I use and encourage all serious audiophiles to audition audio grade fuses. I find them to be a big sonic improvement in the four systems that I listen to.
As early as 2012 I was trying Isoclean, Furotech, and Padis fuses. Small but real improvement. I then tried Synergistic Research SR 20 fuses and found them to be a bigger jump up in improvement then these other fuses.
Reading OregonPapa's endorsement of the Synergistic Research Black fuses made me trial these newest fuses. I tried a SR Black fuse- one at a time, after cleaning old and new fuses and contacts, and in both directions.
I found the SR Blacks to make a major improvement in the sound and worth the price. Doing careful listening , breaking in, changing fuse directions , and cleaning fuses was a project that took over 6 months to finish.
During this time I blew two fuses during rapid swaps in warmed up equipment. First a 3.25 amp fuse in a tube amp. The designer told me to let the equipment cool off before changing tubes or fuses (Craig Uthus of Moth Audio fame). He further told me using a 4.0 amp would not decrease safety. The other fuse was a 1 amp fuse for the laser assembly of a Marantz SA11-SA2 SACD player . This fuse was swapped while the unit was on! .Both fuses were replaced by Synergistic Research under their wonderful 30 trial policy. During this same interval I also had one tube go out in the three tube amps I was using.
My sincere hope for the music lovers who read these forums is that they try Audio Grade Fuses. Synergistic Research, Audio Magic, and Audio Horizons are all sold by Audiogon vendors who give the buyer a trial period. I firmly believe the time and money spent is well worth it.
David Pritchard
