Well hopefully you will have a new breakthrough next month so I can get the Purple one LOL :P
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
Synergistic Research launched the Black Fuse two years ago and since that time we have been working to build a *much* better fuse that outperforms all other fuses on the market regardless of cost, and without establishing a new highest priced fuse on the market- currently there are fuses that are far more expensive with less performance than our new Blue fuse. Our breakthrough came last month and we are now launching the Blue fuse in time for RMAF. In no way does the existence of the new Blue fuse take away from the performance of the Black fuse which is every bit as good today as it was when it was when first launched two years ago. SR is a technology company and unlike many other brands that offer ’new’ products that are little more than a rebadge of existing products, we actually work to perfect our technologies over time. This is why our product cycles typically run between 2 to 5 years -or- longer between major advancements; far longer than most other leading high end accessory and cable manufacturers. If this is a problem, there are companies whose products are as obsolete today as they were last year, and will be next year, and the year after that ;) Yours in music, Ted Denney Lead Designer, Synergistic Research Inc. |
This is wonderful timing for me. My Mother's type 45 tube amp lost a channel recently and I have not been able to get hold of the builder Fred Voltz of Emotive Audio to diagnose the problem. Thank goodness for the spare 300B tube amp that got installed the next day. Charles1dad to thank for inspiring me to have one handy. But a problem arose that the on off switch is in the back of the amp. Reaching behind a hot tubed amp to turn it off is a burned arm waiting to happen. Get frustrated - NO. Instead I now have a reason to get a Pass Labs First Watt F7 Amp. It is a leave it on all the time amplifier. Nelson Pass designed this 14 watt amp for the SET type audio systems. And it is designed to be left on all the time. The amp already sounds wonderful with the 100 db efficient Teresonic speakers. It has a ordinary spiral wound fuse. It is going to be fun to compare the ordinary fuse with the Synergistic Blue fuse- and of course in both directions. Remember that Samsung is spending Three Billion dollars this year alone on Graphene research. I would hope the rate of product improvement accelerates rather than slows. David Pritchard |
Toddverrone wrote, @geoffkait, not sure if this is what you caught, but the electrons in a metal involved in metallic bonding are nonlocalized and don't 'stay' with an individual atom, even if they aren't flowing to propogate the signal. Bingo! Yes, that's one! They are free electrons. They are not stationary. There are other errors in the paragraph. Any takers? |
It's funny to me though, that you'd be upset that there's a new fuse. If the blacks are that great, then they still are. It's ok to not have the newest and 'best' of everything. Take a deep breath.. @geoffkait not sure if this is what you caught, but the electrons in a metal involved in metallic bonding are nonlocalized and don't 'stay' with an individual atom, even if they aren't flowing to propogate the signal. And are the end caps really nickel plated? I thought that was a big no no as well. |
^^^ If one is a "brand new owner" of the Black fuses, one could take advantage of the 30 day return policy and get credit for the money spent on the Black fuses. This is exactly what I did with two of my "new" RED fuses when the Blacks first came out. I was well within the 30 day policy. No questions asked at Highend Electronics. Alfred and Betty are great to do business with. For "seasoned" owners of the Black fuses, use them as spares or sell them on Ebay or A’gon. Same thing one would do with any component being replaced because of an equipment upgrade. Just a thought. Frank |
Happens all the time with gear and no way around it. However, this particular fuse maker is rather interesting. Is it really game changing innovation happening on a regular basis with a fuse? If so, they need to do this and deal with the risk of upset customers. This is the "cost" of ongoing innovation minded companies. If marketing hype, then it is a bit much. |
Feel bad for Tom and new Black owners. New owners. Well many new Black owners have taken advantage of discount pricing recently. Many dealers have been selling the Black fuses at discounts for the last couple of months. Hence, I am not surprised by this "update". Many dealers, of any product, will sell at discount before a new revision is released. |
Wolf_Garcia 9-21-2017Wolfie, I did a search at the U.S. Patent Office website (uspto.gov) of both granted patents and patent applications that have been filed, using a great many relevant search terms. I found nothing relevant to SR or any of its products, or to UEF (Uniform Energy Field) technology specifically. Best regards, -- Al (Licensed but non-practicing patent attorney) |
The fuse marketing expertise of Ted Denny et al is brilliant. Get a product out there that is very cheap to manufacture in China (and save some bucks by not testing the things for accurate ratings), sell it for 50 times what other competent fuses cost (Litelfuse…reliable, well made, a couple of bucks), and replace it frequently with upgraded versions marketed to the faithful (It's new so it HAS to be better!). My sympathies to Aniwolfe…sorry man. |
Pop Quiz! Spot the discrepancies (errors) in the write up for the Blue Fuse on SR web site. Put to use what you’ve learned here on Audiogon this year. I give partial credit. Today physicists understand electrons don’t flow at all but rather propagate in a wave of energy that moves along a conductor with a multitude of factors that alters this wave at the quantum level. To understand how electricity travels without electrons ever leaving their respective atoms it is helpful to consider the spectator ‘wave’ at a football match. Even though you can clearly see a wave pattern moving from spectator to spectator as fans raise and then lower their hands (without hands jumping from one person to the next), so too does electricity ‘move’ without electrons ever leaving their atoms. At Synergistic Research we’ve isolated key factors that affect how electricity propagates by changing the behavior of electrons through Inductive Quantum Coupling methods we collectively call UEF Tech. In fact, UEF Tech is so powerful even an electrical chain several miles long is fundimentally improved with nothing more than a single fuse engineered with our patented UEF Technology. |
^^^ Thank you Bob. Its always a pleasure having you over. Last night Robert and I finished off the Scotch you brought ... yummy! Robert brought over a CD of Arthur Lyman’s "Taboo" for our listening pleasure. Wowie! I’ll bring it over to your place to "test" your subs. The CD is amazing. I have the LP but it never sounded like this CD. Did you order the Carol Kidd CD? Unfortunately, it looks like its become a collector item. Either that or this seller suffers from delusion of grandeur. http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAROL-KIDD-GOLD-1995-MADE-IN-THE-UK-24K-GOLD-CD/252641905971?_trkparms=aid%3... I'll bring mine over the next time we get together at your place so you can download it. Frank |
Had a most wonderful listening session with Frank last week, its been a while since I had this pleasure, waiting for Frank to feel better. Glad to report he's well on his way, just a bit thin, but his ears are just fine. Well, it was like a completely different system, huge deep soundstage, much more realistic low end and bass, filled the room, much better 'meat on bones' with even better sonic density. Before I thought his rig was good, not great...now with whatever tweaks and changes hie has made, it really is quite amazing. His hospitality is always warm and welcoming, and played some great Scottish female vocals, blew me away. Frank remained true to his ND/NC agreement, and wouldn't share with me what has made these huge improvements in his room....but whatever he has, I'll be buying when released. Looking forward to try to translate what he has accomplished into my own room. While Frank completes his recovery, he has the pleasure of enjoying the music in an awesome integrated room/component/tweak environment. I left very impressed. Congrats again to pushing the envelope, and being willing to share the journey. Best, Bob |
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http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B3LRKVM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Bought some as a gag stocking stuffer for my elderly father and was surprised to find that they work. lol Dave |
Whoa! Hey! Guess what? Would you believe that was going to be my first product? Ortho Ears. I was going to use Mr. Spock ears that would fit over the ears. That was 25 years ago. But it turns out the cupping of hands around the ears only really works for average systems with limited dynamic range, such as ones without room treatment or whatever. And perhaps for older gents whose frequency response has fallen off. What were those things they used to advertise a hundred years ago for older dudes? Ear horns? The cupping of ears also subtly changes the frequency response, not for the better I’d opine. For systems with very good dynamic range it doesn’t do much of anything. No offense to anyone intended by that statement. 😀 |
Ear cups to place on your ears greatly improving the listening experience. Try cupping your hand behind your ears and listen. Oh my! Imagine if we were to make a well engineered ear appendage that is perfected for stereo listening. This is big folks. We need to spend far more time on the ears. If not a cup of sorts, then another ear innovation device to aid in listening. Sure our gear is important. No doubt our room acoustics are important. However, most important of all is our ears. Innovation here will make a $3000 system sound like $30,000 system. Not hearing aids as much as listening aids. This is surely the product you are testing. |
Hi Frank, sounds like you are doing well now. Didn't you say a couple months ago you were auditioning a top-secret tweak that you were going to reveal someday? I just updated my REL Strata III's with 4A SR Blacks in the mains, a bit over the stock 3.15A. Right out of the box, the entire system is more relaxed. RELs are known to lift the whole presentation because they take the entire signal right off the speaker terminals. Sound crazy? I like the sound of these fuses--now have nine spread around the system. |
Frank: Friday night football is great. Night games, open stadiums, and fun food to eat. It is serious stuff here in Las Cruces New Mexico ! If I can't make it to a game, I listen to it on a restored 1935 big Philco AM radio. For me High School Football sounds best on the static filled AM waves. Just bought a wonderful used Mactone push pull 300B tube amp. With the original fuse replaced with a Synergistic Research Black fuse, the soundstage is competing nicely with my Art Audio PX-25 amp. David Pritchard |
Well, Friday Night Lights are burning once again. Yep, I'm talkin' high school football. Our local team is the real deal this year. Two games down and we have outscored our opponents 98 - 28 ... and their scores have come in the fourth quarter when we have the second string guys in there. Our quarterback, in his senior year, is playing at the college level. The guy throws rockets and his long ball is dead on the money. The stands are jammed with standing room only if you don't get there early. If you haven't been to a high school game for years, try to go. These kids are playing at the college level of 20 years ago. I think I've only missed about five games over the past 20 years or so. Such fun. We have a group of old codgers like myself who meet up at the games. We carpool to the "away" games as well. Hey ... Seniors get in free too. Cheapest show in town. :-) Frank |
Hifiman5, Absolutely right. There's much mutual admiration amongst top tier musicians. However these very talented folks ultimately want to express themselves with their "own" sound. Particularly in jazz the art and skill of improvising affords the opportunity to be unique. Now are musicians influenced by other players? Yes! Do they want to blatantly copy another? I would say no. Charles |
Charles ... I tend to agree with you. Both had very unique styles. I can listen to either one for hours on end. Never cared for Miles’ psychedelic phase though. One of my favorite Miles albums is his "Round Midnight" album. So soulful and beautiful. I found a mint copy back in the early 70’s in a used record store in Santa Monica for 50 cents. Still have it and it still plays like new (almost). I have an original "Kind of Blue" along with several reissues, including a Japanese reissue. Of all the reissues I’ve heard of this album, the original has the most defined bass lines. In my opinion, Cannonball Adderley makes the album what it is. His playing is very inspired. I’ve often said that Miles and Coltrane showed up for a studio session and Adderley showed up to have a lot of fun. Frank PS: On the new tweak that I’m beta testing .... still going at it. Hopefully the release date will be very soon. I’m just waiting for the mfg to give me the word so I can write a review here. It IS a game changer. Its gotten me closer to a real event than any other tweak I’ve tried so far. Eight week break-in period ... and then it just hits you between the eyes .... and ears. Its the most amazing thing. |
Frank, I'm an admirer of both trumpeters ,have many of their recordings and listen to both artists often. Personally I don't believe that account. Both had their individual sound and certainly different styles. Miles was not only iconic but a trendsetter for literally generations. I can believe that he noticed and appreciated Baker's beautiful tone but seriously doubt an attempt to mimic it. Miles had his own beautiful sound and he knew this and cultivated it over the years. This story reeks of "urban myth" in my opinion. Charles |
Just wanted to let folks here know about the latest addition to my system. It is a Core Power Technologies Equi=Core 300 balanced power cord between the wall and the Tara power strip my system is plugged into. I know some of you have, or have heard, one of the CPT units. If not, I highly recommend looking into them. Of course, I couldn’t leave things there. I had to try and up the ante by putting a Bybee iQSE inside it. Wow! A very synergistic combo! I am hearing a dramatically lowered noise floor. This brings out a wealth of unheard detail, naturally integrated into a wonderful musical whole. It is much easier to follow the various lines in complex music. The sense of life and "realness" of all types of music has jumped to another level. |
@oregonpapa Thanks for asking! I love everything about that disc. All of the musicians feel so relaxed and in tune with one another. It's effortless music as if it just flowed out of them with each in perfect sync with the others. The recording is remarkably atmospheric and open. Chet's trumpet note decay flows naturally from the left channel decaying into the right. No showboating! It is a perfect example of ensemble jazz with players being mutually respectful. Democracy in music! |
