Synergistic Research Plug Fuse

Obsydian posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

If it is subject to ‘burn in’, stick it in something non-audio that is on 24 hours a day for a few days, then you can do simple A-B comparisons cleanly.

In hindsight i was impatient and just wanted to get to burn in (they quote 200hrs), main driver for that was at 50 hrs or so it went downhill and the daily shifts (majority up, some downs) was interesting, but averaging 3hrs a day was taking a while, then i realized the Nova on standby basically draws next to zero power.

I would (if you can bear it) let the process take as long as it naturally takes, i was focused more on returning it within the free trial, so that was also a driver to maybe consider.

Without leading Anavrin, you need to think very differently about this upgrade, as you may focus on minor changes you are familiar with and then miss everything else (big changes), i only realized when i went back to 2p fuse. Also DO NOT change anything else (speaker position due to bass), let it settle.

Surely the nova being in standby makes no difference what so ever, the electric is going through the magic fuse up to the nova where its in standby, same electric no?

I measured the Nova at basically 0W in standby (with server mode off), vs 30W on.

Yes, I understand that but standby doesn't occur on the plug socket side of the fuse does it, so that fuse has electric running through it all the time?

If there is truly  burn-in, i.e. change with current passing through the fuse, it is likely to be temperature related, though whether a simple product of time and temperature would depend on what exactly is the mechanism of change. What that means is that when on standby, with a very few milliamps at most flowing. the time to change may be many times that when a few hundred mA is flowing (e.g 30W as reportedly measured  with the Nova in use), which in turn may be a lot longer than when several amps are flowing. And if change only happens above a certain amount above ambient temperature, a very low current draw may never cause any change.

It will need some current to flow to run in, if the equipment isn’t drawing any power, then even if the power is live, no current will be flowing through the fuse.

I imagine the current flow in normal use will heat the fuse wire a little, bit not excessively, it will take greater than 20 amps to properly blow a 13amp fuse.

It will run in as the current flows through the wire, which will increase in temperature proportionally to the current flow because it has resistance, intrestingly as a conductor heats up its resistance also increases until it stabilises. 

A wire in an open space will also start to change as current flows, free particles and gas will be produced, causing the wire to get slightly thinner this will also cause it’s resistance to increase.

This is why light bulbs don’t last for ever, the filament wire heats up and over time becomes thinner and more resistive, which in turn causes more current to flow, eventually the heat from higher current will melt the filament wire, and your lights go out.

Still no fuse for me, still waiting for delivery of mine☹️

My Nordost mains cables have the Furutech FI-1363 N1 gold plated plugs. Looking into it the old bussman fuses looked well gnarly.

They should be performing as intended now. Should have done this sooner.

Cheers.

How long are audiophile fuses expected to perform as intended? 

Why bother with a 13amp plug w/fuse when you can easily change to a 15 amp plug and socket? Better contact area, too. Baffles me.

Dave J posted:

Why bother with a 13amp plug w/fuse when you can easily change to a 15 amp plug and socket? Better contact area, too. Baffles me.

In the UK, it is a requirement of the regs that the plug is fused in order to provide adequate protection for the flex. In most other countries, this is not required, as they use multiple radial circuits instead of rings, with sufficient protection given to each small radial making fused plugs unnecessary. 

Bear with me on this and use your imagination.

I think the feature of this Blue fuse is its Graphene coating, graphene is a a true 2D material, meaning it’s only 1 Atom thick, and it’s the best non metallic conductor known.

If you think on an atomic level, the size of a cable is hundreds, maybe thousands of miles wide compared to an electron orbiting an atom, and contrary to popular belief, when electricity flows through a conductor, electrons do not flow from one atom to the next and so on down the cable, but they do transfer energy to the next one, who passes it on instantaneously to the next.

They are also suseptable to stray energy signals coming from all directions, “Noise” if you like, and they can transfer this energy in any given direction, all at the same time.

After all they are in a tunnel a thousand miles wide so lots of stray signals could be bouncing around everywhere.

Imagine if you could force them to flow through something so narrow, maybe just a few atoms wide that was super conductive, a few layers of graphene maybe.

None of that outside interference can effect the flow of energy anymore because there simply isn’t the space, enabling only the dominant flow of energy to pass.

The result is a clean flow of energy into your mains lead and into your equipment.

Thats a bit deep I know, but unless anyone’s got any better theory’s, I’m sticking with it ???? 

So why are graphene coated cables not used throughout if it has such a positive effect over about 2cm? 

I think some SR mains cables are 

Graphene is still very much in its infancy as a usable material and most of its applications are still at university research level, it was know about for decades, however how to extract / make it from Graphite is a more recent discovery.

And it now becoming economical to produce, so I’m sure we will be seeing more of it in the future.

Do you upgrade the fuse in the power cord or the component or both? The dealer advised its better to upgrade the power cord if only can change one. thanks.

Don't touch the fuse in Naim boxes. ????

ChrisSU posted:

Dave J posted:

Why bother with a 13amp plug w/fuse when you can easily change to a 15 amp plug and socket? Better contact area, too. Baffles me.

In the UK, it is a requirement of the regs that the plug is fused in order to provide adequate protection for the flex. In most other countries, this is not required, as they use multiple radial circuits instead of rings, with sufficient protection given to each small radial making fused plugs unnecessary. 

This simply isn’t true. A qualified electrician will fit 15 amp fuseless sockets (round pin) as long as the correct breakers are installed for those circuits in the consumer unit. 

Its all perfectly legal and...it works ! I have three.

Improvements in sound quality vs snake oil argument aside,  do any of the many "audio grade" fuses conform to BS1362.  This standard covers a raft of compliance standards & tests such as load tolerances over time & fire suppression.   If so, how do you know !!! ???

Aside from these expensive audio grade fuses the UK market has non-compliant lookalike counterfeit fuses, most are made in China & bought on an auction site,  or maybe could already installed in your compliance lead.   Its hard to tell the difference, all pretend to be established fuse manufacturers - Bussmann,  Marbo etc - & don't be fooled by ASTA, BSI & Kite mark symbols.  This  ....  https://www.pat-testing-traini...icles/fake-fuses.php  ....  is a City & Guilds training video on this subject,  (PAT testing is portable appliance testing)   & don't forget to checkout the video at the end.

Nick Lees posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Dave J posted:

Why bother with a 13amp plug w/fuse when you can easily change to a 15 amp plug and socket? Better contact area, too. Baffles me.

In the UK, it is a requirement of the regs that the plug is fused in order to provide adequate protection for the flex. In most other countries, this is not required, as they use multiple radial circuits instead of rings, with sufficient protection given to each small radial making fused plugs unnecessary. 

This simply isn’t true. A qualified electrician will fit 15 amp fuseless sockets (round pin) as long as the correct breakers are installed for those circuits in the consumer unit. 

Its all perfectly legal and...it works ! I have three.

This may be OK on a dedicated radial, but if you do that on a ring, using an MCB (where the regs would also require an RCD) with a low enough rating to give the required level of protection to the individual flex would mean using an under-spec MCB. I can’t see how that would be legit. 

>This simply isn’t true. A qualified electrician will fit 15 amp fuseless sockets (round pin) as long as the correct breakers are installed for those circuits in the consumer unit. 

Absolutely correct, although in consumer set up round pin is more unusual now... but is used typically for seperate  fused and switched distribution such as lighting distribution circuits or high power distributions and other special uses etc, and is more common in commercial setups and theatrical and stage setups.

The original standard is BS546 is now replaced by Type D (5 amp) and Type M (15 amp) in IEC 60083. In the UK the roundpin sockets must be shuttered to be legal. (13 Amp fused plugs - BS1363 are Type G IEC 60083) 

i have only seen the 30 Amp BS546 now IEC 600309 in industrial and commercial setups for powered racks etc.

Well I finally got my fuse today, not had a chance to really try it out in my Nova, only listened to one song as the wife was busy watching something on TV.

The Jury’s out so far, but I did think I had a very subtle improvement, slightly more musical and the low frequency’s less boomy and more detailed.

its now in my 6 way extension feeding both my HiFi gear, TV and Witeless router, figure it will run in faster.

Make sure the direction is correct (SR at the hot end), then best to leave it a few days to settle.

I would have just left it in the Nova to settle, as if you do not feel it makes a worthy improvement there, it probably won't elsewhere.

Lastly, after a few days settle in swap back to the old fuse.

If it doesn't do it for you then 3 weeks left to get a full refund.

Hi Obsydian

I have it fitted like you said with the SR end on the live pin. 

The insructions are a little confusing, they say the flow is from S to R, giving the impression one end is marked S and the other R.

However in reality, one end has both, above each other!

like this

————————————————-

S

R

————————————————

Delivery also took a week! I haven’t looked at the date it was posted yet, but is was sent recorded, on the 24th according to my email, maybe they delay posting it for a week to use up a week of the return period!

It’s odd that it has a black blob on the side and that’s directional, and the blue SR sticker rapped around it to disguise any original markings.

 There’s clearly more going on than a graphene coating, maybe an electrical component inside like a diode and some kind of drain for noise, Tomorrow I will take it to work if I remember, did I mention I work with x-rays!

Anavrin posted:

 There’s clearly more going on than a graphene coating, maybe an electrical component inside like a diode and some kind of drain for noise.

Doubtful - it's a fuse.

No idea what’s inside but it appears to be filled with something. I have an old SR black fuse that arrived blown. I’ll have to dig it out and open it up.