Synergistic Red Fuse ...

Shadorne
  No I am not kidding. I do not want equipment that magnifies minute variations in the power supplied to the amplifier power supply which is supposed to filter and protect amplifier circuits from power variations. Why would I want to hear differences in fuses or the small effects of my neighbour down the street when they turn on an appliance and the small effect it has on the power my home receives. It makes no sense to build audio gear that magnifies such things - if you hear such things then either the equipment is faulty or the design of the power supply is atrocious.

Good point!  I'm replacing my ARC REF250SE, VAC SigMKIIa SE ... with Jolida, Adcom and the best preamp ever, Lightspeed Attenuator. No need for fancy fuses, after market cables ...  everything sounds the same.

Pioneer receiver, two cheap floor standing speakers jammed up against the wall between a big screen TV in an almost bare room. Yeppers ... no improvement from the fuses at all. *lol*

I can beat that, my stuffs all from Radio Shack or Tandy as it was know here. Which may even sound better than yours with the voodoo fuses.

Cheers George

Georgelofi ...

The best system on A'gon? Hardly. However, I have heard some systems costing over 250k that were put together with very respectable and highly reviewed equipment. With the exception of scale, my system can hang pretty close with whatever I've heard especially in the area of correct tonal balance.

I mentioned Bob's Venture speakers. I've heard his system a few times and I'm always impressed ... especially when he has the sub woofer in the system. Zowie! Talk about a beautiful sound stage! Really good tonal balance too. We used the same builder for our equipment racks ... and that's a major tweak in itself. Every time I leave Bob's home the same thought occurs to me .... I WANT A PAIR OF VENTURE SPEAKERS...!!!

Also, I've heard fleschler's system. A dedicated room. A dedicated record/music collector. A dedicated audiophile. And a GREAT system with Legacy Focus speakers at its heart, driven by a pair of Altec theater amps modified by Grover Huffman (an A'gon contributer).  I thought I had an obsession with collecting records and CD's.  I'm just a beginner compared with fleschler.

And by the way, fleschler's living room system consists of a pair of Legacy Signature III's (same model I use) driven by a Dyna Stereo 70, also modified by Grover Huffman that is to die for. Man, would I love to own that amp. I'd say that most folks posting on this site would be perfectly happy and satisfied with fleschler's living room system ... and it only scratches the surface of what his dedicated room system does.

http://www.groverhuffman.com/home

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue59/huffman.htm

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/grover-huffman-gh-rca-zx-cables-vs

Don't know if you've noticed Georgelofi ... but both Bob and fleschler use SR Black fuses in their systems.

Also Georgelofi, I have noticed that you haven't posted any pictures of your system. Any particular reason why not??? You're not that guy with the ancient Pioneer receiver are you??  :-)

Frank  

knghifi sez:

" Good point!  I'm replacing my ARC REF250SE, VAC SigMKIIa SE ... with Jolida, Adcom and the best preamp ever, Lightspeed Attenuator. No need for fancy fuses, after market cables ...  everything sounds the same."  

The post of the day. *lol*

Frank

Jolly good entertainment here fellas! I have to hand it to you all! Over 3750 posts, and it's still like watching the Monty Python Flying Circus " Argument Sketch".

"Look, I came here for an argument".
"Oh, I'm sorry, this is abuse".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y

^^^ ... They don't bother me a twit ... not a twit. After spending over 50 years in commissioned sales my skin is about a foot thick. I eat rejection for breakfast and come back at lunch and dinner for more. 

By the way, if any of you are Mel Torme' fans, I listened to this CD all the way through tonight. Its Torme' in his prime and a really, really good recording:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Swingin-On-the-Moon-Verve-Mel-Torme-Torme-Mel-Good-/332150919452?hash=item4d...

Torme's is truly one of the great American song stylists. Its worth the entry fee to get to know his music.

Frank

Georgelofi ... but both Bob and fleschler use SR Black fuses in their systems.

Really!!! good luck to them, would have got the same result with just a new 10c fuses.

This is what happens to that fine 10mm-20mm wire inside a fuse, from new left, to a quite a few cycles of turn on turn off over a year or so on the right.
https://i.stack.imgur.com/0uqWX.jpg

Also Georgelofi, I have noticed that you haven’t posted any pictures of your system.

It’s documented all through Audiogon, go fish you’ll be surprised.

Cheers George

Frank,

Are you actually saying that the highest resolution systems magnify everything including power supply variations and everything else unrelated to the source?

Have you not considered that a system that magnifies the impacts of a fuse is likely obscuring what is coming from the source?

I regard audible effects from extraneous factors such as fuses to be distortion. I do not want equipment that magnifies distortion.

Geoff or Nyame,

No Strawman ( or are you claiming the fuse is not integral to the point where power comes in). No Sadness from me only the reality that in some crazy threads here ( fortunately the minority) there is clearly a complete lack of common sense and the emperor has no clothes. Please note that ad hominem attacks simply mean you are at a loss for a counter argument as to why you would support equipment that magnifies the fuse sound?

Geoff or Nyame,

No Strawman ( or are you claiming the fuse is not integral to the point where power comes in). No Sadness from me only the reality that in some crazy threads here ( fortunately the minority) there is clearly a complete lack of common sense and the emperor has no clothes. Please note that ad hominem attacks simply mean you are at a loss for a counter argument as to why you would support equipment that magnifies the fuse sound?

These are not ad hominem attacks. They’re attacks on your misunderstanding of how fuses can be bad for the sound and why they are a potential lightning rod for vibration and RFI/EMI. And why aftermarket fuses are superior to stock fuses, you know, because they address those issues as well as provide superior conductivity. And why wire directionality dictates the sound quality. Maybe take a day off from the action and review the thread from the very beginning, hmmm?

have a nice day

@knghifi.  

Everything sounds the same? 

Huh?

Not sure if you are kidding or have no experience. 

Of course equipment makes a difference.

Clearly faulty or badly designed equipment is causing several audiophiles grief here. They are finding large audible differences when there should not be. Unfortunately their gear is adding distortion from minute differences in the fuse.

While the opinions I have expressed during the course of this thread do not coincide with those representing either extreme of the belief spectrum, I’ll say that I believe George has raised an interesting point about degradation of the fuse element over time, as a result of repeated turn-on surges or other use-related factors. That possibility not having been stated previously in the thread, as far as I can recall, and I suppose it might account for perceived improvements with upgraded fuses in some if not many cases.

Frank and others mentioned significant further improvements when upgrading from "near new" SR Red to SR Black fuses, and I don’t doubt their perceptions. But perhaps the several reports we’ve seen in the thread of SR fuses being more prone to blow in some applications than stock fuses signify that the degradation/aging effect George has referred to occurs more quickly with those fuses than with typical stock fuses. Perhaps almost instantly in some applications, to some degree, given that some of the false blows have been reported to occur immediately.

Just a thought, which at this point I suppose can’t be ruled out as being a factor in some if not many cases.

Regards,
-- Al

Almarg            03-14-17

You are so reliable. You had to jump in to support your flat earth friends. The problem is that you had nothing of substance to say so drafted this carefully  worded meaningless nonsense designed to show your impartiality,

I am very disappointed that, as a fully trained Lawyer, you remain silent in the presence of Wolf-Garcia untenable sustained attacks on Oregonpapa and this thread. 

One of the bedrocks of Legal jurisprudence for over 2000 years is the 
principle that a person is presumed to be innocent until proven otherwise. 
It is not unreasonable to assume from his posts that Wolf_Garcia would  from, and become a better person, if you explained this  principle to him.

almarg    03-14-17

CORRECTION to the final sentence of my post above.

"It is not unreasonable to assume from his posts that Wolf_Garcia would benefit from, and become a better person, if you explained this principle to him"

I guess the take away from all this is that things CAN never be what they actually seem to be in the mind of the skeptic. Especially in the minds of backsliding mossback uber skeptics who are COMPELLED to continue the charade. If an uber skeptic looks hard enough he can always come up with some brand new convoluted bizarre explanation that substitutes for a real rebuttal, a rebuttal based on physical reality. If the old fuse holder explanation doesn’t stick then maybe the aging fuse element will stick. Time will tell. As for me I'll stick to the age old audiophile axiom, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's a duck.

Actually, nyame, I find Wolf quite an interesting person whose experience in the music world and with equipment I like to hear about.  So maybe you can read between the lines.

Nyame 3-14-2017
I am very disappointed that, as a fully trained Lawyer, you remain silent in the presence of Wolf-Garcia untenable sustained attacks on Oregonpapa and this thread.

Nyame, allow me to point out the following statement which I made on 1-24-2017, in a response to one of your posts, which (similarly to your post above) alleged that a post of mine was "convoluted nonsense." Even though that post had been commented upon favorably by members representing all sides of the issue.

I have considerable respect for Frank’s system, sonic perceptiveness, and sincerity.

Nothing I have said (or thought) at any point in this thread has been in any way inconsistent with that statement.

Regards,
-- Al

I've had fuses in gear that remained unmolested for decades and simply nothing degraded…example…a 1961 Fender Bandmaster guitar amp that I abused for 25 years, and an even earlier Deluxe…fuse? Shcmuze! If there was degradation it didn't seem to have any effect on the sound of those amps, but there was no reason to check…imagine how well they would have worked with new Littlefuses! Or maybe they would have lost some of their charm…hmm...Nyname is incorrect as it's doubtful I'll ever become a better person (simply too late), but, again, regardless of the belief that the electrons zipping to and fro in the Magic Fuses touted around here will somehow infect the adjoining gear bits with Better Soundstaging, it simply defies logic that those "happier" electrons are gonna do squat. Vibration, EFI/RMI, etc., are likely utterly irrelevant as regards hair thin fuse wire, but are very important to those who market to the ones concerned about that. The elitist argument of "my rig and ears are simply better than yours" is generally wheeled out in times of desperation when a clearer explanation of what is actually happening is unavailable. Maybe just clean your fuse holders and get back to me.

Quoting Oregonpapa:
" They don't bother me a twit ... not a twit. After spending over 50 years in commissioned sales my skin is about a foot thick. I eat rejection for breakfast and come back at lunch and dinner for more."
Put another way:
--That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.  Now don't annoy me with the facts.--

Fuses should not degrade, they should blow when required. Some here have gone so far (overboard) as to state that if your gear can be affected by a change in fuses, cords, etc. then there's something wrong with your gear: it's crap.

Saying that, then a fuse that degrades is crap as well. Why would anyone put a crappy fuse in such a vital area, knowing it's going to fail long before (if ever) required? It would also affect performance long before it ever blows.

Some counter arguments simply don't make sense. Not even on first blush. These boutique fuses seem to address the failings of cheap fuses by a more robust construction with attention paid to the rigors a fuse goes through when doing it's job, simple as it's been made to believe.

The only argument I see is how much of your hard earned cash are you ready to part with for the improvement. I've wasted more money on CD's that I ended up not liking than what would be needed to buy some SR Black fuses. I know the improvements made in my system with some old HiFi Tuning Silver fuses but I'm still on the fence as to amount of  improvement I'd get with SR Blacks for the price they charge. That's my only concern since I know fuses matter. 

If metallurgy is important in cable terminations, let alone wiring, then why not fuses? I just got so big an improvement with my speaker cables going from copper spades to rhodium over beryllium bananas on the amp end that it leaves my head wagging in disbelief. Again, why not fuses? Some of these counter arguments are becoming zombie like in their ability to be knocked down, only to come back again and again.
There should be a spin off on TV called The Aurally Dead.

All the best,
Nonoise

Why would anyone put a crappy fuse in such a vital area, knowing it’s going to fail long before (if ever) required? It would also affect performance long before it ever blows.... These boutique fuses seem to address the failings of cheap fuses by a more robust construction with attention paid to the rigors a fuse goes through when doing it's job....

Precisely. Which raises the question of why we have seen multiple reports in this thread of SR fuses blowing when they shouldn’t, and perhaps in many cases having to be chosen at current ratings higher than stock.

Regards,
-- Al

By the way, if any of you are Mel Torme' fans, I listened to this CD all the way through tonight. Its Torme' in his prime and a really, really good recording:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Swingin-On-the-Moon-Verve-Mel-Torme-Torme-Mel-Good-/332150919452?hash=item4d...

Torme's is truly one of the great American song stylists. Its worth the entry fee to get to know his music.

Just ordered.  My 1st Torme CD.  :-)  Trying to discover artists before my time.

@oregonpapa Do you have any Dean Martin recommendations?  

Shadorne sez: ... 

"Have you not considered that a system that magnifies the impacts of a fuse is likely obscuring what is coming from the source? 
I regard audible effects from extraneous factors such as fuses to be distortion. I do not want equipment that magnifies distortion"

On the contrary Shadorne, there is nothing "magnified" by upgrading to a better fuse, especially "distortion."  What is/was being "obscured" is the purity of the incoming signal by using an inferior stock fuse. That "purity" is allowed to come through the upgraded fuse and we perceive it as less grain, a lower noise floor and more three dimensional realism. Its not a defect in the equipment, but a "defect," if you will, in the stock fuse. 

Are you one who also denies the efficacy of upgrading to better power cords, speaker wires and IC's?

How about upgrading tonearm wires? I upgraded my Well Tempered tonearm wires years ago, replacing it with the best copper wire that Cardas offered at the time. It was a significant improvement all around. Is it your belief that after changing the tonearm wire, the table was "magnifying distortion," and therefore revealed itself to be a defective turntable?? 

Another "tweak" I did was to change out the stock binding posts on my speakers for Cardas' best copper posts. Another significant improvement. What "distortions," in your opinion, were being "magnified" by the speakers after I changed the binding posts? And ... are the speakers defective because the Cardas binding posts allowed for a better signal to pass through, and as a result, offered a more realistic presentation?? 

How about spiking speakers to the floor? I remember when "Tip Toes" first came out back in the '70's. This was prior to anyone understanding the value of spiking speakers to the floor. The dealer at the audio store talked me into buying a set. I placed them under the speakers I had at the time and was truly amazed at the improvement those little aluminum cones/spikes made. What happened there ... did the Tip Toes simply "magnify distortions" in my "defective" speakers?  That's just silly.

If there was something in your post that I misunderstood, please lay it out. Thanks ...

Frank

Chris Connacker of the Computer Audiophile seems to 'strongly' 
agree with wolf_garcia regarding the use of speaking out --(and to be clear Chris was not talking about SR fuses- it's a general comment)  " It's just as disappointing to see the unaware spend hard-earned money on such an upgrade. This type of thing happens across all industries. It's the nature of capitalism and consumerism. Fortunately, we are in the golden age of the Internet, where people can freely publish opinions about products without any trouble."

knghifi ... 

Congrats on ordering the Mel Torme' CD. You're in for a treat.

On Dean Martin.  Yes! ... Yes! ... and Yes!

The very best of Dean's LP's is titled "Dream With Dean." We discovered this album years ago. The original LP is amazing. Dean is right there before you ...and you're looking down his throat. Its recently been reissued on 45 RPM 180 gram vinyl. I haven't heard the reissue, but my friends who have say its even better than the original. I also have a CD that's a compilation of Dean's recordings and it contains cuts from the Dream With Dean album.

Here's the CD that has the cuts from Dream With Dean:

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/CD-Dean-Martin-Late-Night-With-Dean-Martin-/261843173829?hash=item3cf711c1c5...

Here's the original Dream With Dean album:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LP-Dean-Martin-Dream-With-1964-stereo-POP-VOCAL-Reprise-6123-VG-/28236231970...

Here's the 45 RPM reissue of Dream With Dean:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dean-Martin-Dream-With-Dean-12-LP-45RPM-200gm-Analogue-Productions-/39170929...

And finally, here's another "must have" of Mel Torme' CD. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MEL-TORME-Mel-Torme-in-Hollywood-CD-Very-Good-condition-/182455576808?hash=i...

All of these recordings will tickle your eardrums. On the Dean Martin compilation, the only good sounding cuts are the ones from Dream With Dean. The other cuts are just so-so ... but the CD is worth the price of admission. 

After you submerse yourself in Dean Martin and Mel Torme', there's more to come. Like ... Tony Martin and Jack Jones.  God, I love this! I really do. :-)

Frank

"It’s just as disappointing to see the unaware spend hard-earned money on such an upgrade. This type of thing happens across all industries. It’s the nature of capitalism and consumerism. Fortunately, we are in the golden age of the Internet, where people can freely publish opinions about products without any trouble."

Yeah, right. People are free to publish opinions about products such as the unenlightened screed in quotes above. Why is it always everybody else who’s unaware?  😄

Geoffkait it seems you agree with the theory-
if you can't attack the argument simply attack the person- naturally..

Well stated Oregonpapa. When it was stated that fuses COULD NOT improve the sound of a component because all it does is pass AC through it, I asked "Why not?". Doesn't a power cord just pass AC through it? While I'm not sure how the SR fuses work I can think of a few possible reasons they do. Better EFI/RFI shielding? Better conductivity? Better connection with the fuse holder? Some contend that the fuse couldn't possibly matter because it's such a short, thin wire that only passes current and disintegrates when too much current passes through it. I contend, as does Paul McGowen of PS Audio, that's exactly why it's so important as there so much room for improvement. What's so hard in believing that improvement can be made at the point in the AC pathway where its at its weakest? Stock fuses couldn't be made any cheaper than they are. They weren't designed with audio in mind but only to allow so much current through them.  Wouldn't improving the AC pathways weakest point provide the greatest possibility in improvement to the pathway? Just asking as I certainly don't proclaim to have the answers. And yes, I can certainly believe not everyone experiences the same results many of us have, but I don't see how it's NOT POSSIBLE that the SR black fuses could improve our sound. 

nonoise

Fuses should not degrade, they should blow when required. 
Saying that, then a fuse that degrades is crap as well.

Yes they will degrade as they operate at or near their threshold,  just like incandescent light globs do, did you not see what happens to the same fuse over time of constant "switch on surges" It carbonises to a point where it is no longer pliable, sags, stiffens and blows  
https://i.stack.imgur.com/0uqWX.jpg

These boutique fuses seem to address the failings of cheap fuses by a more robust 

In many cases they are blowing for no reason at all, how is that more reliable?

Cheers George 

Are the SR fuses blowing for no reason? I have 6 SR black fuses with the same values as the stock fuses they replaced without incident. Might the issue be one that only applied to the early fuses? 

Meant to type.....Are the SR fuses STILL blowing for no reason? Sorry

Mac48025, the answer to your question as to why the SR Red and Black Quantum fuses
can't improve the sound of a component :--- as previously stated in this thread-
"Obviously anyone 'touting' theses Synergistic Red Quantum (or black) fuses has never taken a look at all the wiring 'after the fuse' - within the device. If they did they'd see all sorts of Pieces of wire, longer than the fuse, connecting various items."  As wolf_garcia stated; if your fuse is old simply replacing it with a new one will give the same benefit as an SR fuse.
Same for highly touted "benefit" of the directionality of said fuses.
No reputable manufacturer (I'm aware of)  of components these fuses are suggested for, promote their products for the "directionality of the wiring".. That moots the point about the "value" of the fuse directionality, again because of the various wires following the fuse.
So I remain aligned with the Healthy Skeptic-wolf_garcia - when he says 

" the promotion of a nonsensical, inexplicable, expensive and utterly useless fuse "upgrade" will garner my ire as long as this thread continues".

Particularly with the "unending 'incremental' upgrades" type of changes (Chris Connaker referred to such types of changes " I've been disappointed in the past to learn of manufacturers who release "Mark II" of a product only because a single internal component of the original version is no longer available. It's just as disappointing to see the unaware spend hard-earned money on such an upgrade." ; rather nicely put I feel. See it here' in the first paragraph. - http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/727-berkeley-audio-design-alpha-dac-reference-series-2-rev...

ptss
Geoffkait it seems you agree with the theory-
if you can’t attack the argument simply attack the person- naturally...

I’ve already attacked the argument. Many many times, in fact. Shall I draw you a picture?

some of you guys never sleep do you?

Ptss....I appreciate the effort but none of that answers my question. I'm not asking about directionality, old fuses or other wiring

Since the fuse is the weakest link in the pathway, why wouldn't improving that weak link improve sound quality? It's commonly believed that improving the weak link in a system provides the biggest improvement, why couldnt improving the weak link in the AC pathway bring about improvement? I'm merely asking isn't plausibly possible instead of stating its definitely not possible ( I'm not saying you made that statement but others have)? Isn't it possible?

Mac48025 3-14-2017
Are the SR fuses blowing for no reason? I have 6 SR black fuses with the same values as the stock fuses they replaced without incident. Might the issue be one that only applied to the early fuses?

Mac48025, after briefly making use of the "Find" function that is provided in the Firefox browser I use, using the terms "blew" and "fail," I believe that the most recent reports of SR fuse failures were in posts by members "whitestix" on 1-22-2017, "fynnegan" on 1-14-2017, "fleschler" on 12-21-2016, "sns" on 12-10-2016, "mtseymour" on 11-10-2016, and "dlcockrum" on 11-5-2016." Some of these reports involved SR Reds, and some involved SR Blacks. Some of the reported failures occurred instantly, and some after a period of time. Also, Wolfie had reported that a couple of the SR fuses he tried in various components in his system had blown, as did at least several members who posted earlier in the thread.

FWIW, my guess as to why some have experienced these failures and others have not relates to differences in turn-on surge currents (referred to by EEs as "inrush currents") among different component designs, and perhaps also to differences in susceptibility to failure among SR fuses having different current ratings and/or different fast blow/slow blow ratings.

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."

Best regards,
-- Al

Thanks Al, your expertise and grace is appreciated.

Hmm, if a fuse is made to be a sacrificial component, as proffered by georgehifi, then wouldn't it make sense to make one of higher quality?
It wouldn't degrade as quickly, if ever.

As for the ones that blew instantly, aren't those rather rare compared to the vast majority of fuses sold? And didn't someone, earlier on in this thread, say that not all amps turn on the same and the inrush of current is not the same from different makes? I seem to remember someone talking of a brand with different models that behaved differently. Fuses blew and fuses didn't simply dealing with different models of the same component. And didn't someone offer that going up just a bit in value seems to do the trick for the ones that easily blow without detriment?

Some tubes fail soon after insertion for no apparent reason. Some other components do as well. Crappy fuses have been made for a long time so it's rather easy to assure the most basic performance needed during manufacture due to the lower standards involved. Pound them out. Almost uniform performance after purchase is a given and nothing to really brag about.


Some failures are to be expected. So what? People have gotten their money back or the fuse replaced and viola! It works.

All the best,
Nonoise

mac48025                     03-14-2017

Reading your post is like a breath of fresh air. Thank you.

The SR Black fuses and the Black outlets make my system sound way better. If offered a full refund in exchange for surrendering these items after lo these many months, I would respectfully decline. Ain't nobody's business but my own....

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!

The C48 employs some sort of fuseless short circuit protection according to what I saw on the Internet. I don't know whether that means that are no fuses in the C48 but it might.

@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.

@geoffkait

I wondered myself along the same lines but just cannot get a good solid answer
Hopefully McIntosh will reply to my email asking for clarification I sent them this morning
May have to start at twice the price by replacing the pair in my BAT VK600SE instead.....

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.

Hi fleschler, would you mind expanding on what you mean by your Dynaco ST70 is not a conventional amp?  I have a couple and was wondering if you replaced the fuse in it and if so which rating did you use?  If so, was there much of an impact?
Thanks

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.

Thanks fleschler for your response.  I agree with you that so far the Mullard EL34s are the way to go for my amps.  I would assume that you are referring to the old production Mullards. 

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. 

Yes you can edit instantly, as i know cos I am a terrible proof reader...lol
However you cannot DELETE it within 30 minutes of posting