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.
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
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. |
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. ; |
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. |
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? |
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. |
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" 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? |
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. |
@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’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. |
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? |
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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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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! |
@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. |
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. |
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Same here, both Frank and I have our mutually unapologetically critical friend Robert to thank for his help. He has pointed out (my wife also agreeing) with every tweak and change I have made to my system whether it's better or worse or has no effect. He enthusiastically endorses the Hallographs (he has a pair, Frank and I have two pair) and the SR blue fuses. He says whatever works, do it and get rid of anything that makes our systems sound worse (despite high praise in the trade journals such as the Magico Qpods-yuk)!. I admit I do not have state of the art speakers. They are multi-driver big box type which do not image well by themselves. I have heard more modern speakers which are designed for imaging, especially two way monitors, speakers such as Audio Physic, Focals... The Hallographs allow pinpoint imaging with precise changes in angling the top wood array. 1/8" on my left array makes a significant difference in imaging (for some reason the right one can be 1/2" off and still stabilize the image whereas the pair I use at the mid-room reflection points can be adjusted to up to 1" before they radically alter the imaging). After using Hallographs, I have no need for side and front room audio baffles to absorb and reflect sound (before Hallographs, the room could have used a dozen baffles). They just focus the sound throughout the room. Together. the SR blue fuses and Hallographs create a wide sweet spot and an open, soundstage extending to about a 10' seating area. Great for guests. |
dbarger ... Thanks for the response. I thought you may have fallen off of the end of the Earth. Glad to see you posting here again. :-) geoffkait ... With the exception of the Blue fuses, I've paid full retail + tax + shipping for all of my fuses. Had the Blue fuses been a step back in SQ I would have said so. I have no dog in the fight other than trying to obtain a better sounding system and reporting the results here. theaudiotweak ... Over the years I've had so many "audiophiles" tell me that after market IC's and PC's were nothing but snake oil. Most said that you just can't do better than Radio Shack wire or Monster Cable that one could buy at Home Depot. Then they started on the wall outlets. And then various room treatments. And now the fuses. Same-o, Same-o. Only the names have changed. Wolfie ... The improved perception of 3-D holographic imaging is the result of the lower noise floor afforded by the fuses. When I say "in the room," with good recordings, I mean exactly that. Again, if you're not getting that kind of imaging, there is work to be done. It goes way beyond the fuses though. Are you familiar with the Shatki Holographs? If so ... how do they do what they do? http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/shakti/hallograph.html I have four of them, each taking up one corner of the room. Take them out of the room and the sound stage collapses, along with the imaging, to the point that I wouldn't want to listen without them. I don't know how they work. Like the fuses, I don't care ... all I care about is that the DO work. Frank |
Actually, there’s more to it. I hate to judge before all the facts are in but it appears to be tit for tat. He gets the fuses and for that he posts his "impressions." That’s a little bit different story. That’s why I said a few days ago, he went beyond the call of duty. SR gave a fuse or two and got a hundred posts or whatever in return. Pretty good payoff. What he said, in response to the dbarger question, in case I’m not interpreting it properly, "....I was grateful for the opportunity (to be a Beta tester for the Blue Fuse). I reported what I heard IN MY SYSTEM ... nothing more and nothing less. Sometimes opportunity knocks at the door and its up to us to take advantage of it or not. One more thing dbarger .... I am also beta testing the "secret and elusive super tweak." We’re almost done and approaching a release date. Has nothing to do with SR .... and its fantastic. I’m on my third version of it and each version is better than the last. Looks like the third time is charm." |
Op, just responding to you since you seem to be “calling me out”. I haven’t really been paying much attention to this thread. I take it from your response that your blue fuses were free to you, as a beta tester, although you did not actually say that. The answer was kind of vague, so that was just my impression, since you asked. I have no issue with that. Beta testers can be useful. That said, there is a phenomenon of a chef always liking his own soup. Glad you are enjoying your system. |
Just 20 year ago many couldnt conceive that a 3ft powercord swinging off the end of a mile long ac transmission line could improve the sound of ones system..Whats the ratio of length between a power cord and a transmission line.? Whats the ratio in length between a powercord and a fuse? The glass fuse is a fine line element in series with all the other conductors in an audio system. The fuse element is held in place at either end by the endcaps. To reduce the affects of shear on the overall fuse design all the materials would need to have the same shear velocity. That would mean the element the endcaps and the solder and the enclosure should all be of the same material or at least selected knowing that all these materials have different speeds and their inneraction. The other crucial factor maybe that the element is blunt force impacted by the geometry of the endcap. You will have a polarity of shear at either end of the conductor reflected back into oncoming traffic. Shear changes polarity and becomes more or less reflective with a change in boundary shape and angle. If the shear is reflected in either direction this may explain why fuses can sound better in one direction vs the other. They could offer more or less shear because of production differences from end to end and impurities at the connecting points the impedance would be different and alter direction. Tom |
Holographic realism will not be provided by your fuse. The assumption that it can is simply silly, and, by the way, fear of seismic vibration is also a waste of time (sorry Kaitty, almost nobody cares about that), and the only "performance" a fuse provides is the one where it melts to protect things. There is nothing in any "special" fuse that coats the electricity with magic sauce or vibration resistance benefits or anything else that isn’t rendered useless once the raw electric current starts being processed by the rectifiers, diodes, caps, transformers or any other bits of the active power management of any component…if you think your "soundstage" or "holographic realism" is transformed by your fuse, regardless of the degree you overpay for it, you must have an active and easily influenced imagination. Special fuse designers have stumbled on a market almost unique in the world of technology…take an inexpensive component designed to simply provide the stop-gap safety action of melting to interrupt the rush of current that a component failure has caused, ascribe imagined importance to that half inch of wire, and sell it as an active tone enhancer. It's nonsense. The vast majority of amp and component designers ignore the claims of Magic Fuse salespeople, and so should everybody else. Also, way to go Yale! Boola boola! |
@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. |
That’s only some skinny. Not the whole skinny. Smart move! 😀 Wait! Unless, unless...the wave is traveling on the OUTSIDE of the fuse! What say, Mapman? 😳 And why is the Blue Fuse blue if Graphene is applied to the outside of the fuse? Graphene is black. Or is it? Maybe Smurfs are involved. Or blueberries. |
Here is the skinny from the SR site: " The new SR BLUE Quantum Fuse was developed over a two year period and represents our most advanced UEF Technology to date. At its heart is a completely new UEF / Graphene coating that delivers a dramatic increase in resolution and holographic realism over SR Black. And thanks to a new conditioning process, break-in time is cut in half. In fact a brand new out-of-the-box BLUE Fuse should significantly out perform a fully broken-in BLACK Fuse and it only gets better from there with full performance after 200 hrs of continues power. To find out how good your components really are audition the new SR BLUE Quantum Fuse today. Sold with a no-risk 30-day money back gaurantee. $149.95 in all sizes." So you have 30 days to get the fuse singing in case of buyer remorse. I like the simple color coded model numbers. Its very easy to understand. Marketing genius there for sure. |
Graphene alone is a superior and faster conductor than copper or silver. If you painted the fuse shell and the endcaps then the fuse would still conduct even while the internal element has melted. You would only paint the endcaps and the the spring clamp housing. In my case I will coat the entire magnet with a graphene substance expecting further enhancement of the signal that travels on the outside while a polarity of shear is disapated thru the core on the inside. Tom |
oregonpapa wrote, "My take is that the fuses use graphene internally ... and graphene is known to eliminate micro-arcing. Micro-arcing, like micro-vibrations have the effect of smearing and degrading the sound." Not sure I go along with you on your detective work. For one thing I’m pretty sure the only manufactuer that opens up a fuse, and even then only drilling holes in the end caps, is Audio Magic. For another thing, the issue of micro arcing would most likely be on the outside of the fuse on the end caps, not inside the fuse, where the wire is soldered to the end caps. Also, I’m pretty sure you can see the black stuff on the *outside* of the Black Fuse. That is the Graphene, no? At least. Matrix containing Graphene. Ditto the Blue Fuse if I’m not mistaken, Graphene is on the outside of the fuse. Which of course leads up to my next Pop Quiz. Horray! Pop Quiz, if Graphene is applied to the *outside* of the fuse what the heck is its function? 😳 |
I suspect the vibration of walls in concert with seismic low frequency vibration would swamp any micro effects associated with fuses, capacitors, transformers, not that those effects would be inaudible in most cases. That’s why capacitors, fuses and transformers and CD transport mechanisms should be damped - using some effective means, of course, not an ineffective means. That’s also why aftermarket fuses often address vibration concerns, with beeswax, ceramic fuse bodies and such. Personally I like using pure natural cork. Aka Quark! Riddle me this. Why do high end amp manufacturers still insist on coupling the transformer directly to the chassis with BOLTS?! Pop quiz: how many concerns are there for fuses, in terms of signal quality? I’ve just given you one. |
Tom (TheAudioTweak), thank you for your sincere, thoughtful,
and well composed explanation. What
you’ve written may be the best such attempt I have yet seen.
However, while I see no reason to dispute the possibility that it might explain the sonic benefits that have been claimed in at least a few applications, when it comes to many or most other applications it seems to me that there are some issues with it:
1)Regarding the following statement … All fuses have a solid element which is modulated by the signal that travels thru that element. Circuit breakers and my preference magnets are less prone to modulation and vibration created by the passing of signal. They will generate less interference by design or by material or both. Much of this interference in a standard fuse will be reflected back and forth along the conductor...because of the change in boundary speed and shape at either end of the element. … As I’m sure you realize, in many circuit applications fuses conduct neither a signal nor a current which varies as a function of signal. Or a current that even varies at all, aside from the repetitive and nominally sinusoidal variation within each 60 Hz AC cycle in the case of mains fuses. The current conducted by fuses in most preamplifiers, most source components, and even fuses in some power amplifiers (if they are biased in class A and provide large amounts of energy storage) has essentially zero variation from cycle to cycle. So I’m not sure that your statement has broad applicability.
2)Wouldn’t the shear wave effects you have described, to the extent they may occur in a one inch or so length of fuse wire and its associated boundaries, be completely swamped by corresponding effects in all of the rest of the wiring in the component, as well as in external wiring such as the power cord, as well as in the electrical parts in the component? As you pointed out yourself: … all the solid materials that make up any system are in a continual state of motion. The fuse element is the most simple of all the solid conductors in any audio system . Its understanding and refinement of application could be applied to all other solid materials and shapes in a sound system. 3)Most fundamentally, what leads you to conclude that the effect you have described, as it occurs in a fuse, would be great enough in degree to have audible significance with the **consistency** that has been reported, regardless of which of the extremely diverse applications I listed in my previous post is involved? In any event, thank you once again for what I consider to be an excellent attempt at an explanation. Best regards, -- Al
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