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?
Hampton Hawes? Yes, I have a number of his recordings. One of my favorites is his playing of "The Champ" on the "Lighthouse at Laguna"recording on Contemporary. On one side you have Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse Allstars, and on side two is the Hampton Hawes trio. Its only available in mono, but its a Contemporary, so its one of those recordings that has you asking ... "who needs stereo?"
I have a lot of recordings featuring Harold Land too. I've always considered him to be an underrated player. He's one of my favorites. He did a lot of work on Contemporary Records and they did an outstanding job of giving us great sounding recordings. The folks at Contemporary turned out a superior product. I have a ton of Contemporary recordings and I don't think there's a bad sounding one among them.
Right now I'm listening to "A Portrait of Love;" early 18th century music for the French court, consisting of violin, harpsichord and gamba ... plus Nancy Argenta - soprano on Harmonia Mundi. Amazing!
I have to say, since the big strides in resolution and musicality have been made over the past year in the system, as good as the Harmonia Mundi recordings were in the past, they really have come to life. What a great label.
Its fun discovering "new" recordings among the "old" collection.
Good comment by Mitch2, whose opinions and sonic perceptions have over the years earned very high credibility in my book. And I agree that the discussions/arguments about the efficacy of fuse upgrades have pretty much run their course. I would like to add something, though, to what has been said about the value or lack thereof of having a technical understanding of how tweaks such as these fuses work the magic that many users have described them as providing.
There are at least two reasons why some (including me) would find it unsettling that a persuasive technical explanation doesn’t seem to be available:
1)A persuasive technical explanation, especially one that seems to make sense when looked at in a quantitative manner, would tend to dispel doubts some may legitimately have about what could legitimately be considered to be the seemingly implausible efficacy of such a tweak. Which would add confidence that the investment of time that would be required to properly assess the tweak in the various possible applications within a system would not be wasted.
And by "implausible" I don’t mean to suggest that a fuse change can’t make a difference. In fact based on Atmasphere’s experimental results that I quoted on 8-3-2016 on page 49 of this thread I would expect that the mere act of removing a fuse and then putting the same fuse back in place could make a difference.
What does seem implausible to me, however, and frankly quite baffling, as well as fundamentally inconsistent with my technical understanding of how electronic designs work (and I completely recognize and acknowledge that technical understanding can neither explain nor predict a lot of what we hear or don’t hear in a system) is that the benefits of upgrading to a particular fuse would occur with the high degree of consistency that has been reported, ***among components that are completely different in design, that perform completely different functions, that are used in very different systems, and that are powered by AC having very different voltage and noise characteristics.***
2)A good technical understanding of how a given tweak works its magic may, hopefully, enable increased predictability of whether or not that magic will be forthcoming in a specific application.
"There are at least two reasons why some (including me) would find it unsettling that a persuasive technical explanation doesn’t seem to be available:
1)A persuasive technical explanation, especially one that seems to make sense when looked at in a quantitative manner, would tend to dispel doubts some may legitimately have about what could legitimately be considered to be the seemingly implausible efficacy of such a tweak. Which would add confidence that the investment of time that would be required to properly assess the tweak in the various possible applications within a system would not be wasted."
2)A good technical understanding of how a given tweak works its magic may, hopefully, enable increased predictability of whether or not that magic will be forthcoming in a specific application."
Another typical trollish comment that dismisses ALL technical explanations for fuses already put forward, you know things like purer metal conductor and end caps as well as vibration control. Recall, dear readers these explanations are NOT rocket science. The use of the word "magic"by naysayers when describing tweaks, you know, like psychological, perception, placebo, bias, I.e., is just another clue that the person’s mind was made up a long time ago and that nothing can change it. This is all just another case of one troll admiring the cut of another troll’s jib.
Your interesting technical dialogues are always informative and enjoyable to read.
But .... .
Is there anything to be said for just using one's ears to assess whether a tweak makes an improvement, causes a subtraction, or just doesn't make any difference at all? Especially if one knows the sound of live music and that is what any given system is compared with? I've said it before ... I don't know the difference between a resistor and a capacitor, other than the capacitor stores energy and ... and ... what was it that a resistor does again?
All I know is, upgrading from the HiFi tuning fuse that was in my amp, to the original SR Red fuse that started this thread was not subtle by any means. It was so much of a positive change that it motivated me to start this thread to begin with.
A good friend whose ears I trust heard the improvement without knowing what the change was the moment he walked into the room to start a listening session.
Then with the conversion over to the SR Black fuses, the stage was set. It was like upgrading to a far better pre-amp or amp without the outlay of many thousands of dollars.
Then, the SR High Frequency Transducers (HFT's) really locked everything into place like never before. I don't know how these little things that stick on the walls work ... I only know that the little buggers are fantastic.
So, there are those of us out here who really don't need to know "why." We only care that it "does." And that was the point I was trying to make with the purveyor of PA systems for the home environment, Wolfie Cotton Ears.
In the meantime, Mr. Record, who hears like a dang bat, is coming over for dinner and a listening session tonight. He always brings his latest thrift store finds, both vinyl and Cd's. So ... I'm looking forward to this evening.
Sorry folks but I just don't view Al as a troll, simply doesn't fit. Significant differences between his approach, substance and comportment as contrasted with Garcia. Two entirety different levels in my opinion. Charles,
Hi Frank, I have many of the Harold Land recordings you posted but not the "Hear Ye Hear Ye " with Red Mitchell. I’ll rectify that in short order 😊. Land is definitely underappreciated as a masterful tenor saxophonist. Thanks, Charles,
Max Planck warned against the mental state of "knowing" that gets us stuck. He noted that constantly striving to understand is the remedy, and observation is important, even if it contradicts theory, and even if total understanding is unreachable. My tendency is to know the fuse can't make a difference, but Max was no slouch, so whether it's subjective perception or engineering, I'll strive to stay in the striving state.
I tested the fuses (reluctantly, until provided with a pile of them that I couldn’t resist playing with), and found them to be merely fuses, and not very safe fuses at that. That in itself should be helpful information for those considering wasting money on these silly items. You’re welcome. The fact that "clean your fuse holder" Almarg has been deemed a troll by some here speaks volumes of the mind set among some of the magic fuse Athletic Supporters in this thread, and Al is welcome to visit my PA festooned box under the freeway anytime. A note regarding technical explanation…For decades I’ve hung with and spoken to successful cable designers, speaker designers, amp designers (both home or pro use) and serious musicians who are also audio geeks, and pretty much anybody will readily and unhesitatingly discuss the whys and wherefores of their gear if so disposed to do so…Bill Low entertained me with logical and well reasoned cable design wisdom for an hour before a jazz show I was mixing (there’s that swine PA reference again!). He seemed legit, and not one to simply throw a "low manufacturing cost relative to extreme high retail price" Carpel Tunneled (I mean Quantum Tunneled) gizmo at the Subjective Audio Geek market without supporting technical reasoning…my issues with SR’s ability to fill their corporate coffers by using threads like this to promote Quantum Trammeled Carbon pleasure placebos to rabid seekers is my main reason to keep showing up here…that and the fact that I refuse to be bullied off by boneheads.
Garcia, How about we all as gentlemen agree to disagree as mitch2 graciously suggested? Everone's position pro, or con has been duly acknowledged at this point and the redundant back and forth name calling is stale. Best Regards, Charles,
I've never actually seen a thread with more shameless product shilling and relatively less product design discussion…I don't mind the name calling as it proves my point about the lack of spine among the clearly insecure who are unable or unwilling to understand simple questions and comments if they get too close to the truth…if I worshipped an inane and unexplainable object I'd likely worry about naysayers, but nothing is sacred to me, except my right to object to obvious commercial hype in a forum. You can put lipstick on knghifi, but he still needs eyeliner.
Okay, I finally broke one of the SR Black fuses open and discovered the absolute truth. Here it is my fellow audiophiles and music lovers ...
Somehow, the folks at SR have developed miniaturization to the point that they can actually shrink instruments and musicians down to the level where they fit into these clever little fuses.
Inside the fuse in the phono stage, much to my delight and surprise, was a very tiny Sammy Davis Jr. and Laurindo Almeida in residence. Almeida with guitar in hand strumming away. Sammy Davis Jr. singing "Here's That Rainy Day."
But wait! ... There's more!!
I then broke open the SR Black fuse in the preamp, and there stood Victoria de los Angeles surrounded by the entire La Scala orchestra di Italia along with hundreds of rabid Italian opera fans, box lunches comfortably resting in their laps, all waiting with baited breath for the great soprano to start singing. I had to quickly wrap electricians tape around the fuse to close it up. The crowd noise was deafening.
How did Ted Denny and the crew at SR figure out how to get all of that inside one little fuse?
I had a hell of a time prying Fats Domino and Jimmy Rushing out of the two fuses in the CD player. Those two guys obviously haven't passed up the bacon cheeseburgers and the Saint Louis ribs.
Upon further investigation, I discovered that whatever piece of music one plays, the artists seem to be reincarnated inside these wonderful little fuses. As it turns out, there is nothing different about these fuses at all ... other than the musicians and instruments are actually inside them.
Now we know why, with the installation of the SR Black fuses, everything sounds so real. Because IT IS REAL.
So there you have it, Wolfie Cotton Ears. All of your technical questions have been answered.
I guess in light of George’s link and since labels were being assigned previously, we can suggest:
8. The OP = Shill
Wolfie Cotton Ears? Seriously?? Sounds like something my 8 year old niece would come up with. Just by way of disclaimer, I don’t really have a dog in the fight - don't care one way or the other if these Synergistic fuses work as advertised or not. I do find Wolf's posts amusing, however.
Hi Frank, I ordered the Harold Land-Red Mitchell "Hear Ye Hear Ye " . An added bonus is that trumpeter Carmell Jones is a member of this quintet. I can’t wait to hear it, thanks for the recommendation. Charles,
Well I have about 30 hours on my black fuse in my dac. The red fuse's have been fantastic and the black fuse is better I think. I did not compare them in each component. And I got to finish breaking them in. Anyway the black fuse has put beautiful timbre in my tone, see through in my sound stage, vibrato in the voices, swinging pace with the bass, openness in the air, tension in the fret-tion of the viola, tam tam in the tom tom. It has hidden my speakers and I can't find them. As far as knowing how something works. I don't know how my computer works but I am glad it does. I don't know how my flat screen tv works but dido. I grew up fixing my cars and I don't know how todays cars work but dido. I really don't know how electricity flows but dido. I am not sure how the black fuse does it's voodoo but dido. I got to try some more voodoo after this fuse's unexplained behavior finishes changing.
Nope ... just a dyed in the wool old time audiophile who found a tweak that works so well that I wanted to share it with other like-minded individuals. So far, its paid off big time for a lot of happy posters here.
With all due respect, I suggest that you read the thread from the very beginning before you form any concrete opinions.
Charles ...
We're very lucky to have so much of Harold Land's music on recordings. He was a very prolific sideman as well. Some of his best work was done on some of the Montgomery Brothers albums.
Frank, Wow! As much jazz as I've listened to over the years yet I wasn't aware of any Harold Land and Montgomery Brothers collaboration. I'll happily seek those out. The Montgomery Brothers were really good 😊. One could spend a lifetime exploring jazz music and still you'd keep discovering new/unknown musicians and recordings. Such a joy. Charles,
"As far as knowing how something works. I don’t know how my computer works but I am glad it does. I don’t know how my flat screen tv works but dido. I grew up fixing my cars and I don’t know how todays cars work but dido. I really don’t know how electricity flows but dido. I am not sure how the black fuse does it’s voodoo but dido."
I’m not sure it’s a particularly good idea for you guys to be promulgating the idea that proponents of the Black Fuse or any audiophile device don’t know much about how anything works. It gives the wrong impression and is reminiscent of my least favorite audio magazine reviewer comment, "Gosh, I have no idea how this thing works but works it does!"
Again ... there are those of us who really don't care how an electronic devise works, only that it does. The bottom line for us isn't the technological aspects of the hobby ... its about the musical enjoyment one derives from the devises that have been designed and put together by others. This would include tweaks like upgraded fuses, cones and little thingies that adhere to the walls and profoundly increase the realism of what is coming out of the speakers. If this weren't the case, we'd all be building Dynaco Stereo 70's and Heathkit amps from scratch. The last time I tried using a soldering iron, I burned the hell out of my thumb. :-)
OP
Charles ...
I have an LP of The Montgomery Brothers that I believe was recorded exclusively for radio stations. I found it in a used record store back in the early 70's. Even though I keep searching, I have never seen it since. Its mono, but the sound is spectacular as is the performance. Its one of my reference and demo LP's. I love playing it for people just to show them how good mono can sound. Harold Land is spectacular on the album. If you can put up with a little surface noise, I'll burn a copy and send it along to you.
Haven't checked into this thread in a while as I had nothing really to add but let me say agreed @almarg is one of the nicest and most knowledgeable and helpful people on this site and definitively not a troll. And on the subject of shilling, look we are all, hopefully, adults here and should be able to evaluate claims we read and make up our own minds. No one is forcing you to believe anything that's written here or for that matter to even read it, so relax folks! And thanks for the Harold Land rec I have a twofer of Eastward Ho! and Fire in the West queued up next!
@charles1dad I loved both albums I listened to last night awesome music an good sound as well. The rec is much appreciated and Harold Land is in my mental database now thanks guys!
Perhaps if somebody knows Ted Denny, he could be asked pop in here and explain how he came up with the designs of his fuses and maybe his "transducers." I assume somebody in here knows this guy as otherwise how would the arrangement to be compensated for pushing these products have come about? Note to patient readers of this thread…after often asking clearly if ANYBODY knows how or why these things provide the astonishing benefits alleged in this thread, there remains zero actually useful info proffered by the SR product users. Reminder: A fuse is NOT in the signal path, and if working properly only provides its services by melting if need be. Do any talented and successful amp designers swear by the sonic benefits of "special" relatively expensive fuses to the extent that they'd be willing to explain what they actually do? Pass? D'Agostino? Atmasphere? Shindo? Anybody? My feeling from being around a few of these designers is they don't do magic well…it simply seems lame to them.
Mister Record (Robert) came over for a listening session last night. I dug into the vault and took out the Montgomery Bros. album and played both sides. I haven't played it for a couple of years. Gotta say, with the fuses, room treatments and the cable upgrades made over the past year, its even better than I remembered.
In addition to Harold Land on tenor, the Montgomery Brother's album also features Freddie Hubbard. The vibes playing by Buddy Montgomery is outstanding ... and in the room.
Instead of expecting the rest of us to do your research for you, why not do it on your own ... then report your findings here when you're finally satisfied?
Here's the contact information for Synergistic Research ... phone numbers and all. Maybe you can get Ted Denny on the phone.
Hi Frank, I'm a fan of Hubbard's trumpet playing and I love the vibraphone (I'm only familiar with Buddy Montgomery as a pianist). Can't wait to listen to this recording. Thanks again. Charles,
I have a couple of double album reissues (LP's) of Milt Jackson's recordings on the old Roost label. Again, they're mono ... but the transfers were really good and Milt is in the room. I'll dig those out for you too. :-)
Frank, The great vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson passed away last week. He and Milt Jackson are probably my favorites of the top tier players. I really like Victor Feldman also. Charles,
Frank, Yep, I have that and it’s very good. Another fine one from him is "Merry Olde Soul". He alternates between the vibraphone and piano. As you know he was a wonderful musician with both instruments. Charles,
Do you have this? If not, I'll send it along. Great performance and sound. I played it for Mister Record (Robert) the other night and he loved it. Terrific sound and performance.
Frank, Wow! Boy do we have similar taste. I've owned "Motor City Scene " for about 10 years. This is excellent and classic hard bop music played by musicians who were masters of that idiom. This is truly one of my favorite jazz recordings. You gotta love Pepper Adams and his beautiful baritone saxophone. As you note it's so well recorded but the music is what makes it so special. I don't know why this sextet didn't produce more recordings. Charles,
Well Zoot sure sounds good on a Benny Goodman album- cd recorded in Europe on the Vocallion (sp) label.
I just finished installing an audio grade A/C wall outlet (that had been in the system for months) after putting it on the Audio Dharma Cable Cooker for 6 days.
What a nice improvement. I will condition some of the other outlets on the audio circuit to see if I obtain further benefits from their conditioning.
Also just obtained a pair of Emission Lab 300B Mesh Tubes. It will be fun to hear the interaction of Mesh tubes, Black fuses , and Black outlets.
Hi David, If your amplifier is relatively easy on the 300b tube I believe that you’ll be happy with the EML mesh plate. This version of the 300b is a bit more delicate than the standard tubes. I heard them for a few weeks in my amplifier and the sound was beautiful!
My amplifier circuit however puts too much stress on the gentler mesh plate. The solid plate EML XLS is a better fit due to its more robust construction. It sounds exceptionally well in my amplifier. You may have an 300b SET amplifier that can utilize either EML equally well. Let us know your results. Curious as to how the mesh plate compares to the Sophia blue glass tubes. There are many choices available of 300bs. In my experience the 300b is an excellent choice for authentic and very tactile reproduction of voice and instruments. Charles,
I am finding your description of the 300B abilities to be quite accurate and attractive. My amp was designed with the Mesh tube in mind so I will not have to worry about an overstress circuit causing tube failures.
It will be an education during the next few weeks evaluating these wonderful tubes.
David, That's terrific regarding the flexibility of your amplifier towards 300bs. You're in store for much fun with these various tubes to listen to, Charles,
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