Audiophile Fuses
- Thread starter MylesBAstor
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The SR Blue was launched in Hong Kong a few months ago. It improves on the SR Black fuse in almost all aspects.
Just when HK audiophiles were about to replace their Black with Blue, there came Brimar, a new brand of audiophile fuse.
Nobody know where this Brimar fuse is from but it definitely has no relationship with the vintage Brimar valves.
Anyway, Brimar fuse not only betters SR Blue in all hifi factors but most importantly it gives the sound musicality and grandness/richness which are so essential for digital frontends, CAS and SS components.
Sonically it's insanely good but the only pitfall is that its price is insanely high (list price is USD400)!
Right now most of the audiophile-fuse believer audiophiles in HK will buy SR Blue, but if their budget allows, they will buy Brimar fuses.
Just when HK audiophiles were about to replace their Black with Blue, there came Brimar, a new brand of audiophile fuse.
Nobody know where this Brimar fuse is from but it definitely has no relationship with the vintage Brimar valves.
Anyway, Brimar fuse not only betters SR Blue in all hifi factors but most importantly it gives the sound musicality and grandness/richness which are so essential for digital frontends, CAS and SS components.
Sonically it's insanely good but the only pitfall is that its price is insanely high (list price is USD400)!
Right now most of the audiophile-fuse believer audiophiles in HK will buy SR Blue, but if their budget allows, they will buy Brimar fuses.
Thanks much for this info. Do you know where we can find more info about these Brimar fuses and where they can be ordered (if this info is available at all)? Going to try the latest top of the line Audio Magic beeswax fuse in my linestage. I will get one that is fully burned in. Thought this fuse is expensive but I guess we have likely only seen the beginning of the increase of fuse prices.
For AM fuses, suggest a search for pricing. I preferred the Ultimate in my Directstream dac. Have just received a PS Audio P10 power plant with an SR Blue. Not bad, though I want to make a comparison.
Not sure what to make of this Brimar fuse, as a google search comes up with a silver one with gold ends for $35 (whose dollars?) and free shipping from HK for purchases >$100, but I couldn't find any fuses on their site using the product links up top. http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?453-Audiophile-Fuses&p=497719#post497719
Not sure what to make of this Brimar fuse, as a google search comes up with a silver one with gold ends for $35 (whose dollars?) and free shipping from HK for purchases >$100, but I couldn't find any fuses on their site using the product links up top. http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?453-Audiophile-Fuses&p=497719#post497719
The Brimar red colour fuse is an old and cheaper model.
The current Brimar fuse has a black colour body.
You may contact the HK dealer Lowther China (the boss is Mr. Yeung) :
info@headfi.com.hk www.headfi.com.hk
This black colour Brimar is of very limited supply so it is not listed on their website.
BTW it is directional. Its box has a checking mechanism installed. Please make sure Lowther China how to do the checking.
Most audiophiles in HK bought only 2 or 3 Brimar fuses and placed them on important positions.
And SR Blue or Black elsewhere.
If you are running on a dedicated spur back to RCBO CU why not consider going entirely Schuko Tom, even the main wall receptacles.
I’m good on power grid, power to audio room split before feed to rest of house (100A fuse)>16mm SWA cbl to dedicated CU in audio room>Oyaide line to Westwick 8kVA balanced power transformer>Oyaide line back to CU>6 Oyaides dedicated lines to 6 Furutech US duplexes and 2 UK ones, plus Entreq grounding and seperate smaller 3kVA balanced transformer for air pump to linear tracking tonearm.
Good point I have thought about that. I do use 20 amp industrial wall sockets and plugs.
If anyone is interested in an SR Blue 5A small slow blow that’s well been burned in, I've got an extra. Send PM. It's also posted at the usual classified sites.
My comment was based on reports of user experiences with the Blacks. I don’t have reason to believe the Blues are otherwise, since SR doesn’t claim that their fuses meet certification standards. However, I received a PS audio P10 recently in which the previous user had been using a Blue fuse at the unit’s spec’d value w/out problem. The thing is that manufacturers presumably spec their hardware power fuses to give plenty of leeway, but I don’t know SR’s practice in that regard, just that some users’ components or systems apparently had momentary surges that did in their fuses.
That aside, I’d encourage consideration of the AM SHD beeswax Ultimate as well.
That aside, I’d encourage consideration of the AM SHD beeswax Ultimate as well.
Thanks Highstream,
I'll take a look at the beeswax fuses.
In thinking about my question above, I'm safer sticking with the original 315mA, as here in the UK the voltage is around anywhere from 230V to up to around 250V, so the 500mA is 59% higher, i.e too high for our voltage, so the 20% to around the 25% margin really only applies to 115V. So here in the UK we are probably better sticking to the original fuse rating.
I'll take a look at the beeswax fuses.
In thinking about my question above, I'm safer sticking with the original 315mA, as here in the UK the voltage is around anywhere from 230V to up to around 250V, so the 500mA is 59% higher, i.e too high for our voltage, so the 20% to around the 25% margin really only applies to 115V. So here in the UK we are probably better sticking to the original fuse rating.
Thanks Highstream,
I'll take a look at the beeswax fuses.
In thinking about my question above, I'm safer sticking with the original 315mA, as here in the UK the voltage is around anywhere from 230V to up to around 250V, so the 500mA is 59% higher rating than the 315mA, i.e too high for our voltage, so the 20% to around the 25% margin really only applies to 115V. So here in the UK we are probably better sticking to the original fuse rating.
I'll take a look at the beeswax fuses.
In thinking about my question above, I'm safer sticking with the original 315mA, as here in the UK the voltage is around anywhere from 230V to up to around 250V, so the 500mA is 59% higher rating than the 315mA, i.e too high for our voltage, so the 20% to around the 25% margin really only applies to 115V. So here in the UK we are probably better sticking to the original fuse rating.
SR fuse are well made and well spec'ed. Ted tells me that they have had very few returns.
I have a pair of Blues in-bound and I will report what differences I hear, if any, over the SR Black ones currently in my Magnepans. Between the Blacks, the HFT's and SR jumper cables, I got a big improvement in sound on my 1.7s.
Audiocrack has asked a couple of times if I'd report on the Audio Magic SHD Ultimate beeswax, in light of my also having tried the SR Blue (in two different locations). While I wouldn't let the SR Blue near my system again, to be fair and balanced (LOL) it has some qualities that are a substantial improvement over the SR Black and have obvious appeal (along with its price, relative to the Ultimate). My first reaction to it in the PS Audio DirectStream dac and then their P10 power regenerator was how much it made the music swing; it's got PRaT galore! It's also brings a very quiet background, as many have noted, which adds a sense of considerable transparency and expansiveness. Tonal/timbral accuracy, however, along with a certain dryness and somewhat recessed soundstage, were another matter, which led me to move on.
The effects of the Ultimate beeswax, which I first put in the DS, and now also in the P10, are very different, and perhaps will be most appealing to a different kind of listener. What immediately stood out to me were two things: much greater tonal/timbral accuracy - e.g., pianos sounded like pianos, voices like voices - and, well, the word "articulate" kept and keeps coming to mind. One actually hears each note in its fullness, and between notes, as well as "all the way around” each instrument on decent recordings, i.e., the overtones and undertones and resonances, especially in smaller ensembles. There's a substantial sense of each note and instrument having body, and with it tonal clarity and delicateness. Bass comes across more substantive and precise into the lower registers (e.g., acoustic bass), although I won't be able to judge fully until I get a pair of JL Audio subs set up. Liquid (or almost so) is a term that comes to mind sometimes. Other times, rich. The soundstage is relatively broad and in my system at least, up close to the speaker horizontal, which is my preference. Image stability is very decent. One other result of it bringing out so much more in recordings is that a lot of poorer recordings and mp3’s sound better than previously heard (but not by eliminating flaws, such as by rolling off the highs).
Jerry of Audio Magic refers to the Ultimate as tonally the most natural sounding fuse he's developed. I would say yes, with the caveat that "natural" means vastly different things to different developers and listeners. So I will say that it is modestly warm, easily more so than the SR Blue, and has a relaxed smoothness and delicatness to its articulateness, feeling alive in a very different and I find more substantial way than the Blue. To me, the SR Blue is about entertainment, the Ultimate about music. Without looking to do so, I find myself listening to songs and CDs all the way through now that I had previously only been able to take in smaller doses.
Is it as quiet as the SR Blue? Probably not quite. Does it swing like the SR Blue? That's an interesting question, which as I listened to the Ultimate made me reflect on my listening experience. The Ultimate brings out so much in recordings that the music actually feels slow some of the time. I'm not saying that it is, and I’m not having any problem being drawn in, whatever the tempo. Rather, it's a matter of balance: our perceptions emerge from the totality of what's presented, and the Ultimate brings out a lot more than the Blue, which renders PRaT only one among several characteristics. In that sense, the Ultimate often gives the feeling of having elevated my system to the next level, rather than just improving it.
System used: PS Audio PowerBase and P10, Oppo 203 modified, DS dac, ATC SCM19A active speakers (w/ SR Blacks currently), cable box/TV, PS Audio AC-12 power cords and MG Audio Design AG2/S2 IC, Furutech NCR(R) outlet.
P.S. My view on fuses is that they are a special kind of and extension of the power cord, the passage from the latter to each component's power supply. As with power cords, the better the fuse, the better the "material" the component's power supply and thus the rest of its innards have to work with.
The effects of the Ultimate beeswax, which I first put in the DS, and now also in the P10, are very different, and perhaps will be most appealing to a different kind of listener. What immediately stood out to me were two things: much greater tonal/timbral accuracy - e.g., pianos sounded like pianos, voices like voices - and, well, the word "articulate" kept and keeps coming to mind. One actually hears each note in its fullness, and between notes, as well as "all the way around” each instrument on decent recordings, i.e., the overtones and undertones and resonances, especially in smaller ensembles. There's a substantial sense of each note and instrument having body, and with it tonal clarity and delicateness. Bass comes across more substantive and precise into the lower registers (e.g., acoustic bass), although I won't be able to judge fully until I get a pair of JL Audio subs set up. Liquid (or almost so) is a term that comes to mind sometimes. Other times, rich. The soundstage is relatively broad and in my system at least, up close to the speaker horizontal, which is my preference. Image stability is very decent. One other result of it bringing out so much more in recordings is that a lot of poorer recordings and mp3’s sound better than previously heard (but not by eliminating flaws, such as by rolling off the highs).
Jerry of Audio Magic refers to the Ultimate as tonally the most natural sounding fuse he's developed. I would say yes, with the caveat that "natural" means vastly different things to different developers and listeners. So I will say that it is modestly warm, easily more so than the SR Blue, and has a relaxed smoothness and delicatness to its articulateness, feeling alive in a very different and I find more substantial way than the Blue. To me, the SR Blue is about entertainment, the Ultimate about music. Without looking to do so, I find myself listening to songs and CDs all the way through now that I had previously only been able to take in smaller doses.
Is it as quiet as the SR Blue? Probably not quite. Does it swing like the SR Blue? That's an interesting question, which as I listened to the Ultimate made me reflect on my listening experience. The Ultimate brings out so much in recordings that the music actually feels slow some of the time. I'm not saying that it is, and I’m not having any problem being drawn in, whatever the tempo. Rather, it's a matter of balance: our perceptions emerge from the totality of what's presented, and the Ultimate brings out a lot more than the Blue, which renders PRaT only one among several characteristics. In that sense, the Ultimate often gives the feeling of having elevated my system to the next level, rather than just improving it.
System used: PS Audio PowerBase and P10, Oppo 203 modified, DS dac, ATC SCM19A active speakers (w/ SR Blacks currently), cable box/TV, PS Audio AC-12 power cords and MG Audio Design AG2/S2 IC, Furutech NCR(R) outlet.
P.S. My view on fuses is that they are a special kind of and extension of the power cord, the passage from the latter to each component's power supply. As with power cords, the better the fuse, the better the "material" the component's power supply and thus the rest of its innards have to work with.
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just put 2 SR Blue in my pre and amp and this my impression within 5 min. Lower noise floor. More focus and separation between instrument. The silence between notes hold more meaning now. Soudstage move forward but not deeper. Sound thin out by quite abit.
Only just noticed your feedback on the AM Ultimate fuse, Highstream. Thanks for this info as well as for the comparison with the SR blue fuse. I think I understand what you are saying. In the meantime I ordered and reveived a (burned in) AM Ultimate fuse myself. I am going to insert this fuse in my (Kondo g-1000) linestage. However, at the moment I am burning in my new (Tripoint Emperor master reference mk ii) ground cables. The breaking in of these ground cables is a sort of roller coaster ride; therefore I need to wait with inserting the AM Ultimate untill things have stabilized. I will report my findings with the AM Ultimate fuse later on.
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