I upgraded recently to ARC 160M monoblocks, and set them with two Orange fuses, one that I took from my old GS150, and another that was in the Ref6 pre, where is now a glorious new Purple fuse). I carefully installed the two fuses with the same direction they were ( along last two years aprox) on the previous ARC gear, with the S iinside and near the fuse holder top, and the R deep inside the equipment.
Instead of the wow effect I was expecting ( I know very well the benefits of SR fuses namelly the Orange ones), I got somehow a mechanical, 2D image, sterile and harshness effect. I waited for the system to settle down two days, I checked all raised cables, conections, etc. Everything on order. But no improvement 🤔😔
Not very convinced.., I changed both fuses direction. And unexpectedly, WOW, that's it! 😳. Imediate transformation 😜👌. All life returned. Huge and fullfilled soundstage. Focus. Tridimensionality, Dinamics, No more blandness. An almost unbelieveble transformation.
In conclusion. Direction matters, a lot. And I also suspect that the fuse signal is reversed built on the 160M if we compare it with the GS150 or Ref6 pre at least.