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.
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.
Wow. I think "poorly designed" is a stretch. There's No Way my Audio Research Reference 6 has a poorly designed power supply. Not in how both transparent and Just How Good it sounds. John Atkinson's measurements of the Ref 6 in Stereophile do not show any power supply defects, either.
But I think there is some merit in your thought process, shadorne. A year or so ago, I tried SR Black fuses in my amps at the time, a pair of Ayre Acoustics MX-R Twenties. I heard No significant change in sound from the stock "two dollar" fuse when compared to the SR Blacks.
Is that because they were installed in a differently designed component? Or because a preamp has influence over smaller signals than an amplifier? I don't know.
When I tried a Black fuse in my Ref 6, the sound was transformed from marginally great to awesome. Also, a Sain Power Systems cord also gave a appreciable improvement in sound. So, in a way, I agree with you. I think the auditory improvements of fuses, in general, depend on the design of the equipment they are installed in.
All solid vibrating surfaces generate shear wave interference which alters the original intended signal. 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.
My observations and experience tells me there is more cause to use a improved conductor type on the ac side than on the dc side. There is an audible improvement on both ac and dc ..so I apply to both. By nature there is more noise and therefore more shear wave interference on the ac side than the dc side of things.
Some fuse sellers apply damping materials to alter or reduce interfering energy which will travel along the wire.They may not know why. The application of differing damping materials directly to a conductor will alter its shear wave velocity and also the speed at any intersecting boundary. The designer may have noticed a sonic difference when bees wax, is applied to a conductor vs candle wax,soy based or olive based material or a ceramic or a mineral. Any damping material will alter amplitude and frequency. I always search for a work around of any such material or method.
Every solid material has a different velocity, a change in material will alter the speed and a change in shape will alter direction and again a change in polarity. These factors and events occur in all audio systems because 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. Interferring energy in many devices can be removed with the use of another solid material and terminated with a shape that reflects signal off and away from the signal pathway.Tom
@oregonpapa , don't give them the satisfaction of a reply. If they were in the same room, they'd be high-fiving themselves right now. Their hunger is insatiable and constant. I've been on the receiving end as well and do my level best to ignore them but sometimes you can't let the dumb stuff pass without a comment.
I had to laugh ... I've been called a shill, had my credibility questioned, demanded that I expose my receipts to prove that I've purchased the fuses in my system ... and I'M the bully?
I've been insulted to no end in these pages and even abandoned the original Red fuse thread in an effort to dump the naysayers who continue to crash through the doors ... and I'M the bully?
I HAVE to know how something works and unless I do, I can't be hearing what I'm hearing? For the umpteenth time .... I DON'T GIVE A FIG HOW THE FUSES WORK, only that they do.
Originally, I tried one RED fuse and was so taken by the improvement that I enthusiastically shared the results with other members here at A'gon. That's it, pure and simple.
To the naysayers ... Get a friggin' clue ... its none of anyone else's business how the fuses work. Denny owes no explanations to anyone. If he wants to give away trade secrets its up to him, but from what I know of Ted Denney so far, he's nobodies fool.
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.
And by the way, why no response from dbarger regarding how I attained my fuses? Not that I had to, but I took the time and effort to answer his questions as completely and honestly as I could ... and not even a simple "thank you??" Man, there's some strange folks lurking about.
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
Al, nice try. The nice legalese notwithstanding. 😄 Nobody including myself or even HiFi Tuning ever suggested the differences in measurements explain the audible differences among fuses. But it is evidence nevertheless. Everybody and his brother except for a few outliers now understands that aftermarket fuses sound better than stock fuses.
And we also know SOME aftermarket fuses sound better than OTHER aftermarket fuses, for a variety of pretty obvious reasons, I mean unless one turns a blind eye to them or plays dumb. We also know - as HiFi Tuning states on their web site - that cryo’d fuses sound better than non cryo’d fuses and that fuses CONSISTENTLY measure and sound better in one direction than the other. It’s an undeniable truth. Whoops, except for naysayers. One would have to be pretty stubborn, who knows why, to ignore all the evidence that is staring him in the face. Obviously, it would be a hard pill to swallow for some folk. 😛 Now, I realize I’m going to get a lot of the usual 12 Angry Men reponse, "But you can’t PROVE IT!! 😡
You assume proprietary information would not be revealed? Huh? Why assume anything? As I’ve said before any company who reveals anything is making a big mistake. There is no requirement to do so and it only sets the company up for who knows what. This is not a peer review committee. This is not Journal of Physics. This is not the faculty at Harvard.
Geoffkait 11-18-2017 Sorry, no offense, Mitch, but you must have been snoozing since the way these aftermarket fuses work has been explained to death, including the various SR fuses. OK, you can go back to sleep, now.
IMO the explanations that have been cited for the sonic benefits of SR and certain other boutique fuses have either involved measured differences that are much too small to account for the reported improvements (as I have explained in detail in numerous posts in various fuse-related threads here), or amount to **descriptions** of the physical characteristics of the fuse, or how it has been manufactured. A description is not an explanation.
An explanation would make clear how the current being conducted by a fuse would be affected in such a manner and to such a degree that it would consistently improve the sonics of components that are completely different in design, that perform completely different functions, that are used in completely different systems, that can have either unregulated or well regulated internal power supplies, that are powered by AC having very different voltage and noise characteristics, that involve both AC and DC circuit applications, and that involve currents that do and do not vary with the dynamics of the music.
I would expect that such an explanation could be provided without divulging company sensitive information. As noted above many designers are more than happy to provide comparable information. And in this case a meaningful explanation would, hopefully, satisfy many of the so-called "skeptics," and perhaps even result in a significant number of additional customers. Although I recognize the possibility that depending on the explanation the result could be the opposite.
Sorry, no offense, Mitch, but you must have been snoozing since the way these aftermarket fuses work has been explained to death, including the various SR fuses. OK, you can go back to sleep, now.
Lots of name-calling going on here. I sort of understand it coming from Frank since he is OP and defender of the faith but from you Geoff, stirrer of the pot, I have come to expect more originality. There are many designers/manufacturers here who have shared information about their designs without divulging the Colonel's secret recipe. Even Geoff provides a whole section of "Technical Explanations" on his website, describing how his products work, although I usually take a couple of hits and eat a mushroom before I can achieve an appropriate level of consciousness to even begin to understand. If Ted wants to explain some stuff, then I am all ears and maybe will learn something. If not, or if I only read more about how great these fuses sound, then nothing changes except Ted's bank account. Funny thing Frank, I actually have a Pioneer receiver in my HT system (guilty as charged) so I guess I better get back to that.
Look this has been going on and on and gets nowhere. A big "nothing burger" except people hear what they hear. If the fuses make people happy wonderful! Thats what hifis are for.
My issue is with the attacks and frankly bullying of those who want to learn and remain skeptical. Kudos to Wolf for standing up to the bullies but at the same time the topic is going nowhere regarding learning anything new or useful IMHO. So what is the point in keeping asking?
Now that the designer has chirped in it would seem the time is right to maybe learn something new? So far nothing though. Frankly I’ve never met a good designer who does not love to talk about his work. But why ruin a good thing I suppose.
Since there seems to be some confusion regarding the question I’ve left on the table, I’ll point out that I for one have never asked for "trade secrets" or any proprietary stuff from Uncle Ted…simply some general description of why this fuse does what is claimed. For some this "ruins" the thread since apparently inexplicable faith in mysterious things is somewhat tenuous to the insecure. I get it. Regarding my "if it sounds good, it’s good" post (context…that's an actual thing), there’s "good" and there’s what I see as preposterous faith based claims of sonic transformation to systems far beyond what could be caused by a fuse, and, of course, my test of the black version which determined they don’t do anything but add the risk of random melting. That’s simply not good. My virtual hat’s off to Uncle Ted though, as his marketing genius of raising the price on an "improved" (!) version of his latest Magic Fuse (only a year or so since the last version showed up) immediately starts the stampede of the Fuser Faithful to dump what seems to be $600,000 and counting into his coffers…for fuses. You’re realin’ ’em in Ted…well done!
Why would any manufacturer reveal how his/her products work? In a totally competitive market like audio there are those waiting on the side lines to steal someone else’s technology and profit from it.
Ted Denney owes these yahoos nothing. His road to success is to continue producing innovative products that are perceived to perform beyond the price paid by the end consumer. As a result, the man is experiencing a ton of success, and deservedly so. Here’s the key: "Help as many people get what they want FIRST, and you will get what you want in return."
tommylion ...
You’re getting fantastic cello and double bass sound now, right? Amazing, no?? The combination of the tube dampeners and the Blue fuses are killer. But ... just wait until the "secret tweak" comes on the market. Like the old vaudeville crooner used to say ... "You ain’t heard nuttin’ yet. :-)
And speaking of music, does it get any better than this:
As someone who likes to know how things work, I would be delighted to read anything Mr. Denney wishes to share. Having said that, I can think of a number of perfectly valid reasons why he might choose not to.
The obvious fact that the skeptics and detractors try to gloss over for their own purposes is that the performance of SR products is completely independent of his willingness, or unwillingness, to explain how they work.
About a week and a half ago I put an SR Blue fuse into my CJ Classic SE preamp with good results. This morning I replaced the stock fuse in my CJ Sixty SE amp with an SR Blue Fuse. All I can say is wow! Out of the gate what an improvement in dynamics and extension!
It is nice that designer Ted Denney with Synergistic Research Inc. is participating on this thread. I have found it insightful when designers/manufacturers show up here to discuss and help us understand their products. Unfortunately, Ted's posts here have largely reiterated SR's marketing rhetoric about how they believe their fuses sound, but have not answered the technology-based questions that have been asked here about how any fuse, and specifically their fuses, can affect the tone and sound of a system to the degree indicated by both their marketing advertisements and by many of their fuse users. I am also curious about how they are moving the technology forward to the point where each of four iterations of fuses can have such a reportedly "profound" improvement over the previous iteration. Thanks for any insights.
If you’re not familiar with The Goat Rodeo Sessions featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile and Stuart Duncan, I highly recommend it. Sounds fabulous with Blue fuses and Herbie’s UltraSonic Rx tube dampers.
You must be pissed that the same person that ruined the Red Fuse thread is now ruining this one. I guess 6 weeks is his max limit for self control. Very sad,.
This test requires the speakers being capable of reproducing high frequencies. My Audio Engine speakers do that (my wife's computer's generic speakers for $20 stop between 12 and 15Khz).
My hearing test resulted in a max frequency of 17Khz. When I was a child with asthma, I could hear between 20 and 30Khz. Children with bronchial diseases for some reason can hear high frequencies and transformer humming can be an annoyance.
Both my ears recently tested as "meh," which according to my peers in audio live sound mixing is perfectly normal, and could explain why my live sound work has been described by some as "stellar." Here's the official data:
I "read somewhere" that through your stellar work in setting up sound systems for concerts in order to attain other-worldly loudness levels that you have destroyed your hearing. Can’t remember where or when I read it, but if I read it, it must be true.
I, and many others, are wondering as to what professional auditory tests you’ve put your ears through and how they measure. Until you submit the results of such testing we cannot give a fair analysis of your hearing acumen, or indeed, your competence in fuseology.
Please submit all testing data by posting the results of your latest auditory tests in this forum as soon as possible.
Dear Ted…I clearly noted that I "read somewhere" they were made in China, and simply asking you if they were is hardly "fake news." Also, my forum name is simply protecting my privacy as are most of the others here, and you know that. I suppose a "trump-esque" response may seem appropriate these days but as a means of dodging my actual questions regarding your fuses it makes a case regarding your credibility, not mine.
Lak…My test of a pile of SR Black fuses is described on the SR Black forum thread…enjoy!
@wolf_garcia I've read so many comments about the SR Red, Black and Blue fuses that I can't remember your major position on the topic of SR Fuses. Which of the SR Fuses have you tried in your system, which component, and did you hear an improvement?
I just got the latest Herbie’s Audio Labs UltraSonic Rx Tube Dampers to replace the old versions I had in my DAC and amp. If anyone else has the old ones, and is wondering, the Rxs are a nice improvement and worth upgrading to, IMO.
Since Mr. Denney has addressed me directly, I'll respond directly to him. I did hear someplace that your fuses are sourced from China, I suppose we can start there with you addressing that, but I've wondered about the "how and why" of these fuses and asked you to address that directly a few times. More specifically, and without your having to give up what may be some proprietary design secret, could you explain how a tiny fuse that's not an active component could influence the tone of an amp? And what does that fuse actually do? Other than patting yourself on the back for developing a successful product, maybe provide some clarity on these questions. Thanks in advance.
I hear you, and all the others who relate how much an upgrade they are over the other fuses. As tempting as it is though, I've just put an order in on a LG OLED TV since my old plasma has turned into a radiator. I haven't had the need to turn on my wall furnace yet this year.
not a problem but I did mean everything I said I don't know what they're doing down there but at synergistic research but I thought all the other fuses before but these blue ones are like I don't know it's like you upgraded everything in your system so if you haven't got these fuses just try one it'll blow your mind believe me do you have to realize 2 a fuse a cheap glass 10 fuse all the electricity is going through it it's going to vibrate it's going to whatever it's like you spend money on your cables and your power conditioning and all that and then you run it through a $0.30 fuse it only makes sense
I hope you're not talking about me I'm not a troll I've been a member for 4 or 5 years I've just never had anything to say until now I got five of these blue fuses and it's blowing my mind so if you've never tried them yourself obviously you can't make a comment so just an average dude from Canada man.
These synergistic research blue fuses are the single greatest thing for audio in the world it's like I upgraded to a $100,000 amplifier I don't know what a hundred-thousand-dollar amplifier sounds like but I'm sure it sounds especially sounds like these fuses I have an audio file friend that doesn't want to try them cuz he thinks it's like tweaking and I said it's not tweaking it's a component all the people at synergistic research keep doing what you're doing cuz it's incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#!!
analogluvr - I am an engineer by trade and have worked as an engineer and manager for over 30 years. I have been called upon to testify in court cases as an expert witness on several occasions. I also have been involved with audio as a hobby for over 30 years. I am not new to this. For you to insinuate that I am not hearing what I claim to be hearing is an insult. Feel free to post your own experiences. But do not attempt to tell others what my experiences are or are not.
Mr Denney stated that all his products are built in the USA.. Is that a 100 percent complete and solid statement with the building of the Blue Fuse? Tom
SRs biggest bang for the buck are his blue fuses and black duplex outlets. They are equivalent to upgrading either the speakers or amps or both in my system.
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