So…I've had the Audio Horizons for 7 weeks now, and the results have been very good. BUT…
I found the Audio Horizons to be a great fuse, but the only place I installed it was in my PS Audio Power Plant, which powers my phono stage and the integrated amp that's in there right now.
I did think the Audio Horizons was a great fuse even without being compared to other fuses.
But, just for the heck of it, I put back in the AMR fuse, which, frankly, I'd never been high on. In the Power Plant, at least, it was better than the Synergistic fuse that had been in there, but I wasn't knocked out by it (the AMR).
I played several albums, one a Speaker Corners Mercury Living Presence album reissue (Paul Paray), the new Beatles mono reissue of the White Album, and an old Barbra Streisand ("People") album from 1962.
After adjusting the VTF on my recent Clearaudio Concerto this morning, I played the Streisand album, and found, on one cut in particular, "Love is a Bore," that the frenetic, over-the-top manic style of this cut, was rather sup rising. The AMR reproduced the drive (similar to the West Side Story soundtrack lp) and percussive punch of the cut, which I hadn't played in years. So, I listened to the next cut, "Don't like Good byes." The opening guitar had a woody resonance to it, and very good immediacy, as well as, in both songs, Streisand's clear talent for interpreting and acting out in her songs (think of "Don't Rain on My Parade.")
Well, I thought, lets put in the Audio Horizons. But first, a clarification: the AMR had a WA Quantum fuse on it, the Audio Horizons did not. So, I replayed the same two cuts (intending to replay the AMR again afterwards, because I'm like that. Test. Retest. Re-retest.) and found that the Audio Horizons did not reproduce the energy of the AMR-equipped system. The high were the same, but the "aliveness" of the soundstage was not, compared to the AMR. And the opening guitar on "Don't Like Goodbyes" was flatter, with less "presence." Could this be upper midrange glare. I guess it could've been, but the glare was actually on the Audio Horizons fuse, not on the AMR.
Well, this left me non-plussed, given I'd spent $137 on the Audio Horizons and had been using it for 7 weeks. So, I thought, wait: it's not a fair comparison with the WA Quantum fuse on the Audio Horizons, but at this point, the AMR was more emotionally involving, even when I was reading a magazine. One of my tests is to read a magazine while listening (when testing something out). If I can read and not be pulled back to the music, then, whatever else the virtues of the component under test, it is not emotionally involving enough to pull me away from reading). The AMR had passed the test.
So, pulled a WA Quantum fuse off an SR fuse, stuck it on, put it in, and lowered the tonearm to the cut.
Nope. The Audio Horizons sounded better, but the bongo in "Love is a Bore" had none of the jungle rhythm that is so reminiscent of 50s and 60s movies (or Rita Hayworth's dance in "Lady from Trinidad). It was good, but the bongo was lighter in weight, and it sounded as though the player was not feeling very energetic. Without the comparison, it would've been fine, but having heard the AMR? No. Same with "Don't Like Goodbyes." Guitar player must've been playing the bongos here: he wasn't strumming with his usual (AMR-equipped) verve.
So, back in goes the AMR. Down goes the tonearm. Holding my breath here.
BAM! The song comes in at a locomotive pace. Bongo player took Geritol between the fuse changes. The guitar was back, strumming me softly with his song (yeah, I know it's "killing," thank you very much).
The Beatles album was good with both fuses, but it does not depend on manic energy in the way that Streisand's song did.
The Audio Horizons seems less "punchy" in the lower mids than the AMR, and seems to handle R&B rhythms less well, but otherwise, is very clean and clear.
No recommendations here. Just my observations. When I got the Audio Horizons, I was pleased with it, but what is most interesting is that eventually, I had put the AMR into the PS Audio and forgot I did it. I'll listen some more, since it's an easy change, but as an evolving story, this is where it's at now.
