This is all that matters as you astutely point out. One man’s excellent is another man’s terrible. Trust your own ears and judgement.
Charles |
Hello Dave,
Thanks for sharing your insight and observations based on various products in your system. What has struck me is that these various system tweaks/accessories have a very prominent accumulative positive effect. In my personal case, premium fuses and AC wall outlets, component stands for vibration management (Star Sound), upgrading capacitors (Duelund and Jupiter) and component grounding (via the Tripoint Troy) all= superior musical sound quality . I’m sure there’s is some good fortune/luck factor involved but the end result has been immense satisfaction and frequent (and long) listening sessions. Tube selection/rolling has been fun and certainly rewarding.
Once you have determined that you’re very happy with your components and speakers for the long term, these audio accessories/tweaks help extract their full sonic potential.
Charles |
Dave,
Thanks for sharing that review although I have to say that it affirms what many posters on this thread had discovered for themselves . This review will give a wider audience for music lovers seeking an effective audio product to improve their listening experiences. His finding the source components more demonstrative of the Black fuse than the power amplifier matches my outcome. No doubt that this is very likely brand and/or component dependent.
I did not use the Synergistic Research AC duplex. Mine are the Avatar Audio Afterburner 8 but they certainly were quite an upgrade over the stock unit. I agree with the reviewer in that these types of products are exceptionally high value and cost effective choices.
Charles |
Hello Al,
As with Dave I always appreciate your insightful and well reasoned contributions. Funny thing is that my Coincident Line Stage and each mono block SET use a 3 amp slo blo fuse. My Line Stage is one of the very early models of the first year (2009). The current ones use a 1 amp slo blo fuse. I'd describe the mono blocks as having "noticeable" improvement but in the subtle range . The DAC and Line Stage reveal considerable improvement that's immediately recognizable.
Al, although you aren't a user of the upgrade fuse products as many on this thread obviously are I greatly appreciate your intelligence and very mature decorum. You effectively demonstrate that forum contributors can disagree and express opposing opinion/perspective without gratuitous insults and childish put down summation. No doubt that others recognize your consistent mature manner.
Charles |
Hi Bill,
Congratulations on your Lyngdorf, I'm glad that it meets all of your audio system needs. I've seen reviews/articles on it but haven't heard one. I'm a thoroughly happy SET lifer I've come to realize. It gratifying to find music listening contentment by which ever means gets us there 😊😊.
Charles |
Frazee,
No need for apologies, you've expressed the main point unambiguously. The power cables improved your system's sound quality and that says it all. Congratulations.
Charles |
Well, I’d surely hope and expect a 15K line stage to provide (far) greater sonic/system impact than a 120.00 dollar premium fuse. One is an expensive and major component, the other an effective tweak that’s not even 1 % the cost of the ARC preamplifier. Some sense of proportion is advisable. 😊 The Indians just tied the Cubs in the 8th inning. This has the making of a classic 7th game.
|
Hi Frank,
That's been my philosophy as well, getting the most potential from your current components. It has been very enjoyable and educational and my system has certainly responded. You have definitely extracted significant improvements in your tweaking endeavors.
Charles |
Hi John,
7th game that goes into extra innings who could ask for more. It can be said without hyperbole that both teams battled and gave their all. Supremely competitive World Series, no shame for the Indians.
Charles |
Dave,
As most of us have experienced as we progress through ours lives, life can and will hit with the expected. No doubt your grandson is fortunate to be cared for by you and your wife.
I wish the very best to all of you.
Charles |
Hi Sns,
When I was using the Red fuses I had one blow when powering on one of my Frankenstein mono blocks. The past year I've used the Black fuses in my Line Stage, DAC and mono blocks without any problems.
You have two well regarded 845 SET amplifiers, how do they differ sonically from one another?
Charles |
Limniscate,
Some listeners don’t hear any(or little) difference with the premium fuses. The Reds were beneficial in my case and the Blacks were noticeably better. If you find that their effect is minimal just return them for a refund. What’s works for me may not do the same for you.
Sns,
Thank you for your reply. I use the Jupiter Copper foil capacitors (input coupling stage) in my Frankenstein amplifier and I am happy with them. They are not a dramatic (night/day) transformation but certainly improved the sound enough to make the effort worthwhile. I imagine that they’d have similar impact with your Turbo amplifier.
Different application but I got a more significant change with the Duelund CAST capacitors placed in my DAC (output coupling site) and in my speaker's crossover at the tweeter.
Charles |
Hi Dicockrum,
That was a very nice (and accurate) acknowledgement concerning Frank. I agree that the outreach and response involving many participants of this thread is an overwhelming sucess. We have improved the sound of our audio systems with the excellent Black fuses and have delightfully made new friends. The sharing of information regarding numerous recordings and exposure to new/unfamiliar musicians is but one wonderful byproduct due to this terrific thread. Thanks again Frank.
Merry Christmas to you all.
Charles |
I can accept the concept of sound quality hierarchy of no fuse-premium fuse-standard fuse infuse in that order. Its become clear to me that based on listening, the fuse seems to be a bottleneck in terms of sound quality. The upgrade fuses in my components simply and consistently improved the sound.
If I were to ever commission the building of custom components from scratch I’d go with a circuit breaker. In the here and now with my current components I’m very happy with upgrade quality fuses. It "may" be an advantage that my components require only one fuse as opposed to several/multiple fuses per component. I do believe however that this is just one variable among numerous others that affect the sound. I've heard components with fuses that sound as good or better than those that eschew them. So many factors determine the final sound quality of audio products. Audio is fascinating.
Charles
|
Nyame,
I agree that the more upgrading of fuses in one’s audio system the greater the impact on sound quality. Given the the innate caution or skepticism people have towards fuses(or tweaks in general) most aren’t willing to commit to this degree. I understand that reservation and it’s human nature. People are more comfortable with "try one first and see/hear what happens ". This was my initial approach to using premium quality fuses a few years ago.
If for example someone needs 5 or 6 fuses the cost can rise significantly, the majority of people will reject the "all fuses at once" method. I would have been very hesitant to begin this way in all candor. With 20/20 hindsight the result of entire system of fuse upgrading is now quite apparent. For some folks it’s a challenge to try even a single fuse, so I understand the common question of "where do you place the first fuse".
Factor in the fact that some listeners report no improvement with upgraded fuses and/or lack of "satisfactory " technical explanations and I can appreciate again the dipping toes into the water mindset, It's easy for me to enthusiastically recommend better fuses due to my terrific outcome of having them in my system's components.
Charles |
"Like many things in audio the raw data does not explain it all"
Bill that’s a reality I accepted long ago due to repeated listening encounters that defied "conventional wisdom " based on available technical specifications. Audio truly is a mixture of science and engineering principles but art as well. Certainty I believe the higher % of contribution is the former, yet enough art factors in to be undeniably relevant. By art I'm referring to those factors that clearly influence what we hear but have no (as of now) technical validity to support them.
I have a healthy curiosity about how and why things/products do what they do but not to the degree to prevent me from judging merit/worth based on listening. If someone asserts there’s no difference sonically between a 1 dollar and 100 dollar fuses it’d be foolish to buy the expensive fuse (obviously).
I lack any desire to convince others who dismiss my and other listeners very positive experiences with premium quality fuses, to each their own, it’s actually that simple. Not everyone will have the same outcome as I and other participants here have had and that’s nothing unusual . I can only report my listening experiences and people are free to accept or reject them. It doesn’t by any means alter what I have heard in my system and that of other listeners.
Charles |
Dave,
The concern is indeed sweet 😅
Somehow though I believe we'll be okay. I'm listening to Lee Konitz "Live At The Half Note " very nice! Yes we'll survive just fine.
Happy New Year to all, pro or con premium fuses.
Charles |
Frank,
Herbie's Audio Labs offers some very cost effective products in my experience. A few years ago I used their "Tender foot" component footers and they were clearly better than some more expensive alternatives I compared with them during that period. They were very good for not much money.
Charles |
Hi Jetter,
No I haven’t tried that with my cables. I used the Ocellia Silver Reference cables that have directional arrows and I placed them that way. The fuse directionality is purely by ear in my system. Between mine and a friend’s system we’ve done this about 7 or 8 times now and without fail there’s a change in sound with switching directions of the SR and Audio Horizon fuses. So that sums up my experience.
Charles |
Jetter,
I agree with you regarding Al’s post, unfailingly logical and well presented. Here’s the problem, real life experiences that counter well reasoned skepticism. This thread is 61 pages and over 3,000 posts. The number of positive outcome posters overwhelm the negative outcome few.
If a very small number of people have poor results how does that suggest more merit/validity compared to the much larger group of positive experience posters? Expectation bias? Plausible for a few granted , but the entire group? Not very likely.
Keep in mind that there exists negative expectation bias as well. One can be so rigid and negative regarding an issue that they’re absolutely incapatible of admitting they could simply be wrong.
If the "better fuse" idea is nonsensical to you that’s understood and so be it. What does that have to do with what many of us have heard in our home systems? Nothing. There are two opposing groups of people engaged in a discussion. In terms of "listening credentials " surely they are established bilaterally.
Charles |
Misstl,
I see your point, I have many jazz recordings from the 1950s-1960s and the vast majority of them sound oh so good! As fletcher noted in his post above, good quality tube equipment, generally simple signal paths and talented sound engineers with high standards and good ears are responsible for the recording quality.
Misstl my tubed preamplifier and power amplifier came with "stock" fuses and tubes installed. How did they sound? Wonderful! However when I changed to better quality tubes and fuses there was unquestionably improved sound quality. The original sound was never substandard by any means with generic tubes/fuses. In addition to tubes and fuses, improving wire and capacitors can clearly improve the sound of equipment.
Essentially the baseline sound began as "very high caliber " and moved further upwards with the inclusion of superior parts. I believe that the sound engineers did their best with what was available to them during that era. If they were made aware of better quality items I suspect most would have taken advantage.
Happy New Year folks,
Charles |
Frank,
I suspect that author may be stating opinion/speculation rather than fact. Miles had been well established nearly 10 years on the jazz scene prior to Chet’s arrival. I can fully accept the idea that Miles admired Chet’s tone, but chasing to mimic it for his entire career? Miles had his own sound and approach to the trumpet and was always innovative and searching for ways of musical and creative expression.
You could make the case that he had 4 different career eras based strictly on his changing styles of playing. Bebop,Hard Bop, Modal and fusion, and perhaps some further subcategories. I don’t question that he admired the trumpet tone of Chet, he openly admired the playing of trumpeters Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro.
Charles |
Frank,
My Miles collection includes all eras with the exception of the fusion genre, I just don’t enjoy this style of jazz music. I have quite a few Chet Baker recordings, I simply enjoy both of these artists. Although lesser known, Art Farmer had beautiful tone and particularly on his flugelhorn, just gorgeous. His collaborations with Gerry Mulligan were excellent.
Charles |
Frank has good taste 😊
Charles |
Clemson appears to have the athletic caliber to push Bama, we’ll soon find out. Their defensive front seven is no doubt impressive! The offense is definitely very explosive. You rarely see Ohio State get handled in that fashion, completely dominated by Clemson. Charles |
John, I'll give Urban Meyer the benefit of doubt, sometimes very talented teams/players just have a bad game. Clemson's overall team speed will be fun to watch against the mighty Bama. Lots of future NFL talent in this battle. Charles |
Hello nyame,
Thank you for such a kind and thoughtful offer, I sincerely appreciate that. These days I'm exclusively Redbook CD. I must say that over the years I've have such very kind offers/loans/favors from fellow audiogon friends. For example Frank has taken the time/effort to copy some of his favorite music and send them to me, really good stuff. Charles |
Nyame,
I understand your assumption. Many SET amplifier aficionados are also analog source users as well. I was in fact a hard core turntable user/advocate for many years. I discovered a relatively obscure Japanese DAC (Yamamoto YDA-1) that conveyed the emotion and essence of music as convincingly as my TT did playing records. Its been about 6 years and I’ve not looked back.
I still enjoy good vinyl listening very much and a friend has an excellent Basis table and their top level tonearm and Miyajima cartridge. Despite this ongoing exposure I’m thoroughly happy and musically content with my Redbook source. The most impactful event in my music system development was acquiring a SET amplifier.
Charles |
Hi Nyame,
The comparison to the my turntable's attributes was with the Yamamoto DAC which was so Intrinsically organic. The addition of a 300b SET amplifier is the "single" most significant and impactful change to my system. I will say that the DAC and SET are cut from the same natural musical fabric. Probably not surprising since Yamamoto earned their reputation building low power SET amplifiers for 15 years prior to introducing the DAC. Both DAC and my SET are built on simple circuits, avoid negative feedback (NFB) and have strong power supplies.
Charles |
Leading up to this game it was discussed on this thread that Clemson has the athletic ability to be competitive with mighty Bamaand that's how it played out. Given how Clemson dominated Ohio State you'd have to realize they could give Bama a legitimate battle. These are clearly the 2 best teams in college football. Speed and talent vs speed and talent.
Charles |
This was an exciting game .The speed and explosiveness of the players particularly on defense (both teams) was near NFL caliber. They can close in on you in pursuit just like the pros demonstrate every Sunday. Between these 2 teams there's definitely future NFL talent that was on display. Clemson recruits/selects players apparently just as the top SEC programs do. They guys can play! Charles |
Mac,
You have me curious. Do you also have/use the Raven Audio Blackhawk amp and the Schitt Yggy DAC ? I've read very good comments regarding the Decware Torii and Raven amplifiers. The Yggy gets very good feedback as well.
Charles |
Given the increased sound quality I hear with better fuses I'd be very curious to hear my components with breakers in placed of my SR fuses and listen for what differences they make. Charles |
nkonor, That makes sense for Pass Lab to take that approach. There certainly are manufacturers
who recognize the negatives effects of fuses and they simply avoid them when feasible. I can accept a hierarchy of no fuse >premium fuse >stock fuse in terms of sound quality. Thermal magnetic breakers make sense as fuses to seem to have a "bottleneck" effect on the sound quality in my experience. It doesn't seem that they'd be that much more expensive to implement compared to conventional fuses, I could be wrong in this assumption. Charles |
Bill,
Since you've used breakers in your numerous modification projects I'd assume that it is relatively easy to accomplish. If this is true why the continued dominant use of fuses in audio components rather than breakers?
Charles |
Well I wonder why with the touted sonic advantages (of a breaker vs fuse) their use isn't more widespread in higher end audio components. I'd be very receptive to using them. They don't appear to be any more complex than fuses. Charles |
Yes, I'm sure there's a quality hierarchy among circuit breakers as exist with fuses, resistors, capacitors, tubes, cables etc. Nelson Pass could offer a compelling reason for circuit breakers. On the other hand some of the finest sounding components use fuses. Obviously many factors determine the end result of a component's sonic performance.
Charles |
Al,
Thanks for providing the links, I'll read them later today. I realize that there is a pro and con argument that can be made for virtually any choice made regarding audio products. It'd be interesting to know what factors cause Nelson Pass to avoid fuses and utilize circuit breakers.
Charles |
