Synergistic Red Fuse ...

Thanks for all of the well wishes guys. Its very helpful. I have to be at the hospital at 5:30 tomorrow morning with the surgery scheduled to begin at 7:30 am.

On a completely different note: My friend Robert came over two nights ago for a listening session and brought a CD I thought some of you would enjoy. Its a modern take on the old cartoon film music of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Its a tribute to Raymond Scott, the leader of a quintet back in the day that used to do the sound tracks for these films. The modern group playing on the disc is the Beau Hunks sextet. Here is some really nostalgic jazz for us oldsters ... and hopefully a new find for the younger guys. Its really fun music and a good introduction to early American jazz.  Sound quality is really good on this well recorded stereo disc. It’ll have your toes tapping. Highly recommended. Here’s a link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-BEAU-HUNKS-SEXTETTE-CELEBRATION-ON-THE-PLANET-MARS-CD-/332183885875?hash...

Hang in there ...

Frank

Good luck, Frank! Damn, wish I lived close enough to bring you recovery donuts.

Hi everyone,

My 1st post here on Audiogon after several years of silent reading...

I just want to tell you my own experience regarding the SR Black fuse. I bought a 1A 20mm slow blow SR Black fuse yesterday for my DAC (NAD M51). I read and found that the SR Black fuses are directional. I also read that in order to figure out which direction is ideal/correct, you have no other way than listening. One direction will give you much better sound than the other.

So as soon as I received my SR Black fuse, I did a critical listening comparison. I installed and flipped the fuse. Then I'm a bit confused as I actually heard noticeable improvement over the stock fuse but I heard NO differences between both directions. I tried to listen closely but there was nothing that I can notice firmly.

I think there may be a couple of reasons for this:
- My system does not have resolution enough to 'reveal' the differences between the directions of the SR fuse (My system: Laptop (source) -> Schiit Wyrd (USB linear power supply) -> Audiobyte Hydra Z (USB converter) -> NAD M51 (DAC) -> Arcam Alpha 10/10P biamp -> Monitor Audio Silver 2 (speaker))
- My listening skill is not good enough.
- The SR Fuse actually has no direction.

It drove me a bit crazy thinking about that. So I decided to ask Synergistic Research. I left a message to SR and received a useful answer from Andy Wiederspahn from SR, and I quote:
 

"Yes, it is directional. The electricity should flow the way you read the label. From S to R.

Thanks,

Andy"

After I received this mail, I immediately tried to figure out the way the electricity flow in my NAD M51 circuit. In order to figure out the direction of the electricity within the NAD M51, I removed the fuse holder (below the AC inlet), then I plugged the power cable in and used a phase tester to check inside the "hollow hole" where the fuse holder was before. One terminal/side/phase made the light of the phase tester light up and this is a hot one (i.e: the 'beginning' of the electricity) while the other phase didn't. By doing that, I could know the direction of the electricity of the circuit in my NAD M51.

Finally I just installed the fuse with direction along with the flow of electricity and decided to leave it then.

I post this just to share with you guys about some information if you're in the same boat as me - i.e. own SR black fuses but can't hear the difference with the directions of the fuse.

Happy listening,

Khiem

Finally I just installed the fuse with direction along with the flow of electricity and decided to leave it then.

Hate to tell you, but AC electricity doesn’t flow, it alternates back and forward 50 or 60 time a second (50hz 60hz) depending which country your in. So the directionality of an ac mains fuses is all "expectation bias".  You'd have better cred if you belived in the tooth fairy.

This is all potential fusers need to know:
"All potential fusers need to remember that fuses deteriorate with age from switch on surges (as pictured), and they just need to be replaced with good quality $2 fuse of the same value, as Almarg linked to. 

https://i.stack.imgur.com/0uqWX.jpg 

http://www.digikey.com/products/en/circuit-protection/fuses/139

Cheers George

georgehifi
Finally I just installed the fuse with direction along with the flow of electricity and decided to leave it then.

"Hate to tell you, but AC electricity doesn’t flow, it alternates back and forward 50 or 60 time a second (50hz 60hz) depending which country your in. So the directionality of an ac mains fuses is all "expectation bias". You’d have better cred if you belived in the tooth fairy."

It’s not really "electricity" that is alternating, it’s the current that’s alternating. The voltage is not alternating. Otherwise they’d call it AV. Furthermore as we’ve discussed many many times all fuses, even bog standard fuses, exhibit voltage drops that are slightly different depending on direction - even in AC circuits! [Refer to HiFi tuning data sheets.] So fuses ARE directional with respect to conductivity, even in AC circuits. Hel-loo! Also recall we aren’t worried about the direction back toward the wall anyway, only the direction toward the speakers. So the alternating current argument is dead in the water. And when someone says, "in the direction of the flow of electricity" that means in the direction TOWARD the speakers and AWAY from the wall. The electricity does eventually get to the speakers, doesn’t it?