So it's ok to discuss sports on an audio site but NOT politics? I guess who CRIES the loudest decides what to censor??
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?
Any comments from anyone else who has tried these fuses?
4,839 responses Add your response
Don’t forget everybody, when changing your inexpensive stock fuse with another inexpensive stock fuse be sure to try both directions. Even better, save yourself 2 bucks and try reversing the existing fuse to see if it was in the wrong direction the whole time. What are the odds? I’m guessing 2:1. No goats, no glory. |
Why not just go for $0.10 if it doesn't make a difference?I have never said it won't make a difference. In fact I have said the opposite many times, in this and other fuse-related threads. For example, see the summary of my technically based opinions on the matter that is presented in my post dated 1-20-2017 in this thread. Regards, -- Al |
Hello Toddverrone, IMO there's no clear cut answer to where to place an upgrade fuse. This was discussed earlier in this thread and responses were quite varieđ, depends on the component and system. In my experience the most effect with the fuses were, DAC Line Stage Power amplifier Other listeners would reverse that order. Bottom line however is all 3 were positively impacted. OK I'm getting ready for my Alma mater University of Michigan to play a tough Louisville team in the NCAA basketball tournament. Should be a good one. Charles |
For those considering replacing a stock fuse with an inexpensive new fuse, I suggest purchasing either a Littelfuse or an Eaton/Cooper Bussmann fuse. A good source is industrial distributor Digikey, which has no minimum order requirement or handling fee:Why not just go for $0.10 if it doesn't make a difference? |
For those considering replacing a stock fuse with an inexpensive new fuse, I suggest purchasing either a Littelfuse or an Eaton/Cooper Bussmann fuse. A good source is industrial distributor Digikey, which has no minimum order requirement or handling fee: http://www.digikey.com/products/en/circuit-protection/fuses/139 They do cost more than $0.10, though. More like a dollar to two :-) Regards, -- Al |
@charles1dad that was exactly my plan.. cheap new fuse, expensive new fuse. I’ve tweaked the crap out of everything else, why not try this? Where would it best be placed? Preamp? @knghifi indeed. Metaphors and analogies are beautiful. I shift once I have to start explaining everything excessively. Kinda defeats the whole point of a metaphor. ;-P |
Oregonpapa- I agree with your politics. But I also agree it’s nice keeping this forum politics free. I’m a bit like you, though: all my interests are intertwined.. so I know what it’s like to want to fold political thoughts into audio conversations. Or audio concepts into a yoga class. It’s work keeping everything separated for everyone!I agree everything in life is intertwined. I don't have an issue analogies are used to make a point whether it's politics, sports, food ... IMO, it open minds and excellent way to gain knowledge. |
Frank, I enjoyed the two Milt Jackson recordings so much that I played them both again last night in their entirety, just good stuff! Here are a couple of his collaborations I'm certain you'd like. "Bags And Trane" Milt with John Coltrane. "Beanbags" Milt with Coleman Hawkins. As you know Coltrane and Hawkins have very different styles of playing the Tenor saxophone. Yet predictably both are wonderful paired with Milt Jackson. In my next life I'd love to be a jazz musician 😊 Charles |
Hi Toddverrone, When Jond wrote "folks everything matters" he isn’t kidding. Granted some accessories or tweaks are more impactful than others and vary according to the particular audio system. I haven’t heard the Beeswax fuse but those who’ve use them say that they’re fantastic. Why not get one and compare it to a standard 10 cent fuse as George often advocates? If the cheap new fuse is as good then return the more expensive fuse for a refund. If you hear no differences you’ve saved yourself some money. In my system premium quality fuses make a difference just as better wire/cables and tubes do. Your outcome may or may not be the same. Charles |
what do you have to lose?Credibility and money, just change your tired old 10c fuse for the same new one, as they do deteriorate over time with on/off surges, as shown in the pic, even the boutique ones, and clean your fuse clamps. "Fuse aging by switching loads The fuse wire gets hot and expands when current flows. At high temperatures, oxidation may happen, which weakens the wire mechanically, and may be electrically, too. Switching on/off a load means the wire is bent each time." https://i.stack.imgur.com/0uqWX.jpg Cheers George |
^^^ ... toddverrone ... There have been discussions in this thread regarding the beeswax fuses. I think at least one poster preferred the beeswax over the SR Black fuses. No one who tried the beeswax fuses felt that they got "stung." That may be a different case with a DIY project as you alluded to though. :-) With a 30 day money back guarantee on the SR Blacks what do you have to lose? Frank |
Oregonpapa- I agree with your politics. But I also agree it’s nice keeping this forum politics free. I’m a bit like you, though: all my interests are intertwined.. so I know what it’s like to want to fold political thoughts into audio conversations. Or audio concepts into a yoga class. It’s work keeping everything separated for everyone! As for the OP topic, I've yet to try fuses, and I'm sceptical of their effect. But that was also the case for so many other stupid little things I never thought would matter: PCs, SCs, ICs, vibration isolation.. I was sceptical but open minded enough to experiment. I guess I should try fuses. But my penchant for DIY is problematic in this area. Particularly because I have two bee hives in the backyard and I hear whispers about beeswax... |
Frank thanks so much for saying that and totally understood we all get overly passionate at times. And speaking of good wire for me personally just dropped a Jorma Design digital cable between my streamer and dac and wow talk about a wholesale improvement in sound! Folks everything matters, fuses, cables, power supplies, etc. |
Allan ... Yes, its just amazing the difference good wire makes in a system. All of these improvements and tweaks just seem to be accumulative in nature. Over the past two years I've changed out all of my wires. IC's, PC's and speaker wires. It made for a huge jump in sound quality like you just described. I've read good things about the Cerious Technologies cables. Frank |
Charles ... Those two albums have been in my collection for so many years I can't remember where I got them. I used to take them around to audio stores to use as my references while auditioning equipment. As the system improved over the years, the two albums just kept getting better and better. Still quiet and very playable at this point too. The AT ART-9 really brings out the tenor playing. Some of these old mono recordings can really sound great. Hard to beat good bebop. :-) Frank |
Jond ... You're right. My apologies. While audio is a major passion for me, so too is history and free market economics. Sometimes I lose myself and go off the deep end. Above was a case in point. Again .... sorry. Charles ... Glad the CD's got there okay. There's some surprisingly amazing stuff in there. The Christmas jazz CD has highs that extend forever. Allan ... Most of what I send to Charles is no longer obtainable ... and some of it never was. :-) When it comes to music appreciation it seems that Charles and I are pretty much on the same page ... so it makes sharing fun. Frank |
Allan, Frank is a good person and has excellent taste in music. Frank, The Jackson recordings "Second Nature" and "Opus deJazz " are just pure beautiful Bebop masterfully played. Lucky Thompson, Hank Jones, Frank Weiss, Kenny Clarke etc. Playing along with him, this is first rate bop and blues. I missed watching the NCAA basketball tournament tonight, could not pull myself away from this music and these marvelous musicians this evening. Charles |
Charles, How nice to have a buddy like Frank, you get free good music all the time. You can save your money for more fuses:) Frank, I just want to let you know I recently purchased a pair of Cerious Technologies Graphene speaker cables. I am not ready to write a full review but all I want to say is the effect is bigger than the combinations of 6 SR black fuses, 2 Herbies rings, SR outlet and Audience power chords. No exaggeration! If the fuse is rated at 1, the speaker cables just magnified everything to a 10. I wrote an email to Bob (the owner of Cerious Tech) to let him know that I am keeping his cables after listened to it less than an hour. Just unbelievable. Allan |
Hi Frank, I received the "care package " today, 9 CDS! You are indeed my musical brother for sure 😃😃. I’ll begin with the two Milt Jackson recordings tonight as I can’t resist the gorgeous vibraphone. Going out of town the next few days and will resume listening when I return home. I'm curious about the Audrey Morris recording. Sincerely, Charles |
ignoring repetitive pablum is advisable.Especially when it comes to fuse voodoo, all the advocators are doing is changing an old fuse out for new, this can be done with the same new 10c fuse, no need to spend $100+ for some voodoo one. Just change out your old fuse for the same new, as they do deteriorate with repetitive switch on/off surges over time, just look what happens in the time lapse pics over a few months to the same fuse, when new on the left, few months old on the right after repetitive switch on's. https://i.stack.imgur.com/0uqWX.jpg Cheers George |
Barba papa, I'm not for any form of censorship but ignoring repetitive pablum is advisable. Its futility is pretty plain to observe, many, many satisfied fuse users and new users still continue posting their happy discovery. That was the very reason Frank began this terrific thread, spread the good news of a fine audio system tweak. I'd say he succeeded 😊😊 Folks reading this thread are obviously capable of deciding for themselves despite the self-proclaimed saviors. Charles |
I like this thread when it speaks about fuses ( reds, blacks, Audio magic and all'of them) and what they do or don't on our systems, but I hate the debate : it can't work from people who never tried them but constantly comes back in this thread trying to turn the ones who heard differences ridicules and call them woodoed again and again and again. They can't be usefull part of a discussion speaking of something they never listen. What is their goal ? Hundreds of messages from people who heard benefits. One person didn't, but always coming back in the discussion discrediting the hundreds who heard for convincing them they can't have heard because Him didn't... Is that serious ? what's the goal ? Trying to exist ? Wolf and GearLofi vs the rest of the world ? when Pasteur presented the discovery of microbes in the Medical Academy in Paris 150 years ago the whole audience was full of supposed eminent professors full of their self importance and was screaming accusing him as a charlatan, they said The little beast can't eat the big one and many other mockery. I' like to hear more from people who listened the fuses in their systems or compared the different ones, and less from people who didn't listen any fuse. If someone tried them and heard no changes in his system : ok this is an interesting info too, but if this man comes in the thread again and again for convincing the whole world the fuse don't do anything there is something nocive. He just can't imagine his finding is only valid for his ears in his system ??? Kack of humility !!! Why should all the other people be wrong, stupids or uner influence ? The only way we can continue this thraed is to completely ignore the Trolls like Wolf (as I previously I believe him when he says he hears nothing...and georgebadfi who didn't tried the fuse). If we all stop answering them and completely ignore them they will stop exist in this thread. |
Nyame…without my "unwanted" posts this thread might spiral out of control in a maelstrom of mindless agreement…although Atmasphere and Georgehifi and a few (enlightened) others do have my back it would seem (not in a creepy way), being a "mean spirited bitter old man" works for me. And thanks for the hopeful and compassionate thoughts…that means a lot...*sniff*... |
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What a long thread ! But not as bad as cable argument threads. I just tried a Synergistic Black fuse in the custom power supply for a MAC Mini. The P.S. is made by Mojo Audio, the fuse is 2 amp slo-blo. I gave the Black fuse about 3 days inside the unit, with two on off cycles. Compared it to an AMR fuse and the stock non audiophile fuse. The AMR was worse sounding than the stock fuse, and the Black is better sounding. In what ways ? The AMR was too murky sounding, not as clear and vivid as the other two. This fuse only sounds good in one of my components, but does the murky thing, or roll-off in other components. The Black fuse relieves some brightness and glare that the stock fuse has, otherwise the stock fuse is pretty good. I got curious about the Black fuse after trying a Synergistic Atmosphere 1 cord on this MAC Mini power supply. It bettered about five other cords I have here. I'm not about to rush out and buy more Black fuses, but now I know what they do. Hopefully the profit made by Synergistic Research from these fuses will go to R&D and good pay to the employees. |
^^^ Charles ... Glad you like Jo Stafford. She was an important American song stylist who was very popular during the big band era of the 1940’s. My Mom loved Jo Stafford’s music. I used to listen to her very early in the mornings on my Mom’s 78 record player when I was a kid around seven years old. I agree ... from a pure jazz point of view, JO + Jazz is the better album. I have both the CD and the LP. Look for a "care package" in your mailbox on Saturday, Charles. I included "Ballad of The Blues" from the LP. Some surface noise, but the comparison with the CD should be interesting. Some surprises also included ... like Audrey Morris. :-) Frank |
Al 03-14-17 " Also, regarding the correction that you subsequently made to your post that I quoted from, FYI you can edit a post during the first 30 minutes after it is submitted. Click on the gear shaped icon at the upper right corner of the post, and click "edit. " Thanks Al. I do find this information very helpful. |
Well, I installed a slo-blo 4 amp fuse on SR advice as a 3 amp may blow too easily. It removed an upper end brightness as well as tightened the imaging bass and brought out more detail, more music. Then I plugged the whole system into a black SR duplex (free fuse with the duplex-a win win situation) The amp does not use the ultralinear center transformer tap. I don’t know what Grover does exactly but it changes the amp from slow to fast, deep and powerful. He installs a storage cap which runs diagonally nearly the length of the amp underneath. He installs solid state rectification but keeps the tube for soft turn-on purposes. The 7199 tube is really a great input tube and some modern designs use 12ax7s instead. To get the fabulous dimension, dynamics and tonal richness I have mullard el34s. You could phone Grover for advice on the design. He’s behind in making cables so he can’t do any mods right now. I have another amp waiting to be modded for over a year. Of course I am using his tremendous bargain Empress cables throughout my systems. |
Thank you Frank for the effusive compliments on my audio systems. The Altec amps only have the casework and transformers remaining. At SR, the tech suggested 8 amp fuses after the amp rated 5 amp fuses blew. This was after I informed him the the amps have two massive (7" X 3") storage caps which cause a great sustained inrush of power to fill. On my solid state gear and speakers for my Video system, he told me to stick with the rated fast blow fuses. Grover Huffman uses the Mel Torme CD for auditioning equipment such as at the Newport Show. As to Sinatra, there are many very fine CD/LPs which match Torme although I have many of his as well. Remastering of his Capitol LPs on CDs has been an issue with the earliest being weaker sounding and the Norberg 2000 period remasteing ruined with his overuse of Sonic Solutions software, filtering out the highs. I found an excellent reissue box from UK which has the best sound for the Capitol mono LPs which are very inexpensive (probably the reissue of the very expensive UK older set). https://www.amazon.com/Capitol-Years-1953-62-Frank-Sinatra/dp/B00OAF8D3C/ref=sr_1_7?s=music&ie=U... There are several top quality remastered Columbia 78 CDs as well including Andreas Meyers https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Frank-Sinatra-Columbia-Years/dp/B00009PJS2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&q... no reverb added remastering The last item I want to address is the increased benefit of the Black SR over the Red SR duplex outlet. It's effect is the same as the fuses but less prominent in my system once I installed the Black fuses. I haven't tried the Black outlet with standard fuses and I'm not going to bother. Both my Altec and Dynaco ST70 amps are not conventional and are voltage regulated designs. Grover dislikes ultralinear amps so his designs are different. The Dynaco is the best Frank or Robert ever heard and it's not expensive to change a few components and the transformer tap. Superb tight and deep bass from a ST70 is a rare thing, going down to 20 Hz on my Signature IIIs. |
@oregonpapa I don't buy the purity argument. We are talking about modern electrical power to a modern power supply and not medieval alchemy. I do buy many many of the tweaks you mention. Not so much power cords but I do believe power conditioners can help badly designed equipment perform better. So we agree on many things. I also agree on Mel Torme and I have many of his albums in both vinyl and CD. Exceptional crooner!!! Possibly the best and better than Sinatra in many ways. |
Asking for a bit of help here, this is thread on fuses right? lol Does ANYBODY know what fuse should be in the McIntosh C48 preamp? I cannot find this info in the manual or on the Mc site or by Google search. I would rather order one first before doing the double step of removing from rack opening up , replacing etc. The C46 has a nice little fuse holder on the back even labeled with type of fuse, the C48? No such luck! So if anybody knows just what fuse is in the C48 I sure would appreciate it! |
