Quantum Pink Fuse

Synergistic Research is constantly seeking to improve the performance of their products. When it’s time to develop something completely new, for instance their Voodoo Network Streamer, they will frequently engineer entirely new technologies capable of elevating their products to an entirely new market position. This relentless urge to innovate leads inevitably to the Pink Fuse.

Coming off the massive success of their flagship Master fuse, Synergistic knew their stable required a more affordable option. The Purple fuse was already in the market and doing impressively well, but SR knew there had to be more performance hiding in that architecture just waiting to be unlocked. The development of their impressive Voodoo streamer provided that inspiration, as they discovered an entirely new high-voltage conditioning process. When applied, this treatment retained the Purple fuse's strengths of warmth and vibrancy, with improved resolution and superior dynamics.  Simultaneously, SR had invented a new UEF compound which dropped the fuse's noise floor and improved imaging/soundstaging to round out the feature set.

The improvement over previous generations of SR fuses is instantly audible and not subtle. Thus, Pink fuses are the highest performance, lowest cost and best bang-for-the-buck upgrade SR has ever offered!

We get a lot of questions about fuses, so here are some answers!

I'm looking at my fuse, how do I know what value I've got?
What you're looking for will be embossed on one or the other of the metal end caps of your fuse. Although there's likely a bunch of other printing on there, including the manufacturer's name and perhaps the fuse type (e.g. AL), that's not important. What you're looking for is a number with a letter in front of it and an A after it.  T and L are used for Slow blow, this is most likely what you have as about 80% of the fuses we sell are Small and Slow. However, if you see an F, that's for Fast blow and you shouldn't substitute the two.
An example of a hypothetical fuse would be T2A, which is a Slow Two Amp fuse. F8A would be a Fast Eight Amp fuse. Tricky ones are the tiny values for instance a T250mA fuse, would be a Slow 250 milliamp fuse. However, you might also see that exact same value written as T0.25A which is obnoxious and should be illegal. A magnifying glass might come in very handy here. Can't figure it out? Write it all down and call us, we can walk you through it!

My fuse is rated for 120V, can I use one that's got a higher voltage rating?
Absolutely. When it comes to fuses, the voltage rating is the maximum voltage the fuse can withstand before it pops to protect the circuit. This means that household voltages of 100V, 120V or 240V will not pop the fuse. Feel free to replace your lower voltage fuses with a higher voltage fuse.
All Small fuses are 5x20mm and rated for a maxmum of 250V.
All Large fuses are 6.3x32mm and rated for a maximum 500V.

I live in the US and I don't speak millimeters, how can I tell what size my fuse is?
This one's easy! Grab a quarter and lay your fuse across it. If the fuse doesn't hang over the edge of the quarter, it's a Small. If it does, it's a Large. Since those are the two primary sizes of fuses used on gear made in the last 25 years or so, you're done. However, if you have a really tiny fuse about half the size of a quarter or a chunky fat one thicker than a Crayola crayon, let us know, we may need to ask you some questions.

I live in the UK and I want to swap out the fuse on my power cord, do you sell replacement values for this?
We sure do! Simply select the UK Fuse from the dropdown! They're only available in one size and speed, so no need to agonize over whether it's the right choice. It is!

What's the deal with "uprating" the fuse value? My salesman mentioned doing this, is it safe?
This is such a big deal we've actually included a tab about it above!  Long story short, if you've got a Slow Blow fuse, yes it's safe to go up to the next value. If you have a Fast Blow fuse, not recommended.

Do you know what fuse X or Y component takes?
No, we don't keep a database of fuse values, mostly because manufacturers have a bad habit of make running changes to their units and not informing the population. You're going to have to pop the old fuse out when you get your new one anyway, so now's a great time to simply lay hands on your and make sure. Most manufacturers print the value on the rear of the component, but if you've got to go inside the unit, then you definitely want assurance you're buying the right fuse.

Fuses are used because their protection against excess voltage and current is cheap to implement and very effective in preventing "runaway" damage to your gear. Should an internal component fail or the voltage or current on the line get too high, the filament wire in the fuse will "burn" thus interrupting power and protecting the gear.

For a fuse to protect a component, every single electron the component uses must travel through that fuse. However, this is where the problems start. To keep prices low, fuse manufacturers use thin glass, aluminum end caps and aluminum burn wire. Glass is horribly resonant, and aluminum is a terrible conductor. This means generic fuses are a "worst case" scenario for any component!

Audiophile fuses are constructed with high-grade materials. For instance, they will use Copper or Silver for the endcaps and burn wire. These metals offer much higher conductivity and lower distortion for a huge improvement in tonal quality and dynamic range. Ceramic bodies reduce vibration from what would otherwise be a tensioned filament drawn between two fixed poles, aka a guitar string. This alone can be a jaw-dropping improvement, but the best fuses go even further, adding internal vibration control to keep resonance down and the best ones enhance conductivity using various chemical and/or electrical treatments.

Audiophile fuses are vastly more conductive than a generic fuse and built to much tighter tolerances. This makes them a lot more precise than an aluminum fuse and more sensitive. Most audio gear wasn't designed with such a high level of fuse precision in mind, which is why we almost always advocate "uprating" the fuse. This means selecting the next higher value fuse, for example if you had a 1A fuse you would move up to a 1.25A fuse.

Although this might sound dangerous, in fact it isn't. Moving up to the next available value of an audiophile fuse simply puts the protection in-line with the manufacturer's expectations and keeps your brand-new high-performance fuse from blowing the moment you power up the unit!

NOTE: The sole exception to our "uprating" recommendation is Fast Blow fuses. Slow Blow fuses allow the component to temporarily reach the fuse's max rating without blowing, which makes these fuses fairly tolerant and safe for uprating. Fast Blow fuses, on the other hand, are primarily used in situations where any current at or above the rating might damage the gear. A prime example of this is Magnepan speakers which have "fused" tweeter and midrange panels. Even a short burst of excessive power from the amplifier could damage the panel, in that instance, a Fast Blow fuse would blow immediately thus protecting the panel from damage.