Audiophile Fuses

spiritofmusic

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So Barry, after Blue epiphany, are you going Orange?
 

microstrip

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My fuse religion status is: skeptic.

Interesting. IMHO if some one is overall coherently skeptic in this hobby he is in the wrong forum. The little evidence we can take for sure in stereo sound reprodcution does not lead to the high-end, but probably to multichannel or a to dissident forum ... ;)

We are in this hobby for pleasure and IMHO there is no pleasure at all in being skeptical in the high-end.
 

andromedaaudio

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What are we talking here actually ?
Fuse in the signal path or a fuse in the power supply.
Being( healthy) skeptical is what makes us make the right choices micro .
So you can spend the money wisely.

Convergent uses no fuses in the poweramps to protect the tubes but resistors instead .
But thats in the signal path.

I m highly (sky high for that matter )skeptical as well nothing wrong with that , lol
 

the sound of Tao

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There was a guy called Blue58
Who tried to write limericks in a caffeinated state
He thought hard and long
But got it all wrong
For limericks go 8-8-9-9-8
Lol
 

Felipe Rolim

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For me, the Synergistic Research Orange worked and very well. I can't tell the differences for Black and Blue, but it isn't possible to deny the improvements brought by Orange. It's also superior to Furutech TF (which I had), but I would really like to know the performance of Ultimate Beeswax. One day I buy and see how it plays.

Don't forget that fuses are routinely subjected to stress, mainly due to starting the transformer, and that this causes a drop in performance. So comparing brand-new fuses with others that are relatively old can lead to wrong conclusions.
 

highstream

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Ron, Yes, the SR Blue fuse alone changed the sound of the system substantially, for good in many ways but unacceptably in the most important one for me. I also had the same experience under audition with a couple of well-liked brands of power cords. I’ve been running a wanted ad for Ultimate beeswax fuses and just got a very reasonable offer from someone in Croatia - thank you internet - so will soon be able to compare it with the Orange in an Atlantic TRP. In general, the scientist and holder of the pocket book in me likes to isolate changes, at least until I know their effects.

spirit, I was quite surprised how much the Gaias changed the ATCs relative to the SVS feet, which themselves had been an improvement over spikes and carpet sliders.
 
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spiritofmusic

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Highstream, improvements are improvements. And some things are superior. Had I not heard the Revopods straight after the Gais, I surely would have bought the Gaias.
 

highstream

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Misunderstood. Read too quickly. Are the Revopods direct sale only?
 
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highstream

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Highstream, improvements are improvements. And some things are superior. Had I not heard the Revopods straight after the Gais, I surely would have bought the Gaias.

I contacted Ron, the U.S. distributor at Liquid Hi Fi, who raves about them. It'd be nice to be able to afford the RevOpods, but ~$2000 for example just to fit a pair of 68 lb speakers (or 52 lb subs) is out of my class and seems wildly disproportionate to the cost of the not particularly cheap gear in my system.
 
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spiritofmusic

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Well, I got them factory direct, so were a lot cheaper than that. I would understand you balking at those prices.
 

christoph

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SR is highly adept at marketing. All companies requires a continuous roll out of new products in order to grow, and who better than audiophiles to take advantage of due to our continual cravings for the next great thing? My guess however, is that you can take any of their current fuses, take them to McDonald's, have Ronald McDonald bless them, and call it a new model. I seriously doubt any new model would be significantly different in a meaningful way from their current line. You're better off taking a magic marker and put a new color on your fuses and voilà, you too now have a new model! Please excuse my skepticism, but SR is the poster child for these sorts of marketing ploys. As they say, YMMV.
You forgot to mention the 27k hours of burn-in required the properly assess the new fuse :rolleyes:
 
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stehno

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You forgot to mention the 27k hours of burn-in required the properly assess the new fuse :rolleyes:

Close. You're only off by 26,947 hours. Give or take an hour. :cool:
 

andromedaaudio

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Imagine you screwed up the burning(in) process and you gotta do it all over again .
I assume these are sold burned in by the ¨¨ Factory ¨¨:)
 

highstream

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Well, I suppose you might if it turned out to be in the direction that didn’t sound as good (and yes, that’s common).
 

assessor43

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So what is the benefit of these fuses? Is it a night and day experience? So it sounds like I have to wait 500 hours for them to sound their best? Some styluses do not last that long.
 
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highstream

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So what is the benefit of these tubes? Is it a night and day experience? So it sounds like I have to wait 500 hours for them to sound their best? Some styluses do not last that long.

The short answer is yes, it can be anywhere from a very noticeable difference to a night and day experience, depending on which you use and how it meshes with your equipment (and the quality of the equipment and your ears). Think of the fuse as an extension of the power cord. If you accept that power cords make a difference in SQ, then the design of the fuse follows as well. I started with fuses several years ago on the lower cost end, HiFi Supreme and Furutech, which are very decent, and eventually worked my way up in SQ and price to the SR and Audio Magic.

As an example, in post 827 I mentioned how the SR Blue didn't cut it for me, despite the accolades it was getting from lots of people. In fact, I felt like tossing my system out the window with the Blue because of the coolness it brought to the system. I switched to the Audio Magic Ultimate fuse and that worked much better. Now I have the newer SR Orange in a few locations (+ AMs in my active speakers). With the Orange's much needed new warmth it now sounds a little better than the Ultimate (don't know about the Ultimate Premier because the one I got fell apart on me, which is looking to be the topic of another post).

I suggest picking one fuse in your price bracket (check the pro & user reviews) and try it in a key place, e.g., preamp or amp (if you get an SR, go a little higher on the amperage, e.g., 1.25A or 1.6A instead of 1A, because they have been known to blow at the spec'd level). And unless you find a really good used deal, buy through a shop, such as Highend Electronics, which offers a 30-day return. A fuse should be listened to in both directions, as one way usually sounds better than the other, and sometimes in the opposite direction a company specifies, if they happen to (generally current comes into the fuse left to right, and the direction of the fuse's lettering is a good direction to start). Usually 300-400 hrs is enough burn in to have a good sense. But remember, if power to the unit is always on, and even better if the unit keeps a small voltage running as so many do, then the fuse is being burned in 24/7. Hope that helps,
 
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Felipe Rolim

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I've already tried Synergistic Research fuses, Hi-Fi Tuning, Furutech and others. I never found a transformation like "night and day", but in the right places, with the right sound combinations, they always seemed to be worth what they cost. In the case of the Orange model, which I recently acquired, it looks the same. It costs more, it's worth what it costs, but nothing more. In the end, for equipment that goes over $30,000, it costs very cheap.
 

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