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?
I took some time and read through this thread and all I got was Fused up,but I did like this,
Both the voltage and the current alternate in AC. That follows from the fact that per Ohm’s Law, which applies to resistive loads, voltage and current are directly proportional to each other. (And for a capacitive load current is proportional to the rate of change of voltage, and vice versa for an inductive load, and all of those quantities also alternate in the case of AC).
That can be easily seen on an oscilloscope, where the vertical axis of the graph that is displayed corresponds to voltage and the horizontal axis corresponds to time. AC will look like a close approximation of a sine wave, swinging both positively and negatively, above and below zero volts.
Big deal! It's a Red Herring. Ignore the AV just like the AC when it’s traveling in the direction toward the wall outlet. You can’t hear what’s headed toward the wall outlet, only what's headed toward the speakers. That’s why fuses are directional in both DC circuits and AC circuits. CASE CLOSED.
Thank you, Kenny (Kdude66). I’ve enjoyed your posts in the Tekton Double Impact thread.
Geoffkait 5-26-2017 Ignore the AV just like the AC when it’s traveling in the direction toward the wall outlet. You can’t hear what’s headed toward the wall outlet, only what’s headed toward the speakers. That’s why fuses are directional in both DC circuits and AC circuits. CASE CLOSED.
On the other hand, though, an instructive experiment might be to install a diode having a suitable current rating in place of the mains fuse of a component. Connecting it such that it would allow current in the direction of the component, but would block current in the direction of the wall outlet.
Chances are nothing much at all would be heard in most cases. Before as well as after the component’s power transformer burns out due to the resulting DC offset.
In the meantime, I'm back home from ten days in rehab. Breathing normally with the new heart valves ... and the audio system is sounding suburb. Yes, better than ever!
Robert came over last night and played the part of the DJ so I didn't have to expend any effort to change discs and records. So nice to be back in the world of the living. Modern medicine is a God send. When in dire straits, we discover that there are those in the background who have dedicated their lives to helping others. The surgeon's skills are amazing of course, but what of the nurses, occupational therapists and physical therapists who take such great care to make one as comfortable as possible to ease the way back to good health? Where are their Oscar awards ceremonies?
I am overwhelmed with gratitude just to be able to make this post. Its great to be back guys.
Frank, What a friend you have in Robert. It is gratifying to read you two are back doing what you (and I) love, listening to music. At this moment I am listening (again 😊) to the Milt Jackson Savoy recordings you made for me . Glad to know that you are doing so well Frank. Charles
Yeah, welcome back Frank, didn’t know about this, wondered why all went quiet for a while, thought you just sat out out for rounds 9 and 10. Back into it yeah, ding, round 11.
Thanks for the friendship guys. Believe me, It's very important in these times. Open heart surgery isn't for the faint of heart. Oh, wait ...
I've been experimenting with a new product as a "tester." I'm not allowed to discuss it because it's not on the market yet. Its so good that I can't tear myself away from the system. As soon as I get the go-ahead, I'll do a complete review and I'll be encouraging everyone here to jump on it. It's the best tweak ever.
Tommylion, I have long considered Brahms' First to be my all-time no. 1 favorite symphony. I don't have the Klemperer, which I understand to be magnificent. But among the various versions I have my favorite is the performance by Jascha Horenstein and the London Symphony, recorded in 1962 and masterfully reissued on a Chesky CD. It is out of print but is available used from various sellers. Performance and sonics are both amazing!
Also, Toscanini's remarkable 1940 performance can be listened to and/or downloaded and burned to CD (which I've done) here. The performance is sufficiently captivating that the primitive sonics probably won't matter. They didn't for me, at least.
Sometimes those primitive sonics can be refreshing. I still love the way old movie tracks sound, especially those from the '40s and '50s. They had a magical way with massed strings.
Bernard Hermann had a big influence on me way back when and is responsible for my appreciation of modern day soundtracks. I like to call these pieces mini-classical in nature as they generally use an orchestra, or parts of, and the pieces are short but can be dynamic in nature. They can also be soft and beguiling, lulling one into reverie. Yes, those massed strings.
Nowadays, it can be anyone from Thomas Newman to Bear McCreary to Trent Reznor and esoteric composers like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Soto and Johann Johannsson. They all offer great escape and comfort.
Nonoise Bernard Hermann had a big influence on me way back when and is responsible for my appreciation of modern day soundtracks. I like to call these pieces mini-classical in nature as they generally use an orchestra, or parts of, and the pieces are short but can be dynamic in nature. They can also be soft and beguiling, lulling one into reverie. Yes, those massed strings.
I remember, as a kid, seeing Psycho and never being used to using the shower for some time without that staccato string attack going off in the back of my head.🔪🔪🔪
I just got this device today and it's everything the author said in the article. No break in is necessary, you could hear the difference right away. The effect is bigger than the 6 fuses that I replaced in my PS audio BHK amp. That could be the best $300 bucks I ever spent.
Thanks for the heads up on the Bybee product. I’m a little confused by your post though. I read through the Bybee article and they cite the price at $150. In your post you say that "you got the device today and its the best $300 bucks you ever spent. Did the price go up to $300 each, or did you buy two of them? Thanks ...
Sorry about the confusion. I bought 2 of those and use one on each side of my outlet like the author posted on the web site. They are awesome and I just found them hard to believe that would make such a difference. To me it is just a piece of wood and not plug in to anything. I am still in shock but my wife noticed the sound improved too. According to Jack from Bybee, it will also improve the quality on your TV. He also told me in email that I should try them in my fuse box outside of my house. Since I only have them for 2 days, I will follow up later with more details.
I've read the reviews and the devise seems to improve the tonal balance of instruments even further. Accurate tonal balance is one of the most important things to attain in an audio system in my opinion. I'll start trying them one at t time ... one per month. Thanks again ...
After reading about the iQSE yesterday, I emailed Parts Connexion to see if they would be carrying them along with the other Bybee products in their line. Here is their response.
Bybee is re-designing it…..so, we are between production runs.
New version will be out in about 25 days or so.
$150 retail…..our intro special will be 20% Off.
Let us know if you’d like place an order, and we back-order it for you. Thanks.
If you read the Positive Feedback review and read after that you'll see a pic of two iQSEs attached to the right and left of two high quality power cords plugged into the wall outlet. The owner said he experienced sonic improvements with this application. I emailed byte about that application. Here is Jack Bybee's response.
The iQSE is anew product and what is the right application or the wrong application is up to the end user. We are now finding that the maximum benefit is the utilization of several (3) iQSEs being placed inside the incoming AC electric breaker box and two or three units inside the circuit breaker panel works wonders. This method then treats the entire AC in the house, business or apartment not just a single piece of equipment. The audio benefits but also the TVs becomes sharper with greater resolutation and color saturation. The iQSEs now become a very powerful and effective POWER CONDITIONER. The original intent and purpose was just to treat individual pieces of electronics of audio but many of my customers have become creative and have experimented utilizing the iQSEs in many applications as evidenced in the picture. All reports and feedback has indicated the treating the incoming AC is the most cost effective use of the iQSEs. Best regards,
I think the point being made is every single piece of gear ever made is limited by the power supply. This includes everything plugged into any wall outlet in your home. That is what Jack is saying.
Just a heads up that somebody took apart one of those purifiers and it was a two dollar resister inside. I believe it shows a pic on Cam in a thread about that same product.
analogluvr Just a heads up that somebody took apart one of those purifiers and it was a two dollar resister inside. I believe it shows a pic on Cam in a thread about that same product.
Just got the iQSI in the mail today. I was going to put it in my DAC, but after reading about others getting good results using it around power inlets, I placed it on top of the Tara Labs Powerscreen that my transport, DAC, and amp are plugged into (pre is passive). Heard the results right away, no break in needed (Hooray!).
I am stunned! Rather than try to describe what it does myself, I will just say that Larry Cox nailed it in the Positive Feedback review linked above.
Quick update on the iQSE device. Not 100% sure but feel like the device sounded even better after 2 days, could be my imaination. The most important thing is it sounds greated and does not change the tonal balance. Not like other devices that only make the sound more forward or louder, this thing makes music more musical and more engaging. Is this what analog supposed to sound? I don't know but I like it a lot even though I have no turntable in my system. Took them out and the sound becomes flat and dull immediately. Attached one iQSE on the back of my TV near the power cord, some of the things that were unnoticed or hidden before are there now. Also change the color a little bit, I think it's a little unnatural. Overall, the picture is more real and you could see more details. However, I would say the improvement is only between 5-15%. Not as dramatic as being used on the AC outlet for audio. Attached another iQSE to the back of the TV made no differences at all. That's all I have for now.
iQSE.....Yes Jack Bybee has discovered entire new branches of physics. He has an Active Room Neutralizer that plugs into the AC power and resonates the air molecules in the room such that it allows the transmission of sound without the usual time misalignment of frequencies.
Good Grief.
The only passive thing that can have an effect from a distance stuck on the inside of a steel chassis is probably made from a high permeability material like mu metal. Nothing magical as this very high permeability metal will alter transformer generated magnetic fields from the power supply and will act as a shield from stray fields.
Alternatvely some form of vibration damping may help with microphonic equipment (poor design to begin with as electronic equipment can be easily designed that is NOT microphonic).
Of course a well designed power supply and carefully designed component should not need a band aid like this.
analogluvr323 posts06-17-2017 8:27am Just a heads up that somebody took apart one of those purifiers and it was a two dollar resister inside. I believe it shows a pic on Cam in a thread about that same product.
This is one, just a .025ohm resistor, there are others, if anyone wants to shatter their dreams.
georgehifi 2,593 posts 06-17-2017 9:26pm analogluvr323 posts06-17-2017 8:27am Just a heads up that somebody took apart one of those purifiers and it was a two dollar resister inside. I believe it shows a pic on Cam in a thread about that same product. This is one, just a .025ohm resistor, there are others, if anyone wants to shatter their dreams.
George, I bet you and analogluvr actually believe it's just an ordinary resistor. This is reminiscent of the time when a budding skeptic took an Intelligent Chip to his local metallurgy lab for analysis with a scanning electron microscope. He reported the microscope observed certain metals on each side of the small metal disc but no "quantum material" was found, presumably intimating a hoax had taken place. Sadly for the budding skeptic, the quantum material was sandwiched between the metal layers, invisible to prying eyes.
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