I agree with Oregonpapa: try the fuses and return them within 30 days if they don’t improve your system. I have no qualms whatsoever about doing this. Not that I was thrilled at the increase in price (is anyone????), but given that I can get my money back without question, I see this as a win-win situation. I’ve returned fuses to VH Audio and not heard a whimper out of the owner. At least Synergistic is smart enough to put their money where their mouth is, and say, if you don’t like it, return it.
I WILL say that I did NOT like their Black outlet. Not.At. All. And I returned it. It started out sounding good, but then lapsed into a rather generic sound. Of course, it can be that the outlet surpassed my test system, which is inexpensive, but I’m under the belief that if it takes a 10k amp, 10k preamp, 5k CD player, 3k interconnects, 3k speaker cable, 4k equipment rack, and an army of other accoutrements to demonstrate the improvement, then I that’s pathetic. I mean, I don’t expect a Best Buy integrated to show off the fuses, but NAD, Arcam, and Hegels are plenty good enough to show off if the fuses work.
So, as far as my preference with SR’s outlets, I preferred the 2nd generation Red, even though it had a "bite" in the lower treble. It also had a magnificence on voices that was hard to beat, as well superb rhythm and the ability to stop-on-a-dime - when the music stopped on a dime!
However, I was not pleased when, a year ago, I asked a straightforward question of SR about the new Black outlet, and about whether the "bite" (of the Red one) had been resolved in the Black version, and received a marketing person’s emailed response that I had to "hear it to believe it." (I worked in PR for the mayor of San Francisco, and I know a non-answer when I hear one). Fine. I bought it and I heard it. On MY system, it stunk. Fortunately, the fuses never do, although I would say - and quite LOUDLY - that not every new fuse works best in each piece of equipment. For example, in my PS Audio Power Plant, The Red outperformed the Black (and another user on here came to the exact same conclusion, independent of me. In fact, I didn’t even know him until I happened across his thread and saw that he had written exactly what I had written in an entirely separate thread).
So, I’m going to order a Blue or two (not for the Power Plant, though. I came across an Audio Horizon fuse I’d lost (things get lost around my place: it’s like the Bermuda Triangle) and put it in the Power Plant and expected exactly nothing. But I got a beautiful tone.Not euphonic, since Burt Bacharach’s solo ’70s albums still sound awful (Casino Royale was a ’60s album, for the sharp-eyed). It sounded that way last night, as a matter of fact!
So, either the Reds and the Blacks are voiced for certain components remains to be seen. (They seem to like Audio Research’s electronics). And I wasn’t keen on SR’s upper level interconnects, either. One was lean, and the other was clearly "rich."
Anyway. The Audio Horizon put the Red fuse to shame. Now, someone on another thread posited that it could be how slowly the circuit "discharges" or something technical - and he could easily be right. I don’t care. I tried it in 3 different systems and I could hear its sonic character. Which is fine: everything has at least a slight character. As long as I can identify it objectively, then I can subjectively decide if I want to keep it. But I want to be able to identify it objectively first.
So, tomorrow - oh, it’s ALREADY tomorrow - I’ll get a Blue. Well, I’ll get two, because after all, I want to make sure one component is not hiding back the Blue’s effect. And I’ll report it.
By the way, the "cheap" system is an NAD C325BEE ( I have friends with the 326 and 356, so I can try the fuses in their setup, too ). A CJ ET3SE and a Classic Sixty sitting around with my Hurricanes. Nordost Frey 2 and Nola Contenders (and, let me tell you: the Nolas are one of the ONLY speakers I’ve EVER had that tell you instantly if your azimuth is off, or VTA needs tweaking). And for a $3500 pair of speakers to do that...well, the only other ones I’ve had that do that are the little Sound Dynamics RTS-3s. My WATT/Puppies/Convergent/Goldmund Memesis 9/Versa Dynamics 2.3/Goldmund Accurate/Transparent Reference/MIT (whichever speaker cable I had in 2005) didn’t even do it that easily. So, either I was lousy with room setup (sure, sure) or it was something else, I’ll never know now. Oh, did I mention I’ve given RTS-3s to three friends??? For $150 used, THEY will also immediately show a dirty needle, as a friend of mine with the NAD 326 discovered two weeks ago, when I brought over the Townshend Audio Seismic Isolation Platform for him to hear his (inexpensive) Denon turntable on. (It was eye-opening how "human" singers’ voices sounded. You could hear the nasality in Paul Simon’s voice on "I Am A Rock" as well as his bitterness (and bitterness is - in my opinion - hard to hear clearly on an audio system). So, the Blues will get around in the 30 days I have them. I hope I hate them, because I don’t want to spend the money. But if they work in these inexpensive systems, I’ll let you know. FAST. And then I’ll move them to the better system, whose provenance I ain’t sayin’. But maybe it takes a system like Frank’s to make ’em shine. And so, if it takes a $50k system to make ’em shine, then we should all know that, right?
Let The Games Begin! It’ll either cost me nothin’ (by the time 30 days is up) or it’ll cost $750 for 5 of ’em. Hey, I’ll be sellin’ the old ones at really good prices. I believe we should ALL be able to enjoy music without it costing us an arm and a leg, so keep an eye out. I’ll put ’em on Audiogon for fun prices!
