@docknow I presume you're referring to the width of the box, and those small sliding plates that cover the screw heads. That must be one narrow box. I just installed one of those, and there was about 1.5mm clearance either side.
The new Synergistic Research BLUE fuses ....
New SR BLUE fuse thread ...
I’ve replaced all 5 of the SR BLACK fuses in my system with the new SR BLUE fuses. Cold, out of the box, the BLUE fuses stomped the fully broken-in SR BLACKS in a big way. As good as the SR BLACK fuses were/are, especially in comparison with the SR RED fuses, SR has found another break-through in fuses.
1. Musicality ... The system is totally seamless at this point. Its as if there is no system in the room, only a wall to wall, front to back and floor to ceiling music presentation with true to life tonality from the various instruments.
2. Extension ... I’ve seemed to gain about an octave in low bass response. This has the effect of putting more meat on the bones of the instruments. Highs are very extended, breathing new life into my magic percussion recordings. Vibes, chimes, bells, and triangles positioned in the rear of the orchestra all have improved. I’ve experienced no roll-off of the highs what so ever with the new BLUE fuses. Just a more relaxed natural presentation.
3. Dynamics ... This is a huge improvement over the BLACK fuses. Piano and vibes fans ... this is fantastic.
I have a Japanese audiophile CD of Flamenco music ... the foot stomps on the stage, the hand clapping and the castanets are present like never before. Want to hear natural sounding castanets? Get the BLUE fuses.
4. Mid range ... Ha! Put on your favorite Ben Webster album ... and a pair of adult diapers. Play Chris Connor singing "All About Ronnie," its to die for.
Quick .... someone here HAS to buy this double album. Its a bargain at this price. Audiophile sound, excellent performance by the one and only Chris Connor. Yes, its mono ... but so what? Its so good you won’t miss the stereo effects. If you’re the lucky person who scores this album, please post your results here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRASONIC-CLEAN-The-Finest-Of-CHRIS-CONNOR-Bethlehem-Jazz-1975-NM-UNPLAYED-...
Overall impressions:
Where the RED fuses took about 20 hours to sound their best, and the BLACK fuses took upwards of 200 hours of total break-in, the BLUE fuses sounded really good right out of the box ... and that’s without doing anything about proper directional positioning. Not that the BLUE fuses don’t need breaking in, they do. The improvement continues through week three. Its a gradual break-in thing where each listening session is better than the last.
Everything I described above continues to break new ground in my system as the fuses continue breaking in. Quite honestly, I find it difficult to tear myself away from the system in order to get things done. Its truly been transformed into a magical music machine. With the expenditure of $150.00 and a 30 day return policy there’s really nothing to lose. In my system, its like upgrading to a better pre amp, amp, CD player or phono stage. Highly recommended.
Kudos to Ted Denney and the entire staff at SR. Amazing stuff, guys. :-)
Frank
PS: If you try the SR BLUE fuses, please post your results here. Seems the naysayers, the Debbie Downers and Negative Nellie’s have hijacked the original RED fuse thread. A pox on their houses and their Pioneer receivers.
Frank
I’ve replaced all 5 of the SR BLACK fuses in my system with the new SR BLUE fuses. Cold, out of the box, the BLUE fuses stomped the fully broken-in SR BLACKS in a big way. As good as the SR BLACK fuses were/are, especially in comparison with the SR RED fuses, SR has found another break-through in fuses.
1. Musicality ... The system is totally seamless at this point. Its as if there is no system in the room, only a wall to wall, front to back and floor to ceiling music presentation with true to life tonality from the various instruments.
2. Extension ... I’ve seemed to gain about an octave in low bass response. This has the effect of putting more meat on the bones of the instruments. Highs are very extended, breathing new life into my magic percussion recordings. Vibes, chimes, bells, and triangles positioned in the rear of the orchestra all have improved. I’ve experienced no roll-off of the highs what so ever with the new BLUE fuses. Just a more relaxed natural presentation.
3. Dynamics ... This is a huge improvement over the BLACK fuses. Piano and vibes fans ... this is fantastic.
I have a Japanese audiophile CD of Flamenco music ... the foot stomps on the stage, the hand clapping and the castanets are present like never before. Want to hear natural sounding castanets? Get the BLUE fuses.
4. Mid range ... Ha! Put on your favorite Ben Webster album ... and a pair of adult diapers. Play Chris Connor singing "All About Ronnie," its to die for.
Quick .... someone here HAS to buy this double album. Its a bargain at this price. Audiophile sound, excellent performance by the one and only Chris Connor. Yes, its mono ... but so what? Its so good you won’t miss the stereo effects. If you’re the lucky person who scores this album, please post your results here.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRASONIC-CLEAN-The-Finest-Of-CHRIS-CONNOR-Bethlehem-Jazz-1975-NM-UNPLAYED-...
Overall impressions:
Where the RED fuses took about 20 hours to sound their best, and the BLACK fuses took upwards of 200 hours of total break-in, the BLUE fuses sounded really good right out of the box ... and that’s without doing anything about proper directional positioning. Not that the BLUE fuses don’t need breaking in, they do. The improvement continues through week three. Its a gradual break-in thing where each listening session is better than the last.
Everything I described above continues to break new ground in my system as the fuses continue breaking in. Quite honestly, I find it difficult to tear myself away from the system in order to get things done. Its truly been transformed into a magical music machine. With the expenditure of $150.00 and a 30 day return policy there’s really nothing to lose. In my system, its like upgrading to a better pre amp, amp, CD player or phono stage. Highly recommended.
Kudos to Ted Denney and the entire staff at SR. Amazing stuff, guys. :-)
Frank
PS: If you try the SR BLUE fuses, please post your results here. Seems the naysayers, the Debbie Downers and Negative Nellie’s have hijacked the original RED fuse thread. A pox on their houses and their Pioneer receivers.
Frank
2,732 responses Add your response
slaw: Synergistic Research does recommend the signal path to go in the direction of the writing on the fuse. From the letter "S" and towards the letter "R". But for many pieces of equipment it is an easy and quick experiment to take a two minute listen in each direction and leave the fuse in the direction it sounds best. Then there is no second guessing. uberwaltz: I think you will greatly enjoy the Blue outlet. I am sure your Brooklyn DAC sounds good with the iFi power upgrade. David Pritchard |
Regarding fuse directionality..... You’d think a company such as SR would be on top of this and given the high price of entry, would mark their products for optimum performance. The last time I had my McCormack amp upgraded (three years ago), they have a piece of equipment that tells them the correct direction for fuses that they install. This is a slight additional cost but worth it for the end user. |
Think you are correct Al. From what information I can clean, the Brooklyn has a slow blow fuse on its psu board of 630ma so right in line with your comments. When using the dc input protection is afforded by whatever fuse is in the external power supply, for example if using the sbooster it uses a 2a fuse, again right in line . I will have to investigate my iFi ps now. |
Hi Uberwaltz, Most likely the fuse is not in the path when the DAC is powered with DC. But given the power consumption ratings stated on the specs page of the manual you could probably confirm that based on the current rating of the fuse. It would probably be in the area of 3 amps or so if it is in the DC power path, and less than 1 amp if it is in the AC power path. Best regards, -- Al |
David I already have blue fuses, and a black,no need to be convinced here. However have not yet upgraded any receptacles so that is why that last offer was of interest. Now a question for the technical minded. My Mytek Brooklyn dac has a fuse but I do not run it of 120vac, I have it powered of a 12v iFi power supply. So is the fuse still in the circuit this way I wonder because if not then no point spending any money on an upgraded fuse at all |
slaw: Yes the Blue fuse has directionality. But you do not need to 'Break' in the fuse for 10 days and then Re- Break in the fuse another 10 days by reinstalling it in the other direction. Keep it simple. Put it in. Listen to the same track several times. Reverse fuse direction. Relisten. Pick the direction to leave the fuse on which way sounded best to you. Have fun with this experiment. David Pritchard |
To uberwaltz and slaw: I do hope you will indeed give the Blues a try. One of the wonderful properties about both the Blue fuses and the Blue outlets is the sound is really good within 24 hours of being installed. They do reach a further improvement by the 10 day mark, but I did not experience the common roller coaster affect that many audio changes cause. Plus if you do not like what they do send them back! I think it is a fun experiment to do. David Pritchard |
docknow: Another possible upgrade path is to take advantage of another of the Synergistic Research September specials and to buy a SR Blue outlet and get a free blue fuse. Adding these two upgrades made a big difference in my system. And the cost was less than many of my tube rolling purchases. The SR September specials are listed at The Cable Company website and are available through all Synergistic Research dealers. David Pritchard |
Last Friday I replaced the Shunyata Viper Zitron power cord powering my system with the new Synergistic Blue UEF cable. Amazing value for the $649 price. As with the Blue (and Black) fuses, bass took on more detail and texture, transients became quicker and more powerful, voices and solo instruments sounded more "in the room," the noise floor was lowered still, and the sound-stage took on more space and air. Geronimo! |
@lostnamerica http://www.10audio.com/emerald_physics_EP100.2SE.htm Take a look at that link. It appears that all you need is a screw driver or a hex key to remove the cover’s screws. |
+1
shadorne If he wasn't such a "savvy businessman looking to make more profit." he'd be a real estate agent or used car salesman. The classic was he changed his ideas completely 180' on preamps just before his BHK Sig preamp was to be released, for sale. Cheers George |
Only in the surreal world of Audiophile threads can Shadowcat2016 make such a factual and accurate statement yet be vilified. It seems the more crazy and illogical the tweak the more forcefully the tin foilers worship said tweak. Paul McGowan is a savvy businessman looking to make more profit. He understands his clients well - those who spend the most on hi-fi gear are all Schiit scared of not getting the most from their system due to a wire, a fuse, a mat, a quantum dot or ......the dreaded hi-fi Bogeyman. |
I have an Oppo 203 DVD player with the power supply upgrade by Oppo Mod.com. In additional to a higher grade transformer and higher grade capacitors, the new power board has a removable fuse. I changed out the HiFi fuse supplied with the mod to a Synergistic Research Blue fuse and yes indeed there was improvement in both audio and video performance. I am a big supporter of these third generation audio fuses like the Synergistic Research Blue fuses. Trying them is certainly a lot cheaper (return postage is about $3.00) than many other mod-tweeks, and one also gets to overcome the fear of opening up their equipment for inspection. Yes I was indeed nervous when I also replaced the fuse in the Pass Lab amp. But I am glad I did. The SR Blue fuse allows the amp to sound better than the original Little Fuse did. Paul McGowan who is president of PS Audio has stated at his web site that audio grade fuses make a difference. I agree. The PS Audio.com site has several good sources of information without a lot of hyperbole. David Pritchard |
@shadowcat2016.....Not to "P" on your parade with your so called "professional" opinion but first have you ever heard the Blue fuse in your system ? If not than i dont think you are qualified to have an opinion unless you heard the Blue fuse for yourself. Second you can not " Think " that someone does not hear what he hears when using the Blue fuse. We heard the differences for ourselves because we did the comparison test with the Blue fuse against the stock fuse. The " Professional " opinion is with our hearing and what we do hear or dont hear. So with that being said your so called " professional " opinion dont mean squat . |
Not to "P" on anybodies parade or dispute whatever you hear or THINK you hear, but a fuse isn't going to make any difference in how your gear works or sounds..........I've been an audiophile for 45 years and a career electronics technician working on high end military gear for the same length of time. A fuse is a special resistor designed to melt if you pull too much current through it, that's it...............No magic bullet there folks. Spend your money anyway that makes you happy, not my business, but if you REALLY think fuses made your system sound better, you need help.............Just my professional opinion. |
@geoffkait ............This is what the S R Blue fuse brochure said about fuses....Q ... Are fuses directional ? A.... Yes fuses are directional . Electricity should flow from the L to the R , when you view the fuse { from the "S to the R"} .If you do not know the direction of the flow , you should listen to the fuse in both directions .One direction will sound more detailed . This is the correct way. |
I went all in on SR Blue - DAC, Amp, even REL subwoofer. It was noticeable immediately ...then very differentiated after a few weeks. Regarding DC directionality - yeah, i contacted the manufacturer or read the forums to get the info for each of my components. FYI - most times the flow of current is the direction of lettering on the PCB. Regarding AC ...well, yes its alternating current but I accept the notion that you install the fuse assuming the ’net energy’ flows from the rear panel into the main circuit (when internal). For external fuses on the IEC socket, i just went left-to-right. |
geoff sez ...
Yes, I did misunderstand you re: Al and Ralph. Sorry man. But the ARC dude isn't mistaken ... he hears like a danged bat. Hell man, ask Ralph. He and the ARC dude are friends. *lol* Frank |
oregonpapa OP ^^^ The direction counts for sure, but the rotational position has an effect as well. In addition, that "black dot" is graphene. I think its possible for the graphene to have an effect facing down toward the circuit board. Haven't tried it myself, but I'm gonna. :-) >>>>Cue for Al and Ralph to give us another fascinating lecture on why what we’re really hearing isn’t the fuse directionality but the accidental rotating of the fuse in the fuse holder. |
