Tools, was that the original ARC supplied 6550? How many hours were on it?
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
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
2,978 responses
Ah, so that means you have to pay for your repair? Ouch! I always stick with ARC tubes. Then if there is an incident it is covered. There is a fair amount of info online about the Svetlana 6550's tendency to arc in ARC preamps. No, I would not try it. I do have a Blue fuse in my Ref 6, and had a black before it. I would say for me it was a very marginal change, if any. The swap from the stock cord to the Sain Line cord was more noticeable. |
@dbarger I bought my Ref 6 used, so no warranty no matter what tubes. As far as tweaks to the Ref 6, I agree with you. The Sain power cord was the most significant improvement. Followed by a set of cryogenically treated 6H30s from Upscale audio. The fuse is audible, as is the change in 6550 tube. The stock Sovtek is both known for its reliability, and its mediocre sound. I'm hoping the Tung-Sol is a great compromise. @shadorne I suspect you are wrong. But I will report what I hear either way. |
Since asked, I'll simply (!) respond that the Shakti wooden things are evidence that people hear what they want to hear after spending, in the case of the Shaktis, 2 thousand bucks for four of them. I haven't heard them personally, but they're too ugly for my listening space and seem ridiculous (I heard a Sun Mook Mpingo disc setup in a dedicated listening room at my late friend Lars Friedel's house, and those were also ridiculous, useless, and an imagined benefit for those willing to buy into the baloney)…saved some bucks there didn't I? Also, there is absolutely no evidence of a "lower noise floor" provided by any fuses (Lower than what? That's actually measurable I'd think), except in the imaginations of users. Obviously I don't believe silly claims of "refocused energy" from $500 wooden hat racks, but maybe I'll move a couple of hat racks into my listening space to check it out…at least they'll hold some hats! |
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ted d, I did try HiFi tuning fuses in my Spectral 360 monos years ago. One blew the next day and one is still alive and well. Cannot hear a difference between the two amps. Now I have a pair of Pass XA 160.8s ( thermal magnetic breakers ) = No fuses. I just purchased a Pass XP20; the power supply uses a (1) amp fuse. Please put my name in the hat. I will give it a try. |
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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’ll hold a raffle for anyone who ignores WOLF-in-stein for one month. All regular posters who completely ignore his inane posts will have their name placed in a hat and three winners will get a new Blue Fuse of any value or size from our catalogue just in time for Christmas. A Blue fuse would make a very nice Christmas present for an audiophile. |
@lostbears But only for those who can hear such differences. We apparently have quite a few folks frequenting this forum who can’t.😔 I don’t see how one would actually know if or how much of a difference a Blue fuse will make until one actually tries one. There does seem to be a lot of trolls these days. Not just on Audiogon. |
I just found the EAR Classic CD player review and comments on Stereophile. What do you know, old troll Georgehifi was at it there, stating that the CD layer in an SACD is inferior to a purely CD layer CD. Plus other snide comments resulted in an avalanche of negative comments about a superb sounding player whose first audition was of a defective unit played incorrectly (full open volume pot rather than at 2 o'clock). The subsequent review of a correctly functioning player resulted in a rave review (with the reviewer vague as to what he meant as playing at a volume lower). No new comments after that very positive review. |
" Faulty equipment sent to Stereophile for test???????Submitted by georgehifi on February 4, 2017 - 2:44pm This does not sit well for me, as a good Stereophile review is the No 1 review a manufacturer can get to open the retail flood gates. Hell I would have been devastated (and broke) if Sam Tellig didn't give my product a great review, I hung on every word of the review more so than the birth of my son. To send to Stereophile some thing that has been around the world without double /tripple checking it first and making sure it's even better than a retail one, means the manufacturer doesn't give a s**t about how the review turns out, to which I highly doubt. Like I said it doesn't sit well for me, as I've seen so many times with a bad reviews, the manufacturers comments saying it was faulty we'll send another one. REALLY!!!! Cheers George" Note his comments concerning approval by Sam Tellig or economic loss. What product did he sell to Tellig? As good as an SR Blue fuse, Hallograph or maybe a EAR Classic CD player? |
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Fuses don't and simply can't actually do anything but act as protection devices for components, and Ted likely knows this which explains his somewhat sophomoric responses to my posts. Hey, at least he reads! To a designer of a questionable product it seems apt that trying to silence a detractor is a better use of his time than maybe answering my oft repeated questions: Why do these fuses have an impact on sound? Was the design goal based on anything besides making money for SR? I don't expect an answer from Ted, but as long as steaming heaps of nonsensical testimonials appear on the path of these forums I'll continue to warn others to try not to step in them. |
Has anyone compared the Synergistic Research fuses to any other audiophile fuses in their Audio Research gear? Right now I have a HiFi Tuning Supreme Fuse in my ARC Ref 5se. How do the Synergistic Research fuses compare? Would the Blue fuse really be that much of an upgrade over my HiFi Tuning Supreme Fuse? |
I agree with Frank, Lostbears--the HiFi Tuning fuses came up last in my series of trials, including Furutech and all SR’s. Perhaps the Supreme has been improved over time, though. Wolf, you continue to believe we here and thousands of others are delusional fools and only you are correct. Here’s your problem: You are conflating your atheism with your unbelief in SR fuses---this is your error. Whereas you may ridicule those with faith in a Supreme Being on the basis of lack of physical evidence or sensory signs of existence, you may not draw the same conclusion with SR fans, for we DO have evidence of the efficacy of SR fuses. We are hearing the differences SR fuses make in our systems. I have no problem with atheism--not my point at all--don’t care what your ideas are on theism; just that your atheism does affect how you perceive the world and how you relate to those around you, especially if you are rather dogged in your position and like to make a point of telling others how ridiculous their faith is. Our situation here is quite different, though. I suggest you examine yourself a bit on this, find some humility, even walk back some comments, or you may end up in a straight jacket because we are not going to change our positions on SR fuses, and we are not going away. |
jafreeman..."Whereas you may ridicule those with faith in a Supreme Being on the basis of lack of physical evidence or sensory signs of existence, you may not draw the same conclusion with SR fans, for we DO have evidence of the efficacy of SR fuses." From my understanding...when Jesus returns at the second coming...He will be handing out those heavenly blue fuses to the audio kingdoms of the world. I know...sounds silly...almost as silly as grown adults bickering over the perplexity of fuses used in audio systems. ; |
Thanks Frank! The HIFI tuning I have are black. I think I am going to try one of the S.R. Blue fuses in my preamp. Do you use any type of footers under your Ref 3 or other ARC gear? Right now I don’t have enough room under my Ref 5se or Ref Phono 2se and still have adequate ventilation. I have large stainless steel cones under my amp and CD player. But I am planning on replacing my rack with a new one after I move this spring. My new rack will have more clearance between shelves. |
@jpspock I purchased two of the current production Tung Sol 6550s, cryogenically treated, from Upscale Audio. I have not sought out any NOS options, as of yet. @lak If you desire a significant improvement over your PS Audio Perfectwave transport, you Must check out the new Directstream memory player. The improvement is striking. And last I checked, PS Audio both offers a 30 day in home trial, and a $2K credit towards purchase with trade in of a Perfectwave. |
lostbears ... Nope, no footers. I haven’t tried them all, but I’ve found that the stock ARC feet are better in my system than all the after market ones I’ve tried. With that said, I have paid a lot of attention to reducing micro vibrations. If you click on my icon, then double click again on the other pictures, you will see exactly what I’ve done. Those platforms under the electronics are custom made. They consist of two very accurately machined pieces of high quality, high density, granite material with a thick layer of dampening material normally used to dampen our military submarines. The custom built equipment rack uses the same thinking, i.e., ... three pieces of quality plywood with the same dampening material sandwiched between each layer and then finished off with attractive material. The whole shebang is spiked through the carpet and into the raised wood floor. It weighs a ton. These are the details that when paid attention to gives our audio systems the "they are in the room" presentation. Everything is cumulative. Check out the platforms under the speakers. The speakers are spiked to the high density maple platforms, and then the platforms are spiked through the carpet into the floor. Same thing for the tops of the speakers. I’ve placed two of the granite platforms on top of the speakers along with lead weights. It has the effect of increasing the mass of the speakers. I’ve done that with all of the floor standers I’ve had in the past with very good results. It really improves the clarity of the presentation. Those two tweaks to the speakers were huge in improving SQ. If I had to do it over again, I’d take a little different approach .... I would concentrate on dampening the room first and getting that right. Instead, I did the room last and was astounded by the improvement it afforded the system. A good start would be a ten pack (at least ten) of SR’s High Frequency Transducers and install as per the provided directions. This is not a subtle improvement ... at least in my system. And they went in after the Shatki Holograms and the other room treatment I did. Highly recommended. https://highend-electronics.com/products/sr-hft-high-frequency-transformer The issue of cost always arises of course, but keep in mind that its taken me over 30 years to make all of these improvements ... a little at a time. And to think ... the tweaking all started with a set of aluminum "Tip Toes" under the speakers. Who knew?? :-) Oh and by the way, that big glass table is no longer in the room. It was very reflective and the bass improved dramatically once it was removed. Also, the speaker cables are now raised off the floor. A tweak here and a tweak there ... :-) Frank |
I have been in this for a while. Originally I had a Target rack. I then moved to a Solidsteel rack. Currently I have a pair of Zoethecus racks and matching amp stand. I am thinking of having something custom made out of maple and maybe using the Zoethecus Z block shelves. That way I can choose the distance between shelves to fit my gear. The move from the Solidsteel to the Zoethecus was a real eye opener. When I replaced the amp stand everything sounded smoother, more organic. Remember I have a tube amp. I don't know what affect the rack has on solid state gear. But I have become a true believer in wood over metal except for the turntable. I still like a sand filled metal rack for the turntable. I have a VPI turntable stand filled with sand and a 3" maple slab on top sitting on spikes. . |
I have so much equipment that I have two stands, both heavy steel with rubber dots holding either 1.25" HDF or 1" glass panels, with top plates of 1" solid granite for the turntable and pre-amp. I use a townsend sink and HDF under my VPI TNT VI which eliminated vibration problems. Under the other equipment, I tried at least a dozen footers, preferring Stillpoints. Most Stillpoints are Ultra-minis with two sets of SSs under the pre-amp/phono and Bryston 20A power transformer. I tried SSs on all equipment but the ultra-minis sounded better on the EAR Acute, Masterlink, two big tube amps, Nakamichi 7A. I also have roller balls with 25 hardness under my VPI speed controller and a Marantz 7T pre-amp. I also use the ultra-minis on my TV cable box, Blue-ray player and pre-amp in the other system. It is not the ideal system for isolation but as Frank says, it took time to get it right. If I started over, I would buy a pair of higher end rack system |
Jafreeman…nice try, but if 10,000 people fall for what I know are useless audio tweaks, regardless of what they perceive as astonishing benefits, I'll continue questioning thus stuff. I am admittedly into logic and reason, and your claims that proof of the efficacy of Special and Magic Fuses is due to testimonials from people who've spent "600 bucks for 4 fuses," I can counter that there are clearly many multiples of that number in the audiophile community (including most audio gear designers) that think otherwise. They just aren't posting here. It's also clear from your post that you think Atheism informs my view of this stuff, and although I don't care one bit what anybody feels about that, I am less likely to have anything other than perhaps a clearer mind than any follower of magical nonsense. Also, I'll take criticism of my position all day and never tell anyone to "walk back" anything because hey, that's the Christian way to be. Amen. |
@wolf_garcia If jafreeman or anyone else testifies to hearing a distinct effect by some tweak in their system, with their ears, who are you to tell them they're not hearing that? I'm not looking to fight about it, I just don't understand the reason behind such a stance. Hey, I, for the life of me, can't imagine why anyone's palate would enjoy coming in contact with grits or scrapple but there are those who enjoy eating those foods. |
Hey, I, for the life of me, can't imagine why anyone's palate would enjoy coming in contact with grits or scrapple but there are those who enjoy eating those foods. Having lived in the south, I for one like grits, especially in the morning with eggs. Oh and fresh baked biscuits with gravy. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. |
Wolf--clearly, you are confused. As an Atheist, you do not believe in a deity you cannot experience with your senses or emotions--if it isn't there, it just doesn't exist; no evidence to prove its existence. Those who do believe in deities have faith, and there is no point in arguing with faith, as you well know. However, we here who report the sonic benefits of SR fuses do not need faith--we are hearing the sonic improvements. You have not heard them, so you draw the same conclusion about us and our SR fuses as you do about deities. This is a mistake. As a man of logic, you would not conclude that, if you do not hear an improvement, no one else can, either. This is a fallacy, an argument from incredulity or perhaps, false equivalence. Rather, you would question your hearing, your system, your method of testing, the condition you were in, etc. If you had further interest in the matter, perhaps you would try the fuses in a different system to control for variables. Of course, you would not believe others based on the testimony of their experiences, would you? No--that is not how a skeptic interprets the world. However, you may claim special audio knowledge that qualifies you, and you alone, to dismiss the claims of many others as absurd based solely on your unique experience of having not verified their claims. Again, the error of drawing a false conclusion and then proposing a fallacious argument. And so, you seem to be conflating your perspective of skepticism of what is unproven to yourself with others' findings based on their individually unique and, more so, their collective findings of the sonic improvements provided by SR fuses. We are here to help you with that. |
Frank, I looked at the picture on your system page. Your rack is very interesting. I like the layered approach you use. It gives me a lot to think about. I will be basically starting over in the new house. Everything will be different than it is now. The first thing I will work on is room acoustics. What I can do really depends on whether I end up with a dedicated listening room or not. I have a Synergistic Research dealer here in Chicago. I might go over there and see if I can borrow some of the High Frequency Transducers and give them a try. Actually I have been very lucky because there are tons of dealers here. So I have had a chance to listen to a lot of stuff. Once I move I won't have any dealers close. The closest Audio Research dealer will be in Atlanta. fleschler, my Audio Research dealer also suggested I try the Stillpoints footers. But there is not enough room right now and still have clearance for ventilation. Once I have a new rack things will be different. Right now my racks are a hodge podge. I got them all on the cheap off of craigslist. The two Zoethecus racks are not the same color which bothers my wife. I have looked at racks like the HRS but they are not cheap and like you I also have a lot of gear. So I really need two four shelf racks or a double rack. I think having a custom rack made may be the most cost effective way to get a quality rack that fits my needs. |
I like to ask and being a listener/owner of the SR Red and Black fuses, is there any competition ? I do feel and hear the improvements generated by the Red and Black and wondering if any other fuse manufacturer has caught on. I tried the Hi Fi Tuning and the Furutech Blue fuse but can barely hear and feel any improvements as with the SRs. |
Jafreeman…you're claiming to hear improvement from Magic Fuses and since I don't believe (!) that's at all possible, I remain unconvinced. I believe in some things, including that SR fuses are a money making scam (150 bucks for a fuse…man…), and NO fuse can have anything like the profound effects claimed by many here who clearly are trying to get their money's worth. Or something. I can't test for deities, but I can, and did, test the black fuses (before the SR wheels turned to rendering them obsolete…no room for skepticism there!) and well…you know. And terryakhan, note that this thread is an SR hype fest so very little mention is given to other fuse companies, except Littelfuse stuff that I mention often as a well made thing…inexpensive and makes all my gear sound great, because without a fuse…well…you know. |
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