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What's going on with Synergistic Research fuses?

I live in California and a couple of weeks ago we had strange lightning storms that started the many fires burning in the State.  It also fried the fuse in my Pass XA30.5.  I got the amp second hand and it came with a SR Blue fuse.  I called Pass and they recommended a very cheap fuse which I ordered and installed.  Because I was curious, I took the SR sticker off the old burnt out fuse and found that it was a very cheap SIBA brand fuse underneath.  It is clear that SR is either not making the ceramic casing for this fuse or using the SIBA fuse and then doing stuff to it.  At the very worst, it's just slapping a sticker on it and charging a ton more

The thing is, I'm pretty sure I could hear a difference for the worse when I installed the cheap glass fuse post lightning storm.  Could it be that SR is modifying an existing fuse to make it sound better?  Maybe some more technically minded folks here on the forum could help me understand

thanks!
adam8179

Showing 2 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,879 posts
 
I observed fuse contacts needed to be reset periodically with most Japanese made amps/receivers back in the late 1970’s. Unregulated power supplies I suppose? It was the first and easy thing to check when a customer brought a unit in with a sound problem before sending for service. The fuse itself was fine.

Not all circuits are created equal. Beware of any claims that a fuse always makes a difference especially when due diligence is not performed before resorting to spending a lot more money on a nebulous at-best product.

Also note there is a big difference in construction of a slow blow fuse versus fast blow.   Slow blow usually has more to the filament to start.   Slow-blow seems better but remember the two are not necessarily interchangeable case by case.  Quality devices are  designed to function properly with one or the other.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,879 posts
 
The consensus among most all “skeptics” that I recall including George has been that a better contact between fuse and holder can make a difference. I know that has ways been my view based on actual experience as I have related it replacing and resetting many fuses for customers years ago.

So if a fuse maker is asserting they are doing something special for a more robust contact more power to them but that is not the case as I recall. It’s usually other things.  Also one must ask why is it that a fuse must cost so much just to make a good connection. 
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