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



128x128oregonpapa

Showing 5 responses by bdp24

What does the "I've seemed" in "I've seemed to gain about an octave in low bass response" mean? Did you, or didn't you? If you did, that's quite remarkable---an octave of bass from a fuse. So, your system reproduced only down to, say, 40Hz, but now to 20Hz? Didn't previously not hearing that octave bother you?

Incremental improvement is one thing, dramatic transformation quite another. But then, my people are from Missouri ;-).

Even if you accept the premise of a fuse having an audible effect, or better yet hear it for yourself, why on Earth should or could one retail for $150? It is the price more than anything that raises a red flag for skeptics, is it not? Of course, if a money back guarantee is in fact offered, the genuinely curious can listen for themselves. If you don't hear a difference, what does it matter what the designer cites as the rational for it's design, or claims of performance? If you do hear a difference, and assuming it's for the better, the question then becomes does the improvement justify the cost?

A hypothetical question---no snarkiness intended---for those who have heard a significant improvement in sound by installing an "audiophile" fuse in place of a garden variety one: For the absolute best sound possible, it makes sense to consider the possibility that the altogether elimination of a fuse may be expected to result in sound superior to even the best "sounding" fuse (parenthesis for the benefit of those who don’t cotton to such a notion). When I had Ric Schultz "modify" (if you know Ric, you know his mods are far more than mere "mods" ;-) my Audible Illusions Modulus 2 pre-amp, I was given the choice of having the fuse removed from the pre-amp. Being young(er) and opposed to compromise, I elected to have Ric remove it. In the promotional literature for his mod, Ric stated removing the fuse would enable the pre to provide slightly improved sound quality. Having heard the modified Modulus only with the fuse removed, I can’t testify to the truth of that claim.

So my question is: Audiophile-grade fuse enthusiasts are obviously very serious about doing whatever is possible to squeeze the maximum potential out of their gear. Does that include throwing caution to the wind by removing the fuses from their electronics? ARC tube power amp owners know (or should know) that the company made the engineering choice to not fuse their output tubes, as they feel fuses in those locations compromise the sound quality of their amps. The penalty for doing so is damage to the amp in the (inevitable) case of a tube going bad. Are there any audiophile fuse proponents willing to go "all the way"?

Nelson Pass in his XP-22 pre-amp's owner's manual: "We can't guarantee that your audiophile grade fuse won't blow at a completely different in-rush current threshold than your stock commercial fuse. Use of other than approved fuses may invalidate your product warranty and result in product damage."

1- Make of that what you will.

2- Don't blame the messenger.