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.
i bought 3 13 amp blue fuses on a bit of a deal here. I put one in the plug of my mains block, one in the plug of the amp , which is also my source (spotify stream) and one in my sibwoofer power lead. Ive got to say im really blown away by the system performance gain. Simply stunning sound now, very good value for money in my system. I would say at least equal to going up a tier in speaker.
now im very curious about changing the internal fuses in my sobwoofer and amplifier... i think 1 fuse in the amp IEC and 2 fuses inside the amplifier.
From experience , how much better could it sound if I replaced these fuses with blues from stock supplied fuses right now , bearing in mind i already have 2 blue 13amp fuses upstream from any internal fuse? Will it be another similar jump to my first 3 fuses or a fraction of that and if its a fraction best guess......
answers on a post card.
oh my mains cable and extension block did have sr20 quantum fuses before i went blue.
I recently had my Yamaha CA-1000 amplifier installed audiophile grade fuses all over (2 + 2 on preamp boards, 3 on tone control board and 1 for amp section) and there was an obvious change right away. At first I was wowed by the clarity and tighter bass, but now the amplifier sounds more lean. Tonight I decided to just change the amp fuse for the stock one and the bass came back but with a slightly darker sound. Would the blue fuse bring the best of both worlds? I like a warmer sound to match my Bryston gear. If for one fuse, I may just buy one to try out and see for myself but that would be nice if someone can chime in.
I personally dont find the blue fuses to add a tone to the sound when i upgraded the plug socket ones. My system is Solid state.
My ears detected a marked lowering of noise floor, so details came through that i could not discern on tracks im very familiar with. There is a clarity to the system now as you remarked that makes the music sound much more realistic to live music. Improvements to soundstage imaging. Bass seems deeper. Percussion in particular sounds markedly better thats all the way through high hats, bells chimes, bongos, rim shots, brushed, snares, rolls and bass drums. The sustain on strings and chimes just seems to go on forever. Brass sounds sublime as does voice.
i went from 2nd hand SR20s to the blues , the leap in performance is remarkable.
i would say take them up on the 30 day trial , what have you got to lose and pay attention to direction.
I am glad to know that based on your experience that the tones are not affected. I like the warm character of my CA-1000 and I wish it is not affected too much. The added clarity and a deeper bass seem a perfect blend in what I am looking for. I think I will buy one, the 30 days trial is a good incentive.
discopants: A very nice write up of what the Synergistic Research Blue Fuse does for a system. The music is simply more enjoyable to listen to.
parabellum: I do hope you will try the Blue Fuse as I think you will be very happy with the improvement you hear. And if for whatever reason you are not happy with the fuse send it back. David Pritchard
I’d just like to say thanks to the folks on this thread who have tried the blue fuse and posted your experiences. Ive actually just finished reading the whole thread and its a surreal one to say the least. You definately couldn’t make this up. I was very sceptical initially about the superlatives being used by the few who took the opportunity to try these fuses early. Im naturally sceptical but Thankfully 😅 im also experimental, so i wanted at least to try them.
i concur that these are the best tweak on a value for money basis that ive tried to date. I’m not finished quite yet though.
The technology in these fuses is something special. I dont have any real understanding of it (and may not even be fully understood by the makers). What is clear though is that it is blatantly inconcievable to the classically trained electronics engineers that have frequented these pages preaching “snake oil”. I feel sorry for the few one here who I have no doubts preach because they are duty bound to protect the less knowledgable consumers amongst us. Their intentions are good, its a shame that some of them havent actually tried the product as they are almost certainly missing out or having to pay a lot more money for a system as musical as mine is now.
i will be trying these fuses inside my Lyngdorf TDAI amp at some point
Thanks, sure I will. I find my audiophile grade fuses to add too much clarity to a point where I find it ear fatiguing over an extended period. It brings a lot of other good things on the other hand as the system seems quicker with tighter bass. As some others have reported, I noticed too that I need to dial less the volume knob to get the same sound output from my speakers. My fuses are a brand called Audio Link from Planabox, and they are similar to HiFi Tuning per what I was told. So if people report giant leap in performance between the HiFi Tuning and the SR Blue, then I am even more curious to try it out.
discopants:
Very good and objective write up. I have noticed too often the tech crowd / engineers are the ones who are the most skeptical. They always have the same rhetoric "cables conducts the same electricity so they will all sound the same". When one curious audiophile comes in with claims that cables, fuses, tweaks, etc. improves the sound, they are among the firsts to naysay. I agree with them that the basic principle to carry electricity / signal apply to all electronics but there is just much more than just that and that I cannot understand myself. Only my ears tells me I am no fool. I recently had my CA-1000 modified to remove that '74 original lamp cord and had a proper socket installed so that I can use whatever cable I want, and as soon as I plugged a better power cable, things only got better. I can understand that if you feed an amplifier with better juice, it will have more air to breath. But how and why it affects the sound? I have no idea. Same thing for my Bryston BDA-3. I started with the supplied stock cord and hit play to have a listen. My reaction? Meh.. That's it?? After a few hours, I decided to plug a Shunyata Black Mamba HC/CX and my god what a difference. I cannot explain rationally why it works, but it does. And in the end this is what we all want I think. So for the blue fuse, I just hope they won't be too bright or add too much clarity or kill the bass.
parabellum: It is wonderful you are willing to experiment to obtain superior sound. I have tried some of the HiFi Tuning fuses in the past, and I do think the Synergistic Research Blue fuses are much better. I think you will hear more music with less fatigue. They will sound good after 24 hours, very good at three days and will be fully settled in on day 10. That then gives you 20 days of listening to decide if they stay in your system. Have fun. David Pritchard
@parbellum, The first fuse I ever tried was the HiFi Tuning Silver Stars. Experimenting with a different fuse made it plain to me that the Silver Stars had lots of leading edge, detail, and attack, but at the expense of body, tone and fullness.
If your Audio Link fuses are like that, then that would explain what you're hearing. Every fuse sounds different, even those of different tiers from the same make.
It's funny, and reassuring, that you found yourself having to turn the volume down a bit as I had to as well. When I reported that minor finding, boy did I get a lot of blowback, but now it's pretty much a common thing.
I haven't tried the SR fuses yet either, but if you do what I did and try other brands, the total will add up to the cost of a Blue Fuse, or thereabouts.
All I can say is to experiment with fuses like you would with cables until you arrive at what sounds best to your ears in your system. Happy hunting. 🔍
Does it really need to be said? All fuses are directional. If any fuse is fatiguing or sounds sour or over-etched as it were then the odds are good it’s in the wrong direction. 🔙 Audio Link Fuses would be no exception.
are you sure there is replaceable fuse inside Lyngdorf TDAI unit? I was not able to identify any fuse inside TDAI 2170. I have TDAI 3400 now, which I haven’t tried to open yet, but from online hi-res photos of inside of the unit I was not able to locate any standard fuse again. If there is one, where exactly is it located?
None of the Lyngdorf integrated amps have user replaceable fuses. Yes they have fuses but you would need to be creative to replace them as not plug and play.
I have done just that and was glad that I upgrade to the Blue fuse. Order one and give it a try. After installing you should hear a difference after 24 hours and the final break in will occur on day 10. This still gives you 20 days to decide if you like the sound. My Blue fuse stayed in the sub. Any doubts send it back for a refund.
I’ve been around here off and on for a number of years and never thought about the fuses in gear. Just got my Blue fuse last night in the mail. It replaced the stock fuse of my Krell S-300i integrated mains. This is the first fuse I ever purchased. When I bought the Krell, it came with an SR 20 fuse installed. I listened for a few weeks with the SR 20 installed in the integrated, and then tried the stock fuse just to hear the difference between it and the SR20. The SR20 was slightly better than the stock fuse, although I thought the stock fuse had slightly better clarity.
Here is the change that installing the SR Blue in the Krell has brought as it settles in:
1. I understand what others have posted who used the descriptor for the sound of the speakers now as "continuousness" (which is actually a word); there is a coherency to the sound that is very noticeable over and above the way my Klipsch speakers have sounded on the same recording before 2. There is an added density to the music (more fullness/ weight) to the sound of the speakers 3. There are definitely more details than before that stand out on recordings I have listened to many many times 4. There is more depth to the sound of the speakers 5. I hear bass notes I did not notice before on very familiar recordings 6. The soundstage is widening 7. The level of sound quality of the speakers has gone up (many audiophiles are chasing improved sound quality)
caveats: 1. I have not reinstalled the fuse in a different direction yet 2. More time for the fuse to settle in (break in/ burn in - whatever you may call it)-- time is needed that will take days to complete
The problem is that many of the people in this voluminous thread who criticize the idea of the SR Blue fuse being worth that kind of money (149), are thinking in terms of a traditional fuse (a small inexpensive thing to manufacture that traditionally is worth pennies on the dollar), which they are. These critics don’t think of the possibility that a fuse could have the effect in the audio chain that other gear could have; it’s just a fuse. But some of them would pay the price of the SR Blue (and more) for a power cord, or interconnects or a set of tubes, or a phono cartridge.
When you hear the effect of installing the SR Blue, that’s when the value comes in to play.
In my opinion, this little tiny fuse has the value it does because it can achieve the same or better affect as changing out a power cord, interconnects, a different set of tubes, or a phono cartridge.
The value of this relatively expensive Blue fuse is in the "cause and effect." From my brief experience, with the SR 20, stock fuse, and now the SR Blue, it really does have the effect of a power cord or other more expensive changes you can make to your system.
Could it be sold for less? I don’t know, but it works.
Until you put the fuse in your gear and listen you have no chance to know. The only thing that beats a fail is a try.
foster_9: Your post is a great description of the sonic changes I heard when I upgraded my Pass Lab amplifier to a Synergistic Research Blue fuse. I think in 10 days your fuse will be fully settled in and you will hear further improvement. David Pritchard
Well, I finally ordered a blue fuse for my amplifier (Yamaha CA-1000). I opted first for the most important one, which is the one on the amplifier portion. If the results are good enough, I will probably buy a set of 4 more fuses for the pre-amplifier twin boards. Cross fingers.. I will report later after I receive and try it out.
Late to the game but last Friday I received my Synergistic Quantum Blue fuse. I only ordered the main fuse to see what changes it would bring (or not) for my Yamaha CA-1000... And changes it brought. Compared to my Audio Link fuses (local brand in Qc similar to HiFi Tuning) which affected to tonality of the amplifier and made it more lean sounding, the blue fuse did not change the tonality of the CA-1000 at all. It still is a sweet and warm sounding amplifier. There is an increase in bass weight and instruments are even more life like. I could also perceive a decrease in noise during silent passages. There is more fullness to the music reminding me of my past Mc setup. I noticed also that the highs are more natural, a bit less strident. Essentially, it does not remove anything of the good from the amplifier, but only add up some even better qualities. This is not the night and day difference I was expecting/hoping but since I only changed one, this is normal I think. Still, the improvements it brings are appreciated. I think I will slowly change all the 7 remaining fuses, a 4 set for the pre-amp and a 3 set for the tone control board. I plan to keep my amplifier for a while (say, I will give it to my son in 10 years once he reaches his teen.) so I am fine tuning it up.
Thanks to everyone for posting their experiences with the SR blue fuses. I just installed one into my amplifier four days ago and I was blown away by the improvements in clarity and realism, which became apparent after just a few hours in my system.
One thing I've noticed though is that the mid-bass is sounding a bit soggy or slightly muddy. I hadn't noticed this before installing the fuse, but to be honest, perhaps it was there and I'm just listening now with a more critical ear.
My questions are as follows:
1. Could this issue I'm picking up with the mid-bass be related to the fuse requiring more burn-in time?
2. I leave my amplifier on 24/7. Would the time that my amplifier is on but not play music contribute to burn-in time?
Try reversing the direction of the fuse and see if the bass improves. If that was the problem, the imaging will be more defined by switching the fuse direction as well. When the fuse is in the wrong direction, the system will sound a bit out of phase and just not right.
What you experienced also happened in my amplifier upon installing the fuse. I listened for 1 or 2 hours and let it as is. The next day, I didn’t waste time and just reversed the fuse in the fuse holder and everything went just perfect. I guess it is because I reversed it but I wasn’t sure since that I also leave my amplifier (and whole setup) on 24/7.
I also noticed that before my system could be on the edgy side since my speakers (Totem Mani-2 Signature) requires very good electronics to avoid that problem but after two weeks of "24/7 on" and about 4 hours of actual listening per day, the edginess seems to be gone. and this is with only 1 fuse. I have two amp boards with 2 fuses each, and the tone board that has 3. I am very curious now to know what would be the improvements if I change them all. My amplifier is vintage so the actual fuses are, most likely, vintage as well. So far, so good.
Nelson Pass in his XP-22 pre-amp's owner's manual: "We can't guarantee that your audiophile grade fuse won't blow at a completely different in-rush current threshold than your stock commercial fuse. Use of other than approved fuses may invalidate your product warranty and result in product damage."
Uh, how can damage to the equipment occur if the fuse blows prematurely? Nelson Pass is a bit of a drama queen. Has anyone’s amp ever blown up or caught fire? Answer at 11.
Well I do have Pass Lab amplifiers. The INT-60 integrated amp, the Headphone amp HP-1, and a First Watt F7. Three systems and all sounding quite good. All have Synergistic Research Blue fuses and I have had zero problems. All benefited significantly from the installation of Blue fuses. I have discussed fuses with team Pass Labs but not directly with Nelson. No aftermarket fuse warning were given to me.
I would not take a sonic step backward and put the original fuses back in. David Pritchard
In your experience, which component would benefit the most from the SR Blue, my Bryston BDA-3 DAC or my Bryston BDA-2 digital player, if I have to choose one to upgrade first? Both have 2 small fuses 5x20 in each. My assumption would be the component closest to the source but I am not sure.
So I tried reversing the direction of the fuse and the definition of instruments on the sound stage noticeably reduced. I think I had the fuse in the right way originally.
On the plus side, thinks seem to be settling nicely and the bass is better.
I wish I could replace the fuse in my combo streamer/DAC/preamp but I just can’t find it. I think it’s hidden away deep within the circuitry (yet the manual provides specification for the replacement fuse)
Okay, so now we know that the direction wasn’t the problem. These fuses need time to break in. In the SR fuse line, the Blue fuses have the shortest break-in time. Maybe 50 hours or so.
Have you taken the lid off of your combo streamer to see if the fuse is in there? I know that’s what I had to do in order to get to the fuse in my CD player.
Changing out the rest of your fuses for the SR Blue fuses will take your system to a new level.
Frank
Thanks! Yes, that is part of the plan now that I had a taste of what the Blue can do. I only have one installed yet (7 remaining) and yet the improvements it brings are substantial enough for me to swing for an home run. Can't wait to hear with all of them installed.
I believe you are going to be very happy with the sonic improvements with all the fuses upgraded to the Synergistic Blue fuse. I am very happy with my systems improved performance after going all Blue! David Pritchard
Quick question here. I know that the blue are directional, but, are they the same direction in regard to the label on the fuse? I mean, do SR slaps the sticker on the fuse in any direction regardless of the audible direction?
Sounds silly but I will have to install 7 more on my amplifier. It will be one hell of a puzzle to install them all correctly if SR didn't pay attention how they label their fuses and only telling people to "reverse" them if they don't sound quite right.
Hi, parabellum. I don’t believe the labeling is consistent with directionality. If installing 7 more, I would think one at a time then have a listen is about the only way to do it without getting into astronomically high numeric combinations.
+1 AFAIK the one aftermarket fuse company that keeps track of the wire direction during the whole manufacturing process and puts directional arrows 🔜 on the finished fuse to show how the fuse should be inserted in the circuit is Isoclean. Now, that’s not the same as saying only one fuse company believes in fuse directionality. At this point in time they probably all agree that direction makes a difference in the sound, though perhaps grudgingly. One reason arrows sometimes aren’t helpful is that in some cases it’s not obvious which direction of the fuse holder is the correct direction. For example, when the fuse is located where the power cord enters the component.
Since keeping track of wire direction requires extra attention most audiophile fuse companies suggest trying the fuse both ways. So, even the diode symbol 🔚 on HiFi Tuning fuses that looks a lot like an arrow isn’t supposed to indicate correct fuse direct. It’s only there so you can keep track of which way thecfuse was facing when you reverse direction.
Great advice and thanks. I will do as you suggested. Makes more sense to do it this way. Once done and settled, I will take pictures of the installed fuses and label them if I ever have to remove/change them.
At Synergistic Research we absolutely keep track of signal directionality in our fuses, it goes in the direction of the letter flow on the fuse. Left to right. But we can’t however predict how this directionality will interact with any given circuit, we simply do not have the resources to evaluate directionality for all components on the market today. No company does. But as for directionality in the fuse, it funs in the direction of the lettering on the fuse and is 100% consistent from Fuse to Fuse.
Yours in music, Ted Denney Lead Designer Synergistic Research Inc.
Thank you for the clarification Mr. Denney. This is coherent with what I was thinking in the beginning.
I starting installing the Blue fuse in the pre-amplifier portion of my integrated and they are rated 5A 250V. I have read that it is better to install a fuse with a notch above the rated value (this was told by my tech with its AudioLink fuses) but I am not sure about the Blue. So I have installed one 6.3A 500V in one of the sockets (I have four to populate). I wonder if this is safe or should I stick with the original rating of 5A. This is a vintage Yamaha CA-1000 circa 1974.
parabellum: I believe it is a good choice to use the 6.3 Amp fuse in your amplifier. I have used the same approach that you suggest in my two Pass Lab amplifiers and my Pass Lab Integrated amplifier.
I am very pleased with the improvement that The Blue fuses made.
I have just
discovered this extremely lengthy thread about SR fuses.
Took me
days to read it, but it was interesting read.
Some peoples claim that fuses do improve
sound, that they are directional, some are bushing whole concept.
I’m very skeptical,
not leaving in USA, SR dealer in my home country do not offer 30 day money
back guarantee, so all risk is mine.
And I’m not
fun of their products, I used to have (5 years ago) some their IC cable ( I do
prefer Tara labs cables ) I used to have their PC cable I do prefer Shunyata.
Once dealer
of SR tried on audition to convince me that Galileo MPC was better than usual
one, in system he changed 4 MPC’s to Galileo MPC’s. I could not hear any
difference.
So I’m very
skeptical. I do not believe that fuse can be directional.
But few
days ago friend called, he is season audiophile and he is running high-end service
, in some integrated amplifier of his client there are 2 SR black fuses 1.6A (been
used for long time so they are burned) , do I want to try them ?
Why not,
nothing to lose just 2 hours of time.
They are too
small for my preamp or poweramp, so we have put them in my AudioAero CDP which needs 2
fuses (500mAx2).
In my CDP I
already have some 5-6 years old Create
Audio fuses ( do not know exact model) and never have compared them to stock
one. Just bought them cheaply from some guy.
So we have
run 6 tests.
Create Audio x 2. # to establish baseline
Create Audio x 1, SR black x 1 –
degradation of sound
Create Audio x 1, SR black x 1
(so we have changed direction of SR black) in this in was better then in
2)
SR black x 1, SR black x 1 (in
good direction)
SR black x 1 (direction changed
to find the proper one), SR black x 1 (in good direction) # both SR in
good direction
Back to Create Audio x 2 # to confirm that we are not imagining things
Our
conclusions, fuses do change sound consistently (big surprise to me)
SR fuses
are directional (huge surprise to me) !
In wrong direction SR do degrade sound (nuances, air is
lost, music is lifeless) in right direction there is more air , sound is more
smooth, cleaner then with Create Audio.
But Create
Audio x 2 sound more alive there is better PRAT, more energy. But it is matter of
taste some peoples can prefer 5) some 6).
It would be
great if strengths of Create Audio (PRAT) and strengths of SR black (air,
smoothness, quietness) could be combined. That would be a winner.
Personally
I’m very sensitive to music drive, so I’m not upgrading to SR black.
But now I’m
convinced that fuses are directional and they do influence sound in not so
small degree. It is easy audible.
I can summarize
that 100USD for fuse is outrageous rip off, but 100USD for such change in sound
for better is really a good deal.
Now I’m thinking
about comparing verictum X-fuse and SR blue fuse in my preamp.
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