The new Synergistic Research BLUE fuses ....


New SR BLUE fuse thread ...

I’ve replaced all 5 of the SR BLACK fuses in my system with the new SR BLUE fuses. Cold, out of the box, the BLUE fuses stomped the fully broken-in SR BLACKS in a big way. As good as the SR BLACK fuses were/are, especially in comparison with the SR RED fuses, SR has found another break-through in fuses.

1. Musicality ... The system is totally seamless at this point. Its as if there is no system in the room, only a wall to wall, front to back and floor to ceiling music presentation with true to life tonality from the various instruments.

2. Extension ... I’ve seemed to gain about an octave in low bass response. This has the effect of putting more meat on the bones of the instruments. Highs are very extended, breathing new life into my magic percussion recordings. Vibes, chimes, bells, and triangles positioned in the rear of the orchestra all have improved. I’ve experienced no roll-off of the highs what so ever with the new BLUE fuses. Just a more relaxed natural presentation.

3. Dynamics ... This is a huge improvement over the BLACK fuses. Piano and vibes fans ... this is fantastic.

I have a Japanese audiophile CD of Flamenco music ... the foot stomps on the stage, the hand clapping and the castanets are present like never before. Want to hear natural sounding castanets? Get the BLUE fuses.

4. Mid range ... Ha! Put on your favorite Ben Webster album ... and a pair of adult diapers. Play Chris Connor singing "All About Ronnie," its to die for.

Quick .... someone here HAS to buy this double album. Its a bargain at this price. Audiophile sound, excellent performance by the one and only Chris Connor. Yes, its mono ... but so what? Its so good you won’t miss the stereo effects. If you’re the lucky person who scores this album, please post your results here.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRASONIC-CLEAN-The-Finest-Of-CHRIS-CONNOR-Bethlehem-Jazz-1975-NM-UNPLAYED-...

Overall impressions:

Where the RED fuses took about 20 hours to sound their best, and the BLACK fuses took upwards of 200 hours of total break-in, the BLUE fuses sounded really good right out of the box ... and that’s without doing anything about proper directional positioning. Not that the BLUE fuses don’t need breaking in, they do. The improvement continues through week three. Its a gradual break-in thing where each listening session is better than the last.

Everything I described above continues to break new ground in my system as the fuses continue breaking in. Quite honestly, I find it difficult to tear myself away from the system in order to get things done. Its truly been transformed into a magical music machine. With the expenditure of $150.00 and a 30 day return policy there’s really nothing to lose. In my system, its like upgrading to a better pre amp, amp, CD player or phono stage. Highly recommended.

Kudos to Ted Denney and the entire staff at SR. Amazing stuff, guys. :-)

Frank

PS: If you try the SR BLUE fuses, please post your results here. Seems the naysayers, the Debbie Downers and Negative Nellie’s have hijacked the original RED fuse thread. A pox on their houses and their Pioneer receivers.

Frank



oregonpapa

Showing 19 responses by shadorne

I heard that it depends on the type of coal they burn at the power station that should determine red, black or blue fuses. Sounds credible if your system is good enough to be resolving!
Since Mrkaic obviously equates sound quality with accuracy and better measured performance he is right in that sense. But those who seek a less accurate but pleasant or euphonic sound quality are right to find the VAC450IQ is better.

Lets face it - some seek measured performance and some don't - it doesn't make one wrong and the other right. One an audiophile and the other not.


Al,

Even if there was an explanation (which there isnt), the obligation to design and build good equipment falls to the audio component manufacturer - that is where the big $$$ are spent by the customer. If a merely different fuse causes an audible change in an audio component’s sound then the logical thing to do is to get rid of the unreliable POS component! Obviously
Oregonpapa,

This is the explanation for why the fuse works for you (makes an audible difference):

 Your equipment component has a poorly designed power supply. 
@imgoodwithtools


It is a simple matter of expectation. I expect audio component power supplies to be well designed and well built. My criteria for a good design is that it should be completely insensitive to small changes in incoming power. Like a huge dam across a river - the actual instantaneous flow of the river into the large reservoir lake created by the dam is totally immaterial and irrelevant to the instantaneous power quality generated by the power station below the dam.

If your ARC Ref 6 is audibly affected by a fuse then you need to return it for maintenance or ask ARC if they are aware of such a minor detail audibly affecting audio signal output. This is to my mind a clear fault or design error. The purpose of buying high end high quality equipment is to enjoy audio that is completely free of parasitic contamination (from power or other extraneous factors) due to the extremely high quality robust over-engineered design and build.

To have a piece of highly engineered equipment with THD+N specifications in the -100 dB performance range and then find out that the sound depends entirely on the type of fuse used - this is pathetic engineering.



@iamgoodwithtools

Well the ARC6 failure may explain your fuse problem. Hopefully after full service and a health check a mere fuse will nolonger affect the audible output of your ARC6.
Well I am still hopeful that such a costly ARC Ref 6 when working properly will not be influenced audibly by a mere fuse. Maybe I have too high expectations about the quality of ARC products.
Wolf is far from inane. He is justifiably questioning what are crazy wild marketing claims for a hunk of wood, a metal cup, a quantum clock or a mere fuse...etc.

Attacking a person as inane is all too easy - how about producing a link to your peer reviewed AES society paper that proves the audible benefits of your fuse?
I dont see any trolls here. Just fools. A fool and his money are soon parted.

Since the Blue fuse "stomped" the Black fuse, I am surprised nobody is asking for a recall of their poor performing red and black fuses?

Frankly, hype of the incredible performance benefits of a fuse is such an insult to real designers that build amps and DACs and the countless electronic engineering companies like AKM, Burr-Brown and Sabre etc. Imagine spending years to research, develop and test a DAC chip that you can sell for $50 only to find that Ted sells $100 fuses from a garage and makes 10 times your margins....


@clearthink

Of course some listeners experience audible differences with fuses. This is a fact. It is most unfortunate that these listeners have equipment with such poor performance. As everyone knows, excellent equipment is supposed to maximize the audio signal quality and minimize everything else from affecting that signal. Frankly a device that audibly changes with different fuses is a piece of crap. It isn’t hard to design a good power supply but some designers prefer to invest in what sells: a fancy face plate, cool looking industrial design, cable jacket or advertising.
@uberwaltz

No insult intended. Let me rephrase.

Does anyone disagree with the statement that excellent audio equipment is supposed to maximize the audio signal quality and minimize everything else from affecting that signal?

Unless you disagree that excellent audio equipment should perform as above, then we can say that audio equipment that is audibly affected by mere fuses is NOT excellent, actually far far from it.
If something is too good to be true it probably is. 

This idiom fits SR, TC and all their products. 

Who is more foolish...the fool or the fools that follow him?

However big the fool, there is always a bigger fool to admire him.


@georgehifi

+1 An analysis of the SR and TC contact threads points to half a dozen folks making 90% of the posts they ever made.

Blatent marketing. Hopefully these people are ONLY here to help their friends make money off the gullible (hardly harmless but not criminal). At worst they are well aware of the scam. At best they have been duped themselves.
It isn’t just implausible, it is as ridiculous as a nude emperor said to be wearing fantastic clothes that only wise audiophiles can see. This time it is only those with golden ears and only the most high end resolving systems that can hear the sound of a fuse coming out of their speakers.

The real answer for the audible effects is simply the “power of suggestion” - people think they hear a difference because they want to - after all nobody likes to admit that they were duped so the desire to imagine even a slight improvement is overwhelming.


What a waste of time this product is and so is this thread.

The designer claims no way to prove his products are better than any other.

The same designer makes several color fuses at different price points. How can one make a tiered range of products without any way to determine if any of them are better than the other?

So in conclusion, it is all just random. This is no better than selling audiophiles a range of listening enhancement head gear at various prices: a pair of dear antlers or moose antlers or elk antlers. The only difference being that audiophiles might feel foolish wearing antlers on their head while they can feel quite smug and elitist about a special fuse. Especially when only the most resolving systems will benefit.


I’ve always been cordial to those expressing a legitimate, opposite viewpoint

Yup. I agree and hat tip to you! Your cordiality expressed to “disgusting individuals” is much appreciated.

 The totally legitimate, opposite view is that TC and special fuses are a bunch of hogwash. If some folks here like to take the time to warn others about parting with their money on a scam then where is the harm in that? In fact the warnings are intended to prevent the harm caused when folks get duped into mucking around with fuses and fuse boxes for no good reason. That anyone believes this nonsense to begin with is testamount to how easy it is to spread misinformation on the worldwide web.
Weird. I don’t think there is any evidence that women hear better or worse. My experience is the opposite. I am always surprised that I hear so much better than anyone I know around me and this includes women, children and my lead guitarist. I am the non musical band member (the drummer) but I constantly have to tell my guitarist his guitar is out of tune. He never notices but simply confirms my observation once he plugs in an electronic tuner.

I guess I could have been a piano tuner....

I think skills come from acute observation & practice rather than any “special gift”. I think on average women are worse than men because more often they don’t care or cultivate listening skill. If women wanted to they can be as good or better.
Only in the surreal world of Audiophile threads can Shadowcat2016 make such a factual and accurate statement yet be vilified. It seems the more crazy and illogical the tweak the more forcefully the tin foilers worship said tweak.

Paul McGowan is a savvy businessman looking to make more profit. He understands his clients well - those who spend the most on hi-fi gear are all Schiit scared of not getting the most from their system due to a wire, a fuse, a mat, a quantum dot or ......the dreaded hi-fi Bogeyman.