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Synergistic Red Fuse ...

I installed a SR RED Quantum fuse in my ARC REF-3 preamp a few days ago, replacing an older high end fuse. Uhh ... for a hundred bucks, this little baby is well worth the cost. There was an immediate improvement upon installation, but now that its broken in (yes, no kidding), its quite remarkable. A tightening of the focus, a more solid image, and most important of all for my tastes, a deeper appreciation for the organic sound of the instruments. Damn! ... cellos sound great! Much improved attack on pianos. More humanistic on vocals. Bowed bass goes down forever. Next move? .... I'm doing the entire system with these fuses. One at a time though just to gauge the improvement in each piece of equipment. The REF-75se comes next. I'll report the results as the progression takes place. Stay tuned ...

Any comments from anyone else who has tried these fuses?
oregonpapa

Showing 4 responses by sgordon1

sgordon1
460 posts
 
Step one, confirm that "slow blow" would not be the better choice.
Step two, call SR in CA.  They have been great help to me
in the past, and will surely treat you fairly.
Lastly, in which sequence did you power up the Ayre?
sgordon1
460 posts
 
Back to the important stuff...

Has anyone experienced a change in sound relative to the position of the black dot on the fuses?

Do you prefer the dot to face the floor, the ceiling, or slanted to either side?
sgordon1
460 posts
 
Regarding fuse ROTATION... I have found "DOTS DOWN" to sound the best.

My Marsh power amp has two fuses per channel. When I initially installed the black fuses, all four dots on the fuses were facing up.
Yesterday I rotated them so their position was changed 180 degrees.

My first (five minute) impression was positive, and I was not motivated to change them back.  Eight hours later, during a longer listening session, I was feeling the way I did when I heard the improvement from the fuses for the first time.  But the sound was even better!

My cd player has a single fuse and I am pretty sure I installed it the same way.  The mains fuse on the Marsh is screwed in to a barrel...
I guess I could also rotate it and check for any differences.

I encourage everyone to experiment with fuse rotation!
"DOTS DOWN," for me!
sgordon1
460 posts
 
Great results with Synergistic Research ECTs on top of SR Black fuse.
The mains fuse of my amplifier extends on both sides of the
rear wall.  I have placed one ECT on the screw-in cap (outside) and one on the fuse holder cylinder (inside).  The ECT does not have direct contact with the fuse.

Shout out to davidpritchard, who has mentioned this on another post.

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