Leaving tube equipment on 24/7 likely varies among numerous components. The builder of my Line Stage told me that I could run it 24/7 without any problems. Just out of habit I turn it off once done listening for the day.
Charles,
Charles,
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
Its true that some tube devices have rep for running tubes harder than others and individual tube life varies so it will vary but still worth noting. I’m on third set of tubes in ARC pre-amp that I’ve had for four or 5 years now. It has 3 tubes in main pre-amp section and 3 in phono. The tube in first slot in phono section is the one that matters for phono noise levels I have found and needs replacing most often. I elect to not leave the ARC on when not needed to preserve tube life in taht I do not find warmup to be a significant thing for me. You would think most tubes have a long life and would not be impacted by an extra hundred hours or so but I’m sure it varies. Bel canto amps (Class D not tube) stay on most of teh time unless away for extended periods. Same with BC c5i Class D integrated I have. Bel Canto actually recommends this I believe. The devil is always in the details and usually varies case by case. |
The two Synergistic Research Black wall outlets are on the way from High-End Electronics as of 10:00 am today. I expect to receive them Tuesday. Alfred Kainz of High End Electronics said the breakin is similar to the Black fuse in terms of sonic changes and time to settle in. I have spent a lot of time comparing wall outlets: Synergistic Research Tesla SE Oyaide R-1 Furutech GTX-R PS Audio Premium (grey body) Original standard home outlets David Pritchard |
My preamp leave the tubes lit in standby mode then all the way on when I flip the switch. The only way to turn it off totally is unplug it which I never do. It uses tubes up more quickly, I retube about every 12-18 months, but it sure does sound great. And things just keep getting better as the fuses break in and I guess my speaker cables need to re-break in a bit, so loving the system more than ever. Just wish I have more, or any time to listen this week work is killing me! |
oregon papa: What outlets of outlet are you presently using? My three systems -two loudspeaker systems and one dedicated headphone system all have 5 outlets on each circuit. No way to have dedicated lines. Today each system is multiple Synergistic Research Teslaplex outlets with one or two Furutech GTX-R on the same circuit. With the black outlets I will put one on a headphone circuit and one on the system with the Terasonic single driver. I will leave the horn system alone to be the "control". All the outlets are mounted to the Oyaide aluminum frame with carbon faceplates. I am a real turtle when it comes to evaluating system changes. So no every 30 minute updates, but I do try to be thorough, and objective. And I do not hesitate to send products back that do not make a significant improvement. The most important themes from this thread to me are: Do not be scared to try products. Send products back that are not worth it. The same product may not help my system but might be perfect for your system. Get over being scared to open an audio device even if just to look inside. After a new device is added to a system and settled in, do not forget to consider fine tuning speaker toe in orthe location of footers under components. The human listens with his brain not his ears. The ears are only acoustic transducers. Therefore a large emotional impact of an audio system change might measure very small or large . Satisfying listening to all. David Pritchard |
Seriously I wonder has anyone ever heard a room done up with synergistic research stuff at a show? Do other rooms manage to compete or sound better in people's assessment? How do they demonstrate the effects of their stuff? Can they switch it in and out for comparison the good old fashioned way somehow? Does Syn research do Capital Audiofest? I hope to get there this year maybe and am interested to see and hear how this stuff all works. |
mapman ... You can find the answers to all of your above questions via Youtube. You you go: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=synergistic+research Charles ... thanks for the response. I know you've tried all of the outlets, so I look forward to your assessment of the new SR Black outlet. If it does what the fuses and PC's do, it should be a significant improvement over the others in your collection. OP |
tzh21y: It is amazing how much the Marantz SA11-S2 CD player responds to a Black fuse at the main power location. Small group music ( such as the Trio you mentioned) really becomes much more emotionally engaging with the Black fuse in place. Again congratulations on getting the cover off the player and the Black fuse installed. David Pritchard |
"OK, fuse has been in all weekend.the glare that made many recording unbearable to listen to is pretty much gone. That's a good thing. However, it still seems to be lacking in bass and the emotional musicality is also missing. Hope it comes back soon." So I suppose the 64,000 dollar question is: is the fuse in the "right" direction? cheers |
Hi Frank, For clarification I am not purchasing the SR Black AC outlet. I have no doubt that they are an excellent product. I'm using the Avatar Acoustic Afterburner 8 outlet (with the Oyaide WPC-Z outlet cover ) and I'm very happy with it. This outlet combined with the SR Black fuses is truly a delightful tweak upgrade to my system. Charles, |
tzh21y: You have the Black fuse installed the same way as I have in the Marantz SA11-S2 SACD player. If the original fuse sounds better send the Black fuse back. It is all a matter of optimum system synergy. charles1dad: Glad to hear we both use the Oyaide WPC-Z outlet cover. I really like them. The SR Black outlets should arrive tomorrow. I will need to first condition them for a week before auditioning them . geoffkait: I hope you will compare the fuses you presently use to a Synergistic Research Black fuse. I bet you have more experience with Audio Magic fuses than most of us. It would be less than a five dollar experiment (the cost of return shipping). Relax and enjoy the music. David Pritchard |
Davidpritchard wrote, "geoffkait, I hope you will compare the fuses you presently use to a Synergistic Research Black fuse. I bet you have more experience with Audio Magic fuses than most of us. It would be less than a five dollar experiment (the cost of return shipping). Relax and enjoy the music." i am relaxed. I'm not sure why you think I should be elected to do the experiment with the fuses. I have actually never offered an opinion one way or the other regarding the superiority of any fuse. Ironically I do not uses fuses in my current set up. You might have missed the discussion in which I divulged that I do not use fuses, I have no location anywhere in the system where a fuse can be placed even if I wanted to and I do not bypass fuses. Cheers, Geoff |
Ironically I do not uses fuses in my current set up.Yes Geoff, the irony of how much time you have spent posting to fuse threads for someone who does not use fuses is duly noted. Maybe consider posting your system on Audiogon so readers can better understand your point of reference when you describe what you hear, or what components or accessories you believe to render a sonic difference. |
Mitch wrote, "Ironically I do not uses fuses in my current set up. Yes Geoff, the irony of how much time you have spent posting to fuse threads for someone who does not use fuses is duly noted. Maybe consider posting your system on Audiogon so readers can better understand your point of reference when you describe what you hear, or what components or accessories you believe to render a sonic difference." Alas, in light of all that has been said in these fuse threads lo these past couple of months I would have thought it was kind of obvious that no fuse is better than any fuse. Perhaps it would help if I wrote it in all caps. That’s precisely why I have taken the steps to eliminate fuses from my system, actually to also eliminate and bypass the house AC entirely, as well as eliminate power cords, electrical ground, wall outlets, interconnects, transformers, large capacitors, crossover networks, room interactions, things of that nature. I am just not a big fan of the distortion and noise those things bring to the table. geoff kait machina dynamica |
" That’s precisely why I have taken the steps
to eliminate fuses from my system, actually to also eliminate and bypass the
house AC entirely, as well as eliminate power cords, electrical ground, wall
outlets, interconnects, transformers, large capacitors, crossover networks, room
interactions, things of that nature."
geoff. How do you eliminate all those things short of having an acoustical band/group playing for you...in your home, at your own whim? Please enlighten us. |
Oregonpapa wrote, "^^^ If what I am getting out of my system at this point is called "distortion," then PLEASE ... bring me more distortion. :-)" "Everything is relative." A. Einstein Before you changed fuses most likely you were not particularly aware of any distortion, either. It's all relative. Trust me, you still have distortion. Of many different types, if I can be so bold to add. cheerios |
All systems have some form of distortion to some degree since none are perfect. The first basic trick to good sound is to minimize noise and distortion especially the more offensive kinds. Fuses are low in the food chain in terms of their overall impact on noise and distortion compared to most of the other usual suspects. If someone hears a difference with a fuse or other similar RELATIVELY minor tweak, that is probably a good indicator that most of the other bigger more common culprits are in check. Or maybe the original fuse needed reseating or had some other issue that the change fixed. I don’t see how anyone would object to calling a fuse a relatively minor tweak on e the grand scale of things, but I suspect some will. IMHO YMMV and all that good stuff as always. |
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! |
I was thinking about this silly thread when I bought some tubes recently…great tubes, matched by thetubestore, about 60 bucks each. Each tube contains cathodes, anodes, grids, in a vacuum of glass essentially handmade buy people with skill. 60 bucks. Fuses, notwithstanding acceptance of Magical Quantum Exposed Mojo Festooned items popular among the faithful who themselves ("I spent over a hundred bucks, and these guys SWEAR it's worth it!") are willing to try anything out there regardless of facts or logic (or have a propensity to believe hard sell hype from agenda based "highly resolved" audio system owners), are astonishingly simple and effective little circuit protection devices containing ONLY a tiny wire designed to melt before your gear explodes. Get a "special" one for 100 bucks or a little more for an "extra special" version. I get that people seem to need others to gather around and nod approvingly at their Finely Tuned sensibility (!), but when I see a shill backed with claimed absolutes like fuse directionality being an actual thing, I see fraud. SR is laughing itself to the bank on the backs of both well meaning gear heads looking for more light in their self imposed audio tunnel, and relentless Ron Popeil Award worthy "send it back if not satisfied" hucksterism. Reality indeed. |
Charles that is a reasonable approach that helps clarify the pecking order of things and helps put things in perspective. Minor tweaks are minor tweaks and only really of value once the big ones are addressed first. I'd just hate for people to get the impression that audiophile fuses are the easy solution to fix whatever ails their setup. Maybe they are but only after many other things are in order first and also probably if the investment in dollars is such that a few hundred more for expensive fuses is not a problem. After all as fuses go they ARE expensive. Way more so than most. I think that is hard to argue. But perhaps they are worth it once a big investment is made and now one wants to dot the i s and cross the t s. Just because I have not seen the value so far or that others have does not assure the next guy of anything. |
Mapman, You view 100 dollar fuses as very expensive as you compare them to generic fuses,believe me, I get your point. My perspective is focused on actual sonic improvement added to an audio system. So two very different approaches. As I and other participants here have said, they have more genuine impact than certain cable,accessories and tube swaps have yielded. I can only relate to my listening experiences and yet I accept the fact that yours was a different outcome. That's how it goes. We both have to stand by what we respectively heard. Charles, |
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mapman ... I believe you're correct in your assessment that the more resolving a system is, the more impact the "small" tweaks will have. Early on in this thread I made the comment that eliminating micro-vibrations in a system is a must in order to gain super resolution ... and if one can't hear the improvement the SR Black fuses make, then one needs to pay attention to the micro-vibrations first. sgordon1 ... Warren Gehl is the chief listener at Audio Research. There isn't a piece of equipment, repair or new, that leaves the factory until its signed off by Warren. He not only takes the time to orient the fuses' direction, but also the proper rotational position to ensure that the equipment will sound its best when it arrives at the customer's home. wolf-garcia ... It just amazes me that a wonderful wordsmith such as yourself could be so wrong about so much. Me thinks perhaps you should check your micro-vibrations. :-) OP |
" if one can’t hear the improvement the SR Black fuses make, then one needs to pay attention to the micro-vibrations first " I’m still not sold that one will always hear an improvement even then which is probably old news but first things first for sure. So if I ask that guy at ARC he’ll be able to tell me which way to properly insert my fuse I took out in order to try the Red Fuse? Otherwise I guess its still just try it both ways and see which means whichever way I like is the right way and there is no wrong answer. That’s a pretty easy test to pass and smart marketing to keep everyone happy and not make it hard for the paying customers !!! :^) |
That is interesting because as I mentioned the filament in the ARC sp16 is clearly asymmetrical as I recall so it should be easy to specify which way to insert that into the fuse holder mounted on the back of the unit "correctly" by the pre-amp maker who should know. Oh well, there is always hope still for a non-believer I suppose. At least I get to choose my own favorite fuse direction or not bother at all when I can’t tell a difference. That is more convenient than there being a "right" and "wrong" way for sure and maybe getting it wrong I must say. The customer is always right........ OP BTW thanks for not banning the cynics from your thread like some fuse threads in these parts and giving us someplace we can roost and banter perhaps for the benefit of those whose minds are not made up. |
" You view 100 dollar fuses as very expensive as you compare them to generic fuses,believe me, I get your point. " I doubt it’s just me. Someone do a proper survey. It can be of "audiophiles only" even to skew the results in a useful manner. They might not want to come on this thread to state their opinions and be thought of as a cheapskate. :^) Inquiring minds want to know. Personally I'm a renowned cheapskate who kicked and screamed all the way while still sinking as much money as I have into my Hifi habit. |
