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Synergistic Red Fuse ...

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?
oregonpapa
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
Whoa....fuses... This is a new one on me. The fuse in my Pass F5 came from a little box with 5 others for about $2.50 at AutoZone. The fuse sits right above the power cord I snagged at Good Will for one American dollar, with a return policy if I didn't like how it worked, which the clerk made sure I was aware of. 
I can't spend much on fuses because the amp tends to blow them if I'm not carefully about flipping it off and on. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Even standard stock fuses exhibit directionality. A clever fellow can address electrical contact, RFI/EMI, magnetic field and vibration concerns as well. Problem solved!

wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
Adjusting fuses for directionality, although very likely a complete waste of time since fuses are a part of an alternating electricity flow (AC), could reveal a .000137% difference in something or other that you're not going to be able to notice unless you fool yourself into thinking you do…it's a fuse…a tiny, output irrelevant wire not actually in the signal path, and designed to melt. Don't be fooled by the unexplainable mythology of snake oil purveyors unless hey, you enjoy faith based tweaking…in which case, geoffkait is your man! (and, he claims to not use fuses except in the metaphorical sense of his "having a short fuse" as illustrated in his re-posting everything he sees fit to comment on).
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
I’m getting a bad feeling. Can it be that pro audio will never be able to reconcile with high end audio? Or is just that some folks are following the wrong sheep?

🐑 🚶
tommylion
563 posts
 
Got the BNC terminator for my unused DAC input (Thanks Al 🙂). The improvements are very similar to what I heard putting the first one on the S/PDIF output of my transport. There is a physical switch to choose between the the BNC and AES/EBU inputs. You'd think that would mean the BNC is terminated when the switch is in the latter position, but apparently not.

The difference is not at all subtle, and I've got to say this is one of the most cost effective tweaks I've ever tried.
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