Synergistic Red Fuse ...

i want to thank oregonpapa for starting this thread.  And both the supporters and naysayers, alike, for sharing their experience and doubt within.  Honestly, both have been a big help.

I recently installed a black fuse in my Parasound P7.  The consensus about the 70ish hour was right on.  Upon insertion, the sound was promising, then after a day, everything collapsed, and became sharp and fatiguing.  All hifi, no music.

After about 4 days, it sounded better, but still not as good as it did the day I inserted it, so I played with reversing the fuse, and sat for hour long sessions with the same playlist, to determine which way the fuse wanted to go.  One way, the music was exciting and visceral, if a little flat.  The other way, just sounded like music in my room.  Instead of the system's bass or soundstage creating the drama in the music, musicians are as close to being in my room as they ever have been, and THEY are creating the drama in the music.

The space, and utter silence that music now breathes out from is uncanny!  And the ambiance that fills the space between solid performers is not only the best I've ever heard, it is beyond anything I thought my system was capable of before.

Best of all, it's made all my non audiophile approved music (basically, the majority of what I listen to) sound better.  Tool, Deftones, Boston, Smashing Pumpkins, Shawn Mullins, XTC, Katy Perry, New Order, Depeche Mode; it is all more engaging.

But when i put on my hi res recordings of Billie Holiday, Vladamir Ashkenazy, Stan Getz, Ben Webster, Rush, Van Morrison, I'm left utterly bowled over at how convincingly the performance is taking place in my god damn room.

I just wanted to say thanks to Oregon, and David, and many others in this thread who shared their positive experiences, which got me looking at this product.

And, thanks to Wolf, George, Geoff, and other who expressed their skepticism, which forced me to listen with my own ears, and form my own opinions.

But, after putting the stock fuse in last night, i heard a pleasantly decent system that was fun to listen to, but no where near as engaging and uncannily real as it sounds with the Synergistic Black Fuse in place.  Returning the black fuse this morning, and my system went away, and music returned into my room.

I encourage people to continue to share their experiences and sketicism, because these things help guide all of us, to make decisions that are right for us as individuals, and helps us find commonality as people in an ever increasingly isolated world.  Even if most of the pro fuse camp doesn't agree with people like Geoff, i assume most of us agree that he has a fantastic sense of humor.  Commonality comes from what we connect with, not who we agree with.

Thanks to all of you for all of your help, even if it was given unknowingly, it was taken with the deepest appreciation I can offer.

Regards,
Jason

Apologies to Geoff if I misrepresented his position.  I'd feel worse if I misrepresented his sense of humor :)

But, seriously, thank you to you all.  This stupid tweak is fantastic!

Regards,
Jason

After a solid week of using the fuse in, what I deem, is the "proper" orientation in my system, I've got a pretty good handle on what it's done to the sound.

First it's added for space and dimensionality to the sound.  Like, layers and layers.  It's easily confirmed by placing the old fuse back in place.  The soundstage collapses noticeably, and the and while it's still pleasant mostly, the highs harden, and there's an obvious loss in layering.

Second, the fuse simply expands what is there.  It doesn't change the tonality of the system, or emphasize detail, or add smoothness.  But, it does offer the ability for more detail to be heard, by opening up the sound field, and music seems smoother, because of the ease that detail is heard.  Bass is deeper, but again, not emphatically so.  There's just more of everything.

Its not a fuse I would recommend for a piece of gear someone is not happy with.  It doesn't seem to change the tone or character of a piece of gear.  It just brings out more of it out, and allows it to sound more effortless.  On my Parasound P7, the same light and open character of the preamp is present with the stock fuse as it is with the Synergistic Black Fuse, but the music with the Black Fuse sounds effortlessly expansive, and a good deal of the strain and compression is gone, making long listening sessions when Roon flips between beautiful to bad recordings far easier and more pleasurable to deal with.

Now, if I can figure out how to get the glass top off my Wadia 321, I'll get another Black Fuse in there, and see if the effect can be duplicated.

Thanks again, to all who contributed to this thread.  It's been a big help to keep an open mind, and has ultimately led me on a path that allows me to enjoy listening to music even more than I already did.

Regards,
Jason

Ptss: I'm a photographer.  And, work in sales, but cameras, not audio gear.  The nickname came from people telling me I had a way that I blurred into the background, and captured great candids of people.  I call my my speakers my "mistresses", because I spend as much time with them, as I do my wife to be, who is also an audiophile, her name is Jocelyn.  She's a teacher, a brilliant artist, and loves music maybe more than I do.

So, on top of being blurry, I'm also very (wait for it...) transparent.

Have fun with that.

Wolf, I have no idea what they do.  If I did, I'd manufacturer my own, and save myself money.  The skepticism is healthy.  Well before to fuse craze started, back when I was younger and much poorer, I noticed that ceramic and glass fuses sounded different.  Stranger, still, different manufactures of glass fuses sounded different.  I don't know why that is, but it was audible, and repeatable.

Generally, I've stayed away from aftermarket fuses, even prior Synergistic fuses, because for what good they did, they also introduced some bad.  Outside of one lone Furutech fuse in my amp, everything's been stock, with whatever fuses came in the gear.  It seemed like a waste of money to gamble on change, when there was no guarantee that the change would be good.

This Black Fuse has no downsides.  Assuming you like your gear, and the music it creates, it'll just make what you hear sound more open, increase space and size while filling space better, with no change in tonality, and no spotlighting of any frequencies.

I understand the skeptic camp, and as much as I'd love to do an a/b test for any of you, I get the sense that you're more interested in being right than sharing the experience with me, and posting your own results here.  Knowledge is all fine and good, but what I've experienced with this fuse in place is running head first into what I know.  In that fight, experience wins.

But, if anyone would like to hear it for yourself, and live in the Los Angeles area, send me a private message, and I'd be happy to give you a listen, have you meet Jocelyn, hand you a beer, and whether or not you hear a difference, we can talk about other things like good music, what started us in being audiophiles, and they debt were hiding from our significant others pursuing it :)

Regards,
Jason

Thanks, Charles.  I envy wolf.  He is saving a lot of money :)

Mac, you ever visit LA, shoot me a line.  I make a mean burger, and have plenty of beer on tap.

Anyway, thanks to all of you.  As I said before, this thread has been of immense help.  Even if these fuses didn't work for me, I'm glad to see so many like minded people sharing their opinions.  It's been entertaining, informative, amusing, and made me feel connected to this hobby even more.

Thanks again,
Jason

Brief update...

I met with Frank. His system is almost as amazing as he is. The best part is, the whole time we were listening to it, all we did was talk about the music, not the system. About as good as it gets.

Since, I have added a Synergistic Black to my amp. It’s still breaking in, but Jocelyn and I listened to everything from Daft Punk, to XTC, to the Lighthouse All Stars (thank you Frank), and it’s like the system has transcended. Drums are unbelievably real. Piano, too.

Also met with another ’gonner named Ciro. We did an A/B with an Audio Horizons fuse and a Synergistic Black in his Conrad Johnson CA150. To me, it was a no contest. The Black fuse was just real.

Pretty neat stuff. Best thing about this thread is that I’ve met some good people, and listened to some good music because of it. The fuses are just the bonus.

Regards,
Jason

Frank,

You take care of yourself, and rest up.  You'll have a lot of well wishes and good music to keep you company.

As much as I want those Rachmaninov concertos, I want to listen to music with you again even more.

Take care of yourself.

Jason

Also, to Jond...

Frank's a great guy.  I don't like to relay what I speak about with other people, but he's exceptionally candid, and deeply caring.  One of the best guys on the forum, or in life, really.

Ciro, the other guy I met (goes by C_avila1) reached out to me on my offer on this forum to listen to each others systems.  He's also great, mods equipment, and loves to tinker.  Stupidly nice guy as well.  The a/b comparison was a lot of fun.

And to Charles...

Its funny you mentioning the preamp slot...I told Frank when I met him that in my preamp, while I liked the Synergistic Black fuse, there were qualities I preferred about the stock fuse.  In my amp, however, the Synergistic replaced a Furutech fuse, and it was a slam dunk, no question about it, upgrade.  With it in place, now the preamp is better with the SR Black than the stock glass fuse.  The two work well together.  Still, might have to try an AH fuse in the preamp one day.

Regards,
Jason

Just more fuse updates...

The Black fuse in my Mccormack amp is a winner. Definitely sounds better one way than the other. Was playing Moby Dick for my dad the other day on my Aerial 5t speakers, and I think his exact words were "did you get a subwoofer?" Bass palpability, and precise imaging are the hallmarks with the Black fuse in place.

In the preamp, it’s not so clear. With the Black fuse, precision goes up, but the sound becomes a little dry. With the stock glass fuse, precision is down, but the bounce and liquidity of the music comes through more. Gonna stick with the glass fuse for now there.

Again, thanks for all the posts guys. They’ve been both informative and helpful.

Regards,
Jason

Great to have you back Frank.