I installed a SR RED Quantum fuse in my ARC REF-3 preamp a few days ago, replacing an older high end fuse. Uhh ... for a hundred bucks, this little baby is well worth the cost. There was an immediate improvement upon installation, but now that its broken in (yes, no kidding), its quite remarkable. A tightening of the focus, a more solid image, and most important of all for my tastes, a deeper appreciation for the organic sound of the instruments. Damn! ... cellos sound great! Much improved attack on pianos. More humanistic on vocals. Bowed bass goes down forever. Next move? .... I'm doing the entire system with these fuses. One at a time though just to gauge the improvement in each piece of equipment. The REF-75se comes next. I'll report the results as the progression takes place. Stay tuned ...
Any comments from anyone else who has tried these fuses?
What's the point of buying a fine California Napa Valley Cabernet for 20 bucks a pop when we have Trader Joe's selling Two Buck Chuck for $2.49 per bottle? Wine is wine, right?
Why buy a fine aged single barrel bourbon for 50 bucks a pop when we have Thrifty Drug Store down on the corner selling Ancient Age for $4.99 a pint? Bourbon is bourbon, right?
Why buy a fine small brewery Kraft beer when we can buy that swill known as Bud Lite for 50 cents a can on sale? Beer is beer, right?
No point in buying super fine Prime beef when you can save a lot of money by buying a cut of Choice or below. Beef is beef, right?
Why drive a Lexus when there are perfectly fine used VW Jettas out there? A car is a car, right? Point "A" to point "B" is all that matters, right?
Why buy a high end fuse when we can buy a perfectly good fuse for 2 bucks at Pep Boys? A fuse is a fuse, right?
Those who don't know the difference, who lack a discerning taste in the finer things in life, will never know the difference these things make, or the joy they bring, but they will take delight in tearing at the seams of the dreams of the rest of us as we seek perfection in much of what we do.
For those trolls who just cannot stay away from this thread, I ask you ... what is your motivation? Before you answer, dig deep into the inner reaches of your brain and deep down into your heart of hearts. Was it mistreatment as a child? Were you bullied? Abandoned as a child? Molested? What causes you to strike out against your fellow humans in such a derogatory manner? The only thing I can come up with is that trolls lead a very darkened, narrow little life, and the only way they can feel better about themselves is to go through life destroying the joy in the lives of others. A very sad existence, indeed.
In the meantime, and in a much more positive light, tonight was taken up mostly with Franz Liszt's orchestral music. The bowed strings, from top to bottom, were singing to the tune of the Hungarian Rhapsodies.
Back in the early 80's, MCA Classics came out with a budget CD series of Westminster classical recordings; a bargain at two CD's for ten bucks. I bought a bunch of them, as I already knew from my record collecting how great a lot of the Westminster recordings were. They are all analog stereo recordings. Yes, there's some tape hiss, but better that than compressed highs. The music is gorgeous.
I have to say, since converting over to the SR Black fuses, installing the SR HFT room treatments and upgrading the cables, massed strings are so real, its amazing. They just wash over you with sublime beauty. The lower strings, like bowed basses and cellos have real POWER.
But then again, a fuse is a fuse is a fuse is a fuse. Right?
There are those who will never know. A real shame, actually.
This just turns into a bump fest to sell more fuses, don't entertain it anymore. As without us, they bump themselves with which piece of music they like with their new fuse in place and it's becomes obvious it's a bumping ploy.
If it were any good he'd post pictures of it in the "virtual system" forum.
I'm betting that its a PA system that plays at only one level ... LOUD. Either that, or the heart of Wolfie Cotton Ear's system is a 1978 Pioneer receiver that he picked up at the Salvation Army thrift store along with the worn out first generation CD player that he bought at the Goodwill store five years ago. How good could it be with all of that moisture dripping from the concrete under the bridge?
Under bridge dankness does not make for good sound.
When one lives under bridges and uses a PA system and claims it to be an audio system, it makes one stone blind to audio truth. In fact, the massive echos that emanate off of the concrete arches under the bridges cause severe listening fatigue and makes one stone deaf as well.
Massive amounts of Synergistic Research High Frequency Transducers (HFT's) are seriously called for in Wolfie's sorry-assed case. The SR HFT's have been known to transform under-bridge living and listening to an almost human-like existence.
Now, I know you will all say that in Wolfie's case a human-like existence is impossible, but I disagree. Anyone who uses KT-150's in his PA system can't be all bad.
Oh wait! ... in a recent post in another forum, he said that he dumped the KT-150's in favor of another tube ... and he actually claims that he can hear the difference. Imagine that! He can hear the difference between glass bottles, but he cannot hear the difference between a stock fuse and an after market fuse that 99.9999% of those posting through 52 pages of this thread can clearly hear with no problem at all.
"The astonishment at the shameless promotion of nonsensical, technically unexplainable, and ridiculously overpriced faith based pseudo tweaks never fades"…Wolf Garcia.
I'll scurry back into my troll home under the overpass.
I recently acquired another ten-pack of HFTs via AG and used most of them on my very modest speakers and a few more on USB cable ends, pushing me to a stage five install or beyond (sounds a bit like Scientology, don't it?).
I am so enjoying Patricia Barber's "Nightclub" right now. Extended,very well-defined bass, vanishing noise floor, open top-end with a great sense of space, and a glorious shimmer, ring and detail on the cymbals....
Nice to hear that the fuses are working out for you. The Black fuses are really amazing. For an extra 20 bucks they are a no-brainer over the Red fuses.
On the SR HFT's ... How these little things do what they do is a mystery to me. How can something so tiny affect room feedback so significantly? When I placed the ten-pack around the room as directed, then dialed in the first tune on the stereo, I was in disbelief. The HFT's are NOT subtle at all.
I put my black fuse in my sim audio moon 300d v2 dac. Already had a red in my power amplifier and cd transport. I put them in those first because I thought if the hi end fuse would help much it would the amp and cd transport. And it turned out to be right, not me, but synergistic recommended that. My system sounded great before but I had played with straight silver wire in my fuse holders and noticed a improvement, not big, but noticable. Now I know from the reds it will change as they go through their fuse menopause, but right now I feel this, a black in the dac, is the bigger change in my system. Oregonpapa thanks for the heads up on the hft's. Sounds like a good late fall/winter project. It will probably take that long for the fuse to fully settle in. I will probably post again in a few weeks to gaga over what will surely happen. I know Wolfe will want to hear about it.
I look forward to your report on the changes in sound with upgrading the fuse in your DAC. With the Antelope DAC, it was interesting that changing the fuse on both the hot side and the fuse on the neutral side made an improvement. I hope you are able to leave the DAC on 24/7. According to the Antelope DAC developer, a DAC clock needs to be on three days to reach final sonic stabilization.
^^^ Interesting comment marqmike. I keep saying that myself. It just keeps getting better. After you do the fuses, you may want to try a ten-pack of SR's HFT's. They are NOT subtle at all.
On the subject of changing fuses in SACD players, going to the SR Black fuse makes a major improvement. If on a budget please try a Black fuse first.at the incoming power cord location, The Marantz has six additional rail fuses. And in fact I replaced all six fuses one at a time giving each fuse 150 hrs of burn in, before adding the next fuse. I really was surprised that the fuse that supplies power to transport mechanism made a significant difference but it did.
It is so inspiring to have one's system really dialed in. I do think the Black fuses make that event much easier to obtain.
Tommylion I replaced the stock fuse in my theta pearl cd transport with the 'red'. It was a very noticeable improvement for the good. Everything improved. Much like the upgrade of good a/c power and a better power cord for it. Maybe I am getting carried away but it was easily a noticeable improvement for the good.
Tommy lion, Clifford Brown is a genuine iconic jazz trumpeter. As I became more deeply involved with jazz I discovered the fabulous Bebop trumpeter Fats Navarro and could hear some similarities between him and Clifford. It was later that I read Clifford credited Navarro as being an early and significant influence on his developing style. "Sarah Vaughan With Clifford Brown " is an all time classic recording in my opinion. Charles,
I'm pleased to hear that you got the blown fuse issue resolved to your satisfaction. Thanks for posting the results. More often than not, businesses hear the complaints and not the compliments.
The SR crew led by Ted Denny realize that the true boss that every employee, from the janitor to the CEO, has in a private company is the customer. The success of any company relies eventually on satisfied customers. Satisfy the customer and the business thrives. Don't take care of the customer and the business will fail. It is the customer that determines if the doors of the business opens the next day or not.
Tommylion ...
I don't know about a transport, but swapping out the two fuses in my CD player absolutely transformed the player.
On Clifford Brown ... Yes, he was taken way too young by a car accident. He was only 25 years old at the time of his death. He was an absolute genius. Lucky for us that he recorded so much of his work.
Back in the 70's, I was going through a record bin at Aaron's Records in the Fairfax district in Los Angeles when I noticed a nicely dressed man in a suit looking through the Clifford Brown albums. I asked him if he was into "Clifford?" He said ... "Oh yes, I play trombone for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. All of us brass players know about Clifford."
Clifford Brown not only had blazing technique, but he played with soul too.
Over the years, I've collected most of Clifford's albums. Back in the early 70's I ran across an Ex-DJ from Hawaii. He didn't want to move his albums back to Hawaii, so he sold me whatever I wanted for two bucks per album. I cleaned up on his Clifford Brown records on EmArcy ... all in mint condition. Two bucks apiece.
My favorite is the one with the red jacket and the bell of the trumpet on the cover. The cut "Autumn in New York" really gets to the soul of Clifford's playing.
I'd also like to thank both Synergistic Research and The Cable Co for resolving an issue I had with the 1 amp SR Black fuse blowing when I returned from vacation and simply powered on the Ayre player.
After a little bit of back and forth (and some good advice from oregonpapa, who definitely does NOT work for SR but does have common sense), SR agreed to send me a 1.25 amp fuse gratis. It was nice to see a company exercise a customer-friendly approach to an issue occurring in the grey area, so to speak.
Last night was a night of wonderful live music. Zuill Bailey playing a program of cello pieces with Dominic Dousa on piano. The listening room holds 225 people and I was fortunate to be sitting front row -10 feet from the performers. The music were pieces that had a relationship to the impact Picasso had on the world of art. Casals, de Falla, Debussy, and Piatigorsky all these men had links to Picasso.
The interaction of the two performers was inspiring and enlightening. One brief practice of parts of the program was held earlier in the day and then a confident "Let's Go!" Two consummate musicians interacting and at times improvising from the score added a freshness and vitality not often heard at "classical" concerts.
I highly recommend Zuill Bailey's cello CD's. Especially the beauty of his cello and guitar CD recorded with David Leisner (Azica Records). I believe his sound conveys wonderful emotions and has a freshness that gives the music a real sense of being alive and not merely performed.
And then to come home after the 50 mile drive to put on the headphones was a sonic dessert that ensured the most blissful dreams.
I do so enjoy the benefits of upgraded A/C wall outlets and upgraded fuses.
Saw them in a small club (with great acoustics) about two years back and they did not disappoint.
Jack The Toad is my favorite Savoy Brown album start to finish but many fun and enjoyable tracks from the band over the years.
"Now on your way through life Sometimes you just got to be a little bad I knew Jack and, my goodness, he was bad He was bad, bad news You just got to be a little bad because, if you ain't The great gun fighter in the sky Ain't got no one to save And if you're just a little bad Just a little bad Nobody forgets your name
Bad, bad news, he was bad, bad news Bad, oh my goodness, Jack was bad news"
"I am glad you were listening to Savoy Brown. A talented British Blues Band with some real good Marshall amp powered guitar playing. They did not get much air time but they were quite good."
I am glad you were listening to Savoy Brown. A talented British Blues Band with some real good Marshall amp powered guitar playing. They did not get much radio air time but were quite good. They really torn up the Zephyer Club in Salt Lake City when I was there in 1990.
Who would have thought Salt Lake City would have such a hot club but there it was. A hardcore rock and roll oasis in the dessert. And lots of alcohol with the purchase of the three day private club membership.
Salt Lake City was an interesting place to visit in the 1990's.
Also, too, way off topic, but Tidal sounds very good though my setup--if a bit more two dimensional than playing CDs ripped to AIFF via iTunes. Tidal uses FLAC. Background is totally silent. Reminds me of hearing familiar music rendered at the movie theater. Very full and possessing a huge soundstage, but again, a things are a bit two dimensional.
I've had quite the time playing "Stump Tidal." It led to a Savoy Brown session last night and a Traffic session tonight....
Thank you for the interesting report on the PS Audio Forum by Mark. This is a good data point for those interested in the Audio Magic fuses. I hear significant improvements using the latest generation of fuses as compared to the fuses I bought in 2012. Likewise I hear major improvements using the wall outlets currently available versus those available in 2012.
Certainly a wonderful time to be a music lover and an audiophile.
This afternoon was spent enjoying beautiful music streamed to the Terasonic speakers after being amplified by about 1/2 watt courtesy of the Type 45 tube SET amp. SET amps certainly do respond to fuse and wall outlet upgrades.
I just read that on the PS Audio forum. It is a comparo of different fuses. It is interesting : "capt mark said I just finished testing some fuses I my DS. I had SR Reds in my DS and amps, and wanted to try the ones Odd had been discussing. I first tried the SR Black, and it was quite a bit better in my system. It had more detail and was smoother overall, a nice upgrade from the Red. Next came the Audio Horizon Platinum. It was very much like the Black, and I had to switch back and forth to pick out the differences in these two. The AH had just a tad more detail, and the bass was a little tighter. I liked both fuses and could live with either one. Then came the Audio Magic SHD with it’s magic beeswax. This one is something special. More detail and smoother than the other two, but the main thing is the amount of space and air around the instruments and vocals. It presents a more lifelike sound stage with more width and especially depth. I will leave the AM fuse in my DS, and I have ordered 2 more for my amps. These results are, of course, in my system, and YMMV. I just wanted to pass along the info for those who are interested. Mark"
andynotadam 50 posts 08-18-2016 12:11am David: "The enhanced spacial information, the blacker background, and overall more relaxed sound makes streaming a much more satisfying experience than before I installed the Black fuses and Black outlets. "
Agreat concise summary of the SR Black products contribute to the sound. Except for the typo. ;-)
"The enhanced spacial information, the blacker background, and overall more relaxed sound makes streaming a much more satisfying experience than before I installed the Black fuses and Black outlets. "
A great concise summary of the SR Black products contribute to the sound. Except for the typo. ;-)
Actually I think your post is on topic because the improvement to a system that uses the Synergistic Black fuses and Black wall outlets allows streaming sources to really sound wonderful. The enhanced spacial information, the blacker background, and overall more relaxed sound makes streaming a much more satisfying experience than before I installed the Black fuses and Black outlets.
Congratulations on getting Tidal working and best wishes on getting it tweaked to reach it's maximum utility.
Way off topic (though the goodness of the SR Black fuses and outlets shine on through everything in the chain), but this afternoon I got Tidal working through my Bryston BDP-2 music player and it sounds extraordinarily good using multimode duplex fiber to isolate the Ethernet ground noise from the network. Next up is figuring out how to incorporate the Roon meta-data service into the picture.
Keeps my retired-ass 61 year old mind working, so I've got that going for me...
Thank you for the reminder that to insure that a component has no active circuits, it must be unplugged and not just turned off. Hey that's just what they always tell me to do at the computer "help" site after putting me on hold for 30 minutes!
Well the replacement Black fuse is in place and now has 75 hours on it. What a nice improvement over the back up Isoclean fuse. I am listening to Harp music to unwind after a stressful day. The shimmering harmonics of the plucked strings resonating with the body of the harp is most relaxing.
The plucked leading edge of each note is sharp and forceful, and then the relaxing full bodied complex decay of the note takes place. All this is occurring with a jet black background and with a soundstage depth of a medium sized concert hall. Really quite remarkable.
An upgraded audio fuse has made this long stressful very hot day turn into a most satisfying and reinvigorating music listening night.
"A friendly reminder to all that replace fuses in their equipment to remember to turn off the equipment before replacing the fuse. I do not know why but changing the fuse recently with a different fuse resulted in the new fuse blowing. I would guess it was a current in rush situation but on a solid state piece of equipment. So turn off equipment - replace fuse - turn on equipment. "
Better advice is to unplug equipment before changing the fuse. Many pieces have a constant draw of power to keep some circuitry "warmed up".
theaudiotweak 1,360 posts 08-14-2016 6:00pm Tom: "When the electrons direction are bent by the magnetic field then they have a shorter path to travel across the conductor."
The electrons are not the signal. Why would a shorter path for electrons improve the sound. Besides the electrons are moving back and forth as I already said. Their effective path distance is zero.
Tom: "Some electron microscopes use a magnetic lens to focus electrons."
But electric microscopes are not audio cables. How would focusing electrons change the sound, assuming for the moment magnets do focus electrons. The electrons are moving only a cm/ minute.
Tom: "Vibration can generate electricity that can react to the magnetic field."
Really? Example?
Tom: "Musical instruments generate large amounts of vibration..hear that."
Are you saying musical instruments are creating electricity?
theaudiotweak 1,359 posts 08-14-2016 2:23pm "I think besides the increase in conductive surface area a magnet helps focus the electron field so it is less random and becomes more organized. Like the electrons that leave a cathode in a picture tube they may leave at different angles but can be adjusted with a magnet or as an electron lens. The magnet may bend the electrons towards a common point."
What difference could bending the electrons or electron field make since the electrons are barely moving through the wire? Besides electrons are moving back and forth in an AC circuit, like in the mains fuse situation.
Tom also wrote,
"For me magnets also appear to focus vibrational energy over a given surface even one that is considered a non traditional conductor. They make for a more dynamic and organised presentation. Results in better sound."
It sounds like you are saying vibrational energy is good and therefore the more the better. Why not just employ a shaker machine? That would produce all the vibrational energy you could desire. I’m not sure I go along with you that vibrational energy is subject to magnetism. Wouldn’t the "vibrational energy" have to be uh, magnetic?
I think besides the increase in conductive surface area a magnet helps focus the electron field so it is less random and becomes more organized. Like the electrons that leave a cathode in a picture tube they may leave at different angles but can be adjusted with a magnet or as an electron lens. The magnet may bend the electrons towards a common point.
For me magnets also appear to focus vibrational energy over a given surface even one that is considered a non traditional conductor. They make for a more dynamic and organised presentation. Results in better sound.
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