The new Synergistic Research BLUE fuses ....

As I’ve expressed on another thread, I purchased several of the Blue fuses. And, as I usually do, I place them into the modestly priced NAD C325BEE, as - for an inexpensive (dirt cheap is a better descriptor) integrated - it shows improvements easily.
I placed one fuse in the "front" position. While I did not hear the improvement instantly (due to removing my CJ equipment, which meant moving around the Nordost interconnects and Shunyata speaker cable, which always means: a two hour wait for the cables to "settle" again), I DID hear the improvements rather easily after that. It was not an immediate case of "wow-it-blew-my-mind-man," but it demonstrated great promise within a few hours of steady listening. The Ring Cycle really RANG out, Motown actually sounded good (not merely "passable) and The Fifth Dimensions Greatest Hits was intelligible, lyric-wise. (Not that it’s bad, otherwise, but I usually have to listen to hear the words clearly on quite a few cuts.). I gave it two days with that one fuse, and after being duly impressed with CD after CD, I then decided to put in the other two fuses (the NAD takes 5 fuses, which, amusingly, means that the fuses cost more than the integrated did when brand new). So, technically, the NAD is now at the $900 integrated level when adding in the cost of the SR Blues. And there are two more fuses if I want a fully-loaded NAD. Do I? I don’t know. $450 is a lot for fuses, and there are miles more of fuses in my system if I want to hear if further purchases yield far greater improvements. But ’In for a penny, In for a pound’ keeps running thru my mind...

So. The other two fuses. Well, this time, it took longer to enjoy the very same music, as the sound went "backwards" from how good it sounded before (the fuses in the "newer" position, lessened the transparency, musicality and the articulate diction so apparent previously, for around 48 hours), but now that No. 2 and No. 3 have passed the 50 hour mark, I’m impressed with what the NAD can sound like with the fuses, although,
so far, the only songs I’ve heard are the Fifth Dimension’s "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," and "The Girls Song," and Maria Callas. I will say that the Townshend Isolation Pods underneath the NAD  eliminate any vibration shimmying the amp made for a profound difference in the sonics as well, but they’ve been under the NAD for weeks, so I was somewhat used to the improvement overall. Vibration masks improvements, in my experience, which can account for differing opinions in equipment reviews, even when then reviewers have "really good" racks. The bigger the room, the less vibration seems to mask differences in the entire sonic picture, in my experience. (I heard a so-so setup system in the house of the Meow-Meow cat commercial composer back in 2003, but I’d brought along my Nordost Quattro Fils interconnects, Arcam CD player and Shunyata Python, and found myself saying, "so THIS is what the Arcam REALLY sounds like? SHIT, Man!" His room was 10 x 30 x 50. You could be forgiven for thinking he had higher priced Avalons and some exotic electronics instead of the crappy receiver he had. It was THAT good. I was floored, disgusted and thrilled that he could get better sound out of those three pieces of equipment that I had even come close to. Room is not EVERYTHING, but it sure counts, as Robert E. Greene of TAS has said many, many times.)

Although I like the 5th Dimension’s music catalog, I’m usually able to read a magazine while sitting in front of the system when I listen to their CD. This is part of my acid test when I get better cabling, footers or anything I’m thinking of buying: can the music make me sit up and listen, or do I have to strain like mad to get involved with the music (not the sound: just the music itself) because it lacks nuance? Well, judging from 10 minutes of listening just to the 5th’s CD, I couldn’t even focus on the magazine (and anything that can draw me away from The Absolute Sound, circa 1976, when the reviews were stellar, is a positive outcome). Words that start (or end) in "t," "d" and "p" - especially a word like "picked" which, on the NAD, can sound like you had a mouth full of mushy food and therefore couldn’t form the entire word without spitting it all over the table (or your friends), were extremely clear. And continuous even (McCoo takes a breath, and you hear it, which isn’t the norm on this CD). This effect makes a singer sound more "real" than "recorded." And the musicality factor was noticeably better. (By this I mean instead of pastel tones, you get primary colors, without euphony.) This is far better performance than the Furutechs (which can make the NAD sound "hard," bleached out and a bit sterile) or even the Blacks, which, despite the fact that I bought 5 or more of them, never quite won me over in the NAD. They seemed slightly dull, tonally speaking. I LIKED them, (somewhat) but in more modest equipment, they never shined. (Things shine more in my Hurricanes and in CJ - as well as the ARC - (when I had it) equipment. But not the Blacks, not in this system, at least. I don’t think one need have the higher priced spreads to get good sound: I enjoy music more now than when I had such luminaries as the Goldmund Memesis 9 and the Jadis equipment of the early 90s, along with a Versa Dynamics 2.3 turntable with all the other (equally) expensive stuff I had (several generations of WATT/Puppies, even more Goldmund equipment). I listen more to the music now and experience it more soulfully then back then. It helps not to be dazzled by gazing upon the "Luminaries" as I used to call my Versa/ Goldmund/ WATT/Jadis/VAC/ Convergent equipment. I’m sure that these days, were I to re-purchase them, I would enjoy them much more, but I’m wandering here...

I’d suggest buying the Blues and give them their 30 days trial run. You won’t be very "blue" for long, even though the price does make you pause. I was prepared to not like them (I mean, who wants to shell out $300 - $1,000 for fuses?!? I sure don’t). But, being fair, they sound good on my Arcam CD players (the FMJ 23 and DVD 27 something or other). And that’s just sitting on the rug with some Stillpoint Mini Ultras underneath them and some type of chopping board material under that. (I’m afraid to put them on the Finite rack: I might so wild and replace everything in the CJ, Hurricanes, and the Arcam and I really cannot afford that type of output just so I can cry thru Fifth Dimension songs, never mind the entire Khachaturian Ballet.
I know that Imgoodwithtools and a few others have had a different experience, and I think it’s important that ALL experiences be honored. That’s what the forum is for: for all of us to express our viewpoints. Otherwise, we’d sound like a certain audio magazine, where rarely a discouraging word is uttered any more (such a contrast from its first 20 years).
My experience mirrors Oregonpapa’s so I have to encourage people. And SR has had - in my experience - a couple of ’only-in-certain-positions-on-certain-pieces-of-equipment’ prior generations. The Black line, for example, was different for me than for some other posters. I had to really LISTEN -make that STRAIN - to feel good about the purchase. And they were far cheaper! I did not have to strain this time. You’ll have 30 days to love - or be indifferent to - them.

Rauliruegas, you may wish to keep in mind that it is not simply "lesser systems" that show improvement. My buddy, the late Harry Pearson, also discovered fuses a couple of years before he died, and used them. He only got as far as the Hi Fi tuning fuses, but that’s not the point. The point is: I doubt Frank or anyone else had systems to match Harry’s, and I doubt you’d be stupid enough to call his systems "lesser." They probably surpass ALL of the systems most of us have - by far. And Harry was not sentimental about equipment. He tested the claims of the fuse makers, picked the one that he found worked best and used it.
So, ixnay on the ’euphony’ stuff. Some of us can evaluate as well as Wolf or anyone else on these forums. And it is not necessary for us to offer "reasons" theories or anything else. We know because we’ve tested it extensively. And unless the idea is that the HPs of the world were "paid" to say this (he’d throttle you) because of their ’exalted status,’ perhaps the possibility exists that it works better in some equipment than others, as Harry and I both found.
If the fuses cost $10, I doubt you’d object. But because a cottage industry has sprung up around fuses, some find it necessary to disparage - and worse - DEMAND proof. How would we do that short of inviting you into our homes. And Harry was pretty scornful of people demanding he do exactly that. Simply believe what you want and desist in the snob approach ("Lesser fine tunned audio system always will shows " improvements " but in these lesser systems almost any change can makes a listeable difference for " the better.") If you believe that, your credibility just vanished. Completely.
 I believe I have said several times that certain fuses did not improve the sonics OR musical expression of my system, the same as I have said for outlets and even in my  reviews, components themselves. Some of us know what LIVE (and the usual qualification: "unamplified") music sound like. Why would we ever need to prove to someone - any more than adding a new power cord or line conditioner - that it benefitted my system? Why is a component of complicated construction more believable than one of supposedly ’simple’ construction?

I once had the best turntable on the planet (the Versa Dynamics), along with several other "bests" (Jadis preamp and amp: Goldmund turntable, Goldmund amp and Goldmund speakers); VAC integrated and VAC amps, Wilsons, Spectrals, Transparents’s HIGHEST LEVEL speaker cable and interconnect; MIT’s HIGHEST SPEAKER CABLE and interconnect. Were my pronouncements more believable then than now, now that I had "lesser" equipment? Your argument is based on economics - at least as you yourself have worded your latest thread. (The Snob Approach, and a disgusting one at that. "My system is better than your system, so my conclusion is the best." Fine. Well, then, between 1986 and 1996, my system was better than most people’s systems. So, whatever I pronounced was ’The FINAL WORD’ (aside from HP and other TAS writers)??? So, only the most expensive systems are the arbiters and not an the actual owner and his acuities in discerning his room’s acoustic properties, (and lack of), their ability to extract the maximum performance, and hear the real from the pretenders? My 20K system outperforms - in musical expression only - my local dealer’s $150K system, which I demonstrated - in HIS show room. Don’t be a wanker, mate.

^^^
Agreed.
And some of the "better" equipment I’ve owned doesn’t "do" the "continuousness" thing, which can also explain why it IS doing something exquisite for some of us, and not for others. If that’s its strong point, then it’s not going to show up in equipment that can’t do "continuousness." (Fortunately, I have CJ electronics, and they do it exceedingly well). It makes me a little crazy that all the expensive things I bought,  including the Brystons, Hegels, Simaudios, and quite a few other expensive electronics, never equalled my  Versa/Convergent/Jadis/Avalon setup, circa 1992, in the sense of it sounding like a live broadcast from the Met Opera (even on an inexpensive tuner, you could tell it was being broadcast live, aka "continuous").
The most "continuous" equipment I’ve ever owned were the Jadis electronics, the Avalons, and then the we’re-not-related-but-I-can-fool-some-of-the-people-some-of-the-time Avalon sound-alines, the Sound Dynamics RTS-3s, which do continuousness in a way that eludes nearly everything I ever reviewed with the exception of the Manger speakers (they were genuinely breathtaking).
It is audio’s shame that they (Mangers) never got a foothold in the US of A. There is an ancient review I did of the Genesis 6.1s on ultraaudio.com, and I remember thinking that the Genesis were great speakers, but still did not do what the Avalons, Sound Dynamics - or even the barely-functioning Mangers did: continuousness. The Mangers did this phenomenally well - better than even the Avalons, and I would have written a review of them except that, since the speaker had a cracked edge, I had to listen to see if it was broken before I could contact Manger to tell them to file a claim with UPS. I carefully hooked them up, although I could hear something rattling around, and with whatever luck Heaven was providing, I got to hear them, and they were to die for. But not for long: the moment I went to move the damaged speaker (the one that had arrived in the crushed box), the entire upper frequency disappeared, and that was the end of my listening. I called Manger and told them the bad news. They weren’t willing to send a second pair for me to review. I would have LOVED to have owned this speaker. It surpassed Avalons and pretty much everything else I’d heard. I forget the technology, but I think it was a type of ribbon speaker. And continuous as HELL!! Even my brother, far from being remotely interested in equipment, said that this was the first speaker he heard in the house that sounded like someone was actually playing a live instrument in the room.
The whole "continuous" thing is also something that Conrad Johnson electronics do extremely well. As I recall, Jonathan Valin mentioned once, upon reviewing CJ after many years of not listening to them, that the CJs had NO grain and exceeded any equipment he had heard. The less grain, the more - other issues aside - it sounds like the Real Thing. Continuousness.

The Blues do this better than previous SR generations of fuses, but I have found it depends on what they are installed in, as you yourself have found. I can see why fuses make for disagreements on these forums : they are not a one-size-fits-all (equipment) scenario. And that could make anyone wonder if we’ve been drinking or snorting or inhaling something. This used to happen even in TAS, when one reviewer would like something less than another. It was less apparent when it was just HP, Donleycott, Coolidge and Art Dudley doing the reviewing, but once a host of other reviewers arrived (around ’82) , one had only to read the magazine regularly to see that with the wider array of equipment in use in say, 10 reviewers’ systems, instead of just the 4 original reviewers, the OBJECTIVE conclusions were similar, but the reactions (the "subjective" part)? THAT was what varied.
I think Synergistic is being VERY smart with their 30-day guarantee: nobody gets burned. It does up the ante in your system? Return it. You’re out the postage, but that’s it. And there are VERY few companies willing to allow the buyer that luxury. It’s smart business. Very smart. I’d wonder why nobody else does it, except it’s clear: SR has more resources than smaller companies and they can take the hit if someone returns the fuse (although I don’t think they do this for ALL their products (also smart)). I do, however, understand that if one bought the Blacks and SR hadn’t bothered to announce - 2 or 3 months ahead of the new release - that they WERE releasing a new fuse, some people being rightfully pissed. But then, don’t their distributors know this? It gets complicated at that point, unless SR is willing to take back the old inventory and supply the distributor with new inventory without financial loss. That part? Not so good for the distributor, unless their profit margin is high.
Be that as it may, the fuse is WORTH trying, and that’s the only point I care to make. Myself, I’m noticing a SLIGHT loss of liquidity since I put the Audio Horizon into the PS Audio (which I didn’t notice initially, dazzled as I was with the richer tone (well, richer than the SR Red in the PS Audio, anyway), and part of me dreads buying another Blue fuse to see if that liquidity - AND, I think, some low level detail as well - will return (since liquidity usually goes hand-in-hand with continuousness, logically speaking, that SHOULD happen. But it’s not a guarantee, no matter how good the Blue is elsewhere). And then I have to actually say to myself, "You dummy: if it doesn’t improve the performance, you can return the fuse." It’s a "Duh" moment, but as I get older, I’m finding I have more of those. So, guarantee: Good. Fear: Bad.