October 18, 2012

  • HiFi-Tuning Supreme, Part 1

    Fall '82.  I had entered junior high, which was a BIG step up from elementary school.  Even though students were supposed to live close to the school, many came from across the City.  I was one of those.  Moreover, a small handful didn't even live within City limits.  To get into S.F. schools, they used relatives' San Francisco addresses.  I had several classmates, who came from the suburbs of Daly City, Pacifica, San Bruno, and South San Francisco.

    I had family friends in those 'burbs.  Since they had homes (as opposed to dinky apartments in S.F.), they hosted parties.  I fondly recall the fog coming over Skyline Boulevard, while at a friend's San Bruno home.  And then we heard the rumbling intro to Rush's then-new "Subdivisions."  The airy keyboard then comes in, acting like fog.  Ever since then, "Subdivisions" and the 'burbs south of San Francisco have gone hand-in-hand.

    There was once a party, when one of the room's lights went out.  The owner said, "Oops, must have blown a fuse."  So he went outside to the electrical box, flipped a switch.  Fortunately, the lights came back on.  Back then, did we know that fuses would become an audiophile product?  Hell no!

    If you can't give cubic zirconium jewelry to your audiophile significant other, try this.  Germany's HiFi-Tuning make, as far as I know, three kinds of after-market fuses.  My audio buddies and I tried the ceramic "Gold-Plated" version in the EAR Acute CD player and Conrad-Johnson ET-250S power amp.  But the above is the so-called "Supreme" version, which uses 99% silver/1% gold from tip to tip.

    Didn't Serramonte shopping center used to have a Zales or Kay?  Whatever, you can get HiFi-Tuning fuses from any number of local of national audio stores.

    You absolutely MUST know the size and rating of your equipment's fuse.  This one is a 5A fast blow, 6.3mm x 32mm (1.25") type [it is slated for the Simaudio 600i, but I'll blog about that some other day].  HiFi-Tuning call it "Large Supreme."  Girl, if you said "large supreme" at one of those San Bruno parties, guests would have thought you wanted big condoms or had ordered Round Table pizza!