Synergistic Red Fuse ...

Just wanted to chime in and share my experience with the SR Quantum Black fuse. I was inspired by this thread to try one. I am new to the audiophile grade fuse thing, but it made sense to me that a cheap fuse could be a bottleneck to good sound. I decided to try one in my amp first, since it has a fuse holder on the back that is easily accessible. My Antique Sound Lab Tulip is a 2A3 SET amp, but I am running it with Emission Labs mesh plate 45s (I love 45s, and especially these ones).

While I was waiting for the black to arrive, I decide to test the directionality of the stock fuse. I flipped it, and, sure enough, there was a nice improvement. I got the black, popped it in, and let the amp warm up. When I started listening, I could tell right away that something was off. I turned off the amp, flipped the black and turned it back on. Wow! The difference was immediately apparent and jaw dropping. Instruments and voices had more "presence" and sounded more real. I was hearing subtle details I hadn't noticed before. The dynamics were improved, and it was easier to follow the lines of individual instruments. In short, it sounded more like live music.

I left the amp on for several days, and these qualities increased as the black broke in. They were all there right from the beginning, though.

I just ordered another black for my Audio Note DAC Kit 1.1, and am eagerly awaiting its arrival.

oregonpapa,

I read in one of your earlier posts how much you like Thelonious Monk. You inspired me to pull out a CD of his music I had in my collection, but hadn't listened to for a long time. Good stuff!

but it made sense to me that a cheap fuse could be a bottleneck to good sound

Which qualified electronic technician has said this, to make sense to you??
Or was it just some c**p that came from a voodoo’ist mouth, who has not one bit of technical knowledge.

As for a fuse to become a "bottleneck" it needs to become highly resistive to such a point that it would blow with no faults.
If it’s not resistive at all, then you may as well have a piece of copper wire soldered in place of the fuse.

Cheers George

Fascinating thread.  

I'm not a trained physicist, but instead an "armchair amateur" who has read books by Stephen Hawking and Brian Greene, and while some cosmological concepts are still a bit difficult for me to grasp (even after several readings of Greene's last one on the multiverse and the hidden reality), it seems one possibility is that our minds are shaping realities, such that it is cosmologically plausible that, if anyone here hears a difference, no matter the tweak, then it is indeed real to that person, and in that reality, directionality of fuses is an unequivocal and experienced truth.

Fuse directionality or quality just doesn't work in my reality; and as Al Franken once said, that's, okay.

stevecham: "In Search of the Multiverse" by John Gribbin is excellent. Very accessible, and mind-bending. One of the best science books I’ve ever read.
georgelofi: I agree. I’ve been following this thread on and off and I think these guys would get better results by having a tech bypass the fuses in their amps. The perceived difference would just be placebo, but I can’t help thinking it might bring their systems to a jaw-dropping new level, with better presence, dynamics and micro detail that would, in short, sound more like live music.