The Problem with Synergistic Research


The problem is one that a number of cable makers suffer from. I preface my remarks by noting this not a problem that is exclusive to Synergistic Research. I use SR as an example because I am more familiar with their cables than with the cables of other companies that have the same problem.

The problem is the cost of incremental improvements. SR makes some great products. But, in spite of their copy writing, not all SR products are great, IMO. Some SR products have made great improvements in my system -- like the Tesla SE Hologram D power cord. That having been said, in retrospect, despite the bally-hoo that surrounds SR product launches, most of their products have brought no more than incremental improvements to my system. Products from other cable companies have brought equal or greater improvements for me -- often at much lower cost.

The problem is that SR has such fast-paced marketing with products coming out at a gallop supplanting recently released products -- such as the SR line of PowerCell conditioners -- that I sometimes feel I have been left in the dust.

We cannot stop the relentless march of technology. But at the high price of most of SR's offerings one is often left with sense of being left out instead of left in when new products come on the heels of products one has just purchased. The SR trade-up program does not remedy this problem at all, IMO.

There are many other cable companies without fast-paced marketing that provide equal or better value for the money, IMO. Companies like Bybee, HiDiamond and Cardas. I am probably not the only one who feels as I do about SR and other companies with fast-paced marketing.
sabai
Sabai, Why would you try power conditioner in series? That is like saying that a drug you use is working so you should take twice as much. I have three conditioners I am considering presently. None are those you are considering. Each has to be done and compared, although this makes for a long term A/B comparison, given that you have to change all the wires into each and then await their recovery from being unplugged and for the components to warm up. Also each needs to be compared with just plugging into the wall. As I have 11 things to plug in, this is a cumbersome assessment.
I have been following this thread with great interest. It is another issue facing the high end audio community. I have switched to the Von Schweikert Master Built cabling and it is on an entirely different level and more musical sounding than anything I have used before including the SR stuff with all of the $400 MPC's (one for each cable). I am not putting SR down and I think Ted is a good and brilliant guy.

If "any" audio company is going to introduce frequent upgrades they should provide their customers affordable upgrades path/options. Without judging motives here they can devalue their customers investments. We are talking about real money here and not chump change. Not to mention audiophiles go into deep depression and start to have panic attacks if they think they don't have the best and latest model:)
11-04-12: Tbg writes:

Sabai, Why would you try power conditioner in series?

Sabai also likes to use 3 different interconnect cables, interspersed with Bybees, and 3 different power cables connected with IEC burn-in adapters, and I think he also has different loudspeaker cables connected in series (sorry if I have misinterpreted something, Sabai).

It's an unusual approach, one that seems to fly in the face of conventional thinking. But he appears to be happy with his approach, and his posts have been interesting, if a little didactic.

Regards,
Tbg,
I also need to do a lot of testing. I have been using the two power conditioners in series because I bought the Bybee Stealth on the hunch that it would best the SR (and it has, since I took the SR out of the system and can listen to it alone.) I didn't want to sell off my Powercell because I hate taking haircuts. And I figured that the sound would be good if I ran the two conditioners in series with my isolation transformer and power regenerator. Everything sounded pretty good. But since I have a maze of wires -- you can imagine with all cables in series -- it is really hard for me to squeeze between the wall and the cables to fiddle around.

I honestly didn't hear any need to get rid of the Powercell -- you know how you get used to your "house sound" -- until I added the SR speaker cells and they killed the sound completely. Then I figured it would be worth the effort to squeeze my belly back there and yank out the Powercell. BINGO !! Everything opened up -- low level detail, sound stage, harmonics. You name it. The Powercell is history.

Thankful,
You stated, "If "any" audio company is going to introduce frequent upgrades they should provide their customers affordable upgrades path/options. Without judging motives here they can devalue their customers investments." This is the very point I have been making on other threads. The trade-up policy of SR is punitive. Devaluation of the SR investment hurts a lot. What they have done with their new Element line is to render unsellable all your expensive Tesla cables they used to ballyhoo.

If their retail prices were not so darn prohibitive or they offered an upgrade or a better trade-up policy this would not hurt so much and they would have a better chance to hold onto loyal customers. But the way things are, people are eager to run for the door when a company like HiDiamond comes on the scene with superior products at very reasonable prices.
Sabai, you make some very good points.

One thing for sure is that Synergistic Research will continue to change their design. With the cost of their products being so high, they can afford to search for the ultimate Holy Grail. Good for them.

But I too have chosen to get off the ride. This is because the old Synergistic Research products lose their value tremendously once the new products are released and the fact that Synergistic Research does NOT have any realistic upgrade path.

My Pass Labs Amplifier always sounded better on a separate dedicated outlet than being plugged into the Synergistic Powercell. That is, with the Amp plugged into the SR Powercell, it provided a darker background, but it also seemed to suck the “life” out of the music.

So, after reviewing your post, perhaps I should pull my SR Powercell out of my 2 channel completely and use it for my Home theater equipment.

I have always had some type of power conditioning with my front end equipment and now I wonder how a power regenerator would perform.