Synergistic Research SR Orange Fuse snake oil ?

[TheAttorney]

Firstly, let me state that I'm a fuse-believer, and the SR Orange is the end-game fuse for me. I love its sound and I hate its (probably) high mark up price.

 

But more objectively, I'd like to explore the reason why most audiophile fuses do not have any safety certification. I think this is because:

 

1. No audiophile company has the resources to manufacture fuses with multiple ratings and sizes, which need to go through an expensive certification process.

2. So each company tries out several stock fuses to find the one that sounds best. SR uses a German stock fuse manufacturer.

3. Then they add some secret sauce to the stock fuse - it may take several tries to find which secret sauce sounds best.

4. They then instruct the stock fuse manufacturer to produce the fuse to an upgraded specification, e.g. different ceramic body (for vibration control) or better end caps. The fuse wire itself is almost certainly unchanged because it has strict manufacturing tolerances. Part of the new spec is the Audiophile company's logo printed on the barrel.

5. Some leave it there. Others take it further in their own factory by, say, zapping with millions of volts and literally coating the fuse with a secret sauce like UEF. Two frequent objectives are to reduce vibration and noise.

6. So, AMR is one of the lowest-priced audiophile fuses. All they've done is gold-plated the end caps of the best sock fuse they could find. This doesn't affect the electrical properties of the fuse wire, so AMR fuses are one of the few that do have safety certification.

7. Another company inserts beeswax into the stock fuse (for vibration control). But this most likely impacts the heat characteristics of the fuse wire, so the original safety certification is effectively invalidated.

8. SR adds all sorts of voodoo which would also invalidates the certification. The original fuse wire rating is probably still ok, but they don't have the resources or inclination to go through a full re-certification process to prove it.

 

So there we have audiophile fuses that are probably ok, but no one can be totally sure, other than most people's experiences suggest that these fuses are more likely to blow quicker than stock - which is good for safety, but bad for your wallet.

 

OK, so there's a fair bit of speculation in the above, but I don't thinks it's completely baseless.

[TheAttorney]

14 hours ago, R1200CL said:

Interesting suggestion. Not a MCB, but a local circuit breaker for that the equipment in use. So you short the original fuse and insert “something” in one end of the power cable that will protect the equipment.

 

This is missing the point of where audiophile fuse technology is heading.

 

A couple of highly regarded contributors to this forum have recently stated that their (ultra expensive) QSA fuse sounds much better than a fuse bypass. Which suggests that the fuse is filtering or conditioning the power supply in some way that is better than a direct connection. I have also demonstrated this to myself at a much lower level by replacing the fuse in a UK 13A mains plug with a solid copper rod of the same size.

 

To extend this concept,  we're not taking about finding a fuse alternative that does least damage, but now considering the possibility of inserting a fuse (or rather it's secret magic sauce) solely  to improve a circuit that doesn't need fuse protection.  If somebody here has not yet found out how expensive an "ultra expensive" QSA fuse can get then, well, prepare yourself for a shock...

 

There does remain the major issue of cost of replacement when the blown fuse costs more than some of your main components. My understanding is that QSA will replace for free in the first year. But after that, what? Much better if the magic sauce in such fuses gets transferred to non-fuse situations.

[TheAttorney]

3 hours ago, botrytis said:

DBT or sighted listening? Sighted is suspect because of 'EXPECTATION BIAS'.

Yes, I realize that this is an objective forum and I've had the Expectation Bias memo many times 😀, but the sad truth is that there simply isn't any objective data around to prove the wild claims. The audiophiles interested in fuse rolling are not interested, or do not have the skills, to provide truly objective information. So paltry subjective observations are all there is.

 

As it happens, one of those highly regarded contributors does do regular blind tests (not sure if single or double) to confirm his subjective observations