Synergistic Red Fuse ...

I challenge anyone to determine the real break in time for fuses or capacitors or any electronic component for one reason:  How can you keep track of the sound closely enough to know when the sound is no longer improving? Do folks stand by and wait patiently for the fuse to break in, monitoring the performance a little bit every day and do nothing else?  Then repeat the process for the next fuse? The Duelund capacitors are rumored to take 500 hours or longer to break in and I'm even not sure if that means completely broken in or not.  The system and environment cannot be controlled well enough to conduct such an experiment. This is especially true for most audiophiles who are continually moving thing around, changing out one component or another, changing cables, trying various tweaks, changing fuses, changing the direction of fuses, adding room treatment, removing room treatment, etc. There are too many variables. Has anyone used the XLO Test CD burn in track to break in fuses? That would be a little more effective than simply playing music and it can be played non-stop. And if you’re looking to squeeze some more juice out of the tangerine why not cryo the fuse?

jafreeman, a slo-blo fuse is designed to blow if drawing too much current for x amount of time.  If you use a larger fuse, your component will blow before the fuse.

I've been thinking, my Hegel H30 uses a 15 amp slo-blo so theoretically if on a 15 amp outlet, the breaker will trip and don't need a fuse ... just hard wired it.    But since it's on a 20 amp line, MAYBE not a good idea.   I'm just speculating and not bypassing the fuse.  

Oregonpapa, 

I had an ARC HD220, and replaced it with an ARC DS450. 

Yes, I no longer have fuse protection in my Maggies--I have been more interested in better sound, so went with the better fuses, then the bigger fuses, thinking bigger is better sounding yet.  I will be moving from SR Reds to blacks in my Maggies--will probably push the values as I have done before--unless someone can talk me out of this.  

geoffkait ...

You make an excellent point regarding  break in time. I can tell from listening session to listening session what's going on, but do I really hear things accurately? Has it improved overnight ... or not? Or, has the change actually moved things backwards a bit? 

I've mentioned my audio buddy Robert a few times in this thread. While I listen to the system early every morning or each evening, Robert only comes over maybe once or twice a week. I trust Robert's ears ... and believe me, he can hear. If something is off-putting about the sound, he pulls no punches pointing it out.  I don't call him Mister Cynic for no reason. I can say unequivocally that recorded music and audio is the main thrust in Robert's life. He knows more about recorded music than anyone I know. He's a good person to have as a friend if you're a dedicated audiophile and music lover like most of us who post here. 

When I got the first SR Red fuse it had been burned in for a week before Robert heard the result. He was as pleased with the results as I was.  When I put the SR Black fuses in the CD player, Robert heard that change after burning in for only 24 hours. His reaction was to tell me to return the Blacks and get the Reds back into the system. 

Okay, now fast forward to the next time Robert came over ... about seven days later. He was blown away by the improvements afforded by the Black fuses, now a lot further down the break in path. You can read his comments further up the thread.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is ... if we listen ourselves, we are hearing very small increments of improvement. But when someone knowledgeable  goes from one week to another week without hearing the incremental break in improvements, what they hear is one HUGE improvement. That's always been a good gauge for me. 

Take care ...