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The Synergistic Research Orange Fuse ... Further thoughts.

Here are my observations after several weeks of burning in the new SR Orange fuses:

1. The sound has a more relaxed presentation. 

2.  Clarity - There is less grain. I thought I had this beat, but evidently not. 

3.  The soundstage has expanded further and instruments and performers are more well-placed inside the stage. The presentation is a lot more three-dimensional. 

4.  More articulation on voices. Vocals are more organically human in nature. While listening to Kevin Mahogany sing "Skylark," I hung on every note and word in the lyrics. Massed voices, like those heard on the Norman Luboff Choir's "But Beautiful" album, are more delineated. The solo instruments are more present than ever before also.

5.  There is a definite improvement in dynamics. Drum solos place the drummer right there in the room with you. Rim shots, bongos, congas and big bass drums are amazing. So are vibes. Cal Tjader and Victor Feldman ... Welcome to the party. 

6.  There has been a further improvement in tonal accuracy. String instruments have taken on a new dimension.  

7.   Among other improvements, there has been a slight amount of welcome warmth added to the mid-bass. The music, as a result, has become more emotionally involving. A little more tube-like in a very nice way.

8.  More meat on the bones overall. Massed strings are beautiful.  Bach's "Air on a G String" ... simply beautiful.  

9.  Lastley, I can set the volume control lower and get the same volume in sound as before.

Overall ... the new Orange fuse is a real winner in my system. 

Highly recommended. 

Frank

128x128oregonpapa

Showing 2 responses by three_easy_payments

three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
These guys seem to come out with a new improved color fuse every year which starts to make me question the whether there are really material improvements being made or it's more driven by a marketing approach to drive sales.  I'm not saying fuses don't offer performance improvements (I use a SR Blue myself) but I'm not feeling any motivation whatsoever to replace the Blue with an Orange.  In general I prefer to see manufacturers stick with an excellent product for a longer cycle and only introduce a newer model when transformational improvements are really being engineered.  How much technical advancement meat is left on the bone to improve a fuse???

In all fairness I have not tried an Orange vs the Blue but the pattern I'm detecting in marketing is sending a caution flag my way.  Perhaps I'm alone in this view.
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
@oregonpapa 

Do we hear the same irritations when other manufacturers upgrade their equipment?

Absolutely! That's certainly one of the things that bugs me about ARC is their creation of a perpetual 2-year upgrade cycle.  I much prefer the approach of Pass or VAC or Herron or Kuzma for instance who only introduce new product versions when there is a something of substance to present (in my view).  
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