Synergistic Red Fuse ...

^^^ Bob ... The Scotch was really good too. :-)

I heard the same improvements in your system that I'm hearing in mine. There's a sense of realism that one just doesn't expect in an audio system. It really makes you sit up an notice. Guitars, voice, cellos and pianos all have life. 

I had my friend Robert over this evening for a listening session. He brought over one of his thrift store finds. Would you believe a 1945 recording of Scheherazade?  Blue label Columbia ... Ormandy conducting.  It was a little noisy, but man, the sound that came out of that record was really, really good. One of the best performances of Scheherazade I've ever heard. How a 70 year old record can do that is beyond me.

The AT ART-9 really gets mono playback right. The SR Black fuses get the textures right. The massed strings and the woodwind section was great, and of course the violin was superb.

All in all ... a welcome relief from trying to figure out what goes on line 43 after subtracting line 27 from line 32 and adding line 16 back in. Bah!

OP

charles1dad;
I looked for what seemed to be an eternity for a used Yamamoto DAC (at Bill's and your suggestion) and never saw one. I broke down and ordered a new one from the North American dealer. Months later it arrived (from Japen) and as you guys said it sounded wonderful. Then Bill's came up for sale and I could not pass it by. So now both of my systems have a Yamamoto DAC. (LOL)!

mribob, I have a Hegel H30 also, powering Salon 2's.  Can you tell me the improvements you heard with he black fuse?  And what was the exact fuse you ordered?  My Hegel is hard to get to and I want to order the right fuse.

Thanks!

Hi Bob,
I'm familiar with the Veloce preamplifier and the Playback Designs player,  you have assembled a very fine system. With the addition of the Black fuses I certainly see how you arrive at your  "happy place ". 
Charles, 

Borrowed a friends extra pair of Kimber 8tc cables and things are still sounding great Bill Frisell Sounds Of Life, of course I've never heard a bad sounding Bill Frisell album. A slightly brighter balance with these unshielded speaker cable but still hearing the better flow and instruments are just tonally gorgeous.