Madavid0.
You stepped into it on this forum calling BS on SR "tweaks". I have tried a boatload of their stuff as I am an inveterate audio tweaker, which has included their foolish and pricey "room dots" and goofy expensive fuses. If Geoff Kait chimes in on the discussion, you can expect any notion of sensible discussion to go out the window as he peddles the most foolish audio tweaks imaginable. I encourage folks to try the SR tweaks to see if they have efficacy in their system and clearly many do find them useful. They do have a 100% money-back return policy. However, don't be swayed by the devotees on this and other forums who seem to leave good sense behind when they evaluate their tweaks. I suspect your ears and pocketbook are serving you well in the conclusion you reached with the SR products you heard. There are a ton of worthy tweaks, including better cabling and inexpensive component isolation devices that will improve the sound of your system far more than the SR gear. Cheers and thank you for your honest post.
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I think that calling SR a scam and a con tells more about the writer of the OP than is does about SR. madavid0 may not have heard a difference but does that mean his opinion is automatically upgraded to universal truth that will apply to the listening experience of everyone? But considering the switching shenanigans he reported on, these may be valid observations. |
Whitestix
I have tried a boatload of their stuff as I am an inveterate audio tweaker, which has included their foolish and pricey "room dots" and goofy expensive fuses.
Are you referring to SR room dots or Acoustic Revive room dots? Or maybe you're thinking of Marigo room dots. Or the Franck Tchang Sugar Cubes or something else. PWB Magnadiscs perhaps. Maybe Blue Meanies. You know, as an inveterate audio tweaker.
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Wow!
You don't even need to read past the OP's opening statements to see what coming.
I focused listening to three instruments in SRV's tune.Tone/dynamics of the guitar, the crack of the drumstick against the snare rim and bass. Umm... nothing. Maybe the vocals were noticeable, but the song is cut before SRV starts singing.
If there is any change in presentation, I still should be able to hear it the Ipad speaker. Whetever difference there is, very subtle.
I put my on my guitar player ears for the comparison.
Heard no difference in the depth of reverb or decay in the crack of the drumstick, guitar and bass sound the same.
I then played my own period LP copy on my table. Thanks to the Ipad, my under 20k retail system sounds superior to that obvious nice/pricey rig. My system does have ridiculous cabling and PS Audio regen.
Let the OP hear what he hears and report his findings and everyone else can buy SR products.
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@ nkonor
Sure, the sound was sweet, complete, balanced, detailed, dynamic engaging.
The highs were all there and never harsh.
The lows were all there without booming around in the small demo room.
It was not the 'small, pinpointed' stereo imaging as the audiophiles of old liked, but all was big and wide enough.
The overall result was that you could listen to the music because the equipment was not interfering with the sound.
I hope that made some sense. I am not a reviewer.
Reminder:
I did not say this was because of SR.
Nor did I say this would not be possible without SR stuff.
My main point is that one of THE BEST sounding rooms on the show (in my humble opinion that is, of course) was treated extensively with SR products (and this is a BIG show!).
So this was either just for commercial reasons or the creators of this wonderful sound really thought SR had something to offer them.
Fun fact: They were NOT selling SR products.
With regards |
jandewitt,
What was the equipment? Electronics and Speakers? I am sure cabling was appropriate.
Tube or solid state? TT or digital. Small room ; near field listening? Imaging can be wide and tall; Depth of soundstage and images in the stage?
Thanks for taking time to respond.
Always interested when someone finds gear and room especially at a Show that they find exceptional.
Regards |
Geoff, regardless of the SR tweaks I have auditioned and returned, I have never lost my senses to the degree that would motivate me to try a single one of your idiotic tweaks. Your stuff takes the cake for getting audio-fools to part with their cash for no good reason, except their penchant for self-deception. Folks, use your good sense. Still, I will applaud SR for their money-back return policy and if you hear the difference, then spend away. But remember that there are lots of folks preying on your audio-anxiety who are keen to take your money for tweaks of a "snake oil" nature. Cheers.
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Despite the video lack of quality, I clearly heard the differences in the Tranquility base on and then off. So much better with it on. I didn't have time to hear the rest. As for Class D amps, I've heard several recently that were excellent, musical and powerful, selling for $3K to $8K (I think Prana Audio comes to mind). I prefer my big, monoblock tube amps but Class D can be made to sound musically interesting and involving. I try not to listen to amps under $1K so the author's cheap (and supposedly terrible sounding) Class D amps haven't been auditioned by me. |
@fleschler Despite the video lack of quality, I clearly heard the differences in the Tranquility base on and then off. So much better with it on. Can you describe what you heard in detail? |
To all of the Synergistic Research naysayers & haters out there, after much defense of Synergistic Research products, and truly enjoying their performance in our audio system, I finally have several of their products that I would not recommend; and that do not work well for us in our system. Their router & switch combination. Both are deceptively attractively priced but after the required cables and antenna, are quite expensive (the router with cables & antenna cost us $6,900; and the switch another $3000). After receiving these, I saw little value in their performance and intended to return them to Scott Walker Audio but Josh Doyle insisted that we give them more time. Well, it's now six months and they add virtually nothing; in fact, the music sounds better with them removed.
The other issue we had with these was that we had frequent dropouts from Roon with them in place. Roon would not respond to our prompts for a desired tune and would require a re-boot of our Antipodes streamer to reconnect. I tried different locations of the Synergistic router and its antenna; tried angling them to other positions, to no avail. These frustrating interruptions to our service occurred every time we had our system playing. Now that we have removed them from our system, the problems are gone. We'd mistakenly thought the problem was with Roon but the problems were obviously due to the Synergistic Research router & switch. BTW, Josh & Scott Walker now refuse to take them back, in any way, even as used items at a reduced price. If they suspect there is a defect with these, they are right down the road from Synergistic Research and can easily have them checked out. But... they say they have too many in stock. Before anyone else gets stung with these items, you've been warned.
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db2sub1
I tried different locations of the Synergistic router and its antenna; tried angling them to other positions, to no avail . . .
SR’s router doesn’t have antennae. It doesn’t have WiFi.
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A technical note excepted from SR’s router page.
Important Note: The Synergistic Research Network Router UEF does not include internal WiFi functionality. This deliberate omission ensures optimal performance by keeping the WiFi signal isolated from the Network Router. If your system requires a wireless connection (phone, tablet, etc.), it is necessary to connect a separate access point to the SR Network Router UEF.
A WiFi router is not the same as an access point. A WiFi router will not work. We have extensively tested various access points and found that different models seem to have minimal impact on overall performance. Two easy to set up recommendations are the TP-Link EAP245 and NETGEAR WiFi 6 Access Point (WAX214). When setting up your Access Point, set a different SSID than your existing home network.
Perhaps, the problem was with the component providing the access point. Or the SSID wasn’t configured correctly. Or a WiFi router was used, not an access point.
Over the years, I've purchased several SR products from Scott Walker, He and his sales team are usually very thorough with their customer support for equipment set-up and usage. Ever since I've converted over to SR cabling, the SQ of my system has improved signficantly.
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@steakster: I purchased the SR router & switch from the largest SR dealer in the world; Scott Walker Audio. Included in the shipment was a round antenna to be ceiling or wall mounted along with a SR ethernet cable for connection to the router. I was guided for installation by Josh Doyle at Scott's Texas store. There was immediately a SR channel on our laptop's wifi settings that had to be activated for connectivity. If anyone knows how it works it surely should be them. All I know is that our Roon connectivity problems, with them removed, are now gone. I'm glad yours is working well for you. I am a fervent advocate of SR products & cables (have over $100,000 in their power cables & interconnects; plus another $70-80,000 in their components); but the router & switch didn't do it for us.
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Over the years, I've purchased several SR products from Scott Walker, He and his sales team are usually very thorough with their customer support for equipment set-up and usage. Ever since I've converted over to SR cabling, the SQ of my system has improved significantly.
+1
I my case: SR interconnects, between tonearm and Phono stage, then: Pre and Main monoblock amps, Their power cords from wall to Stealth XXX Purifier and wall to Subwoofer amp. All the MPCs: upgraded by Michael Spallone.
NONE for sale!
The rest of my interconnects (sources') are Kimber Selects (1030 and 1130), which play very nicely with the SRs.
All other power cables are Zu Mothers.
Fuses are from SR and Hi-Fi Tuning.
Big Silver Oval speaker cable.
Nothing very expensive!
I DO appreciate companies that allow a person 30 days to decide whether they like their products or not. Synergistic has been offering that trial period, for some forty years now (since the Eighties).
A rewind:
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No one can tell you whether/how your system, room and/or ears will respond to some new addition. There are simply too many variables.
LIKEWISE: no one can possibly know whether a new addition (ie: some kind of disc, crystal, fuse, interconnect, speaker cable, etc) will make a difference, in their system and room, with their media and to their ears, without trying them for themselves.
Some companies offer a 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee, so- those that are actually interested, have absolutely nothing to lose by trying (experimenting with) such.
Anyone that knows anything about the sciences, realizes that something like 96% of what makes up this universe, remains a mystery.
For centuries; humanity’s seen, heard, felt and otherwise witnessed phenomena, that none of the best minds could explain, UNTIL they developed a science or measurement, that could explain it.
The Naysayer Church wants you to trust their antiquated science (1800’s electrical theory) and faith-based, religious doctrine, BLINDLY (their credo: "Trust ME!").
Theories have never proven or disproven anything. It’s INVARIABLY testing and experimentation that proves or disproves theories/hypotheses.
IF you’re interested in the possibility of improving your system’s presentation, have a shred of confidence in your capacity for perceiving reality and trust your own senses: actually TRY whatever whets your aural appetite, FOR YOURSELF.
The Naysayer Church HATES it, when THAT happens!
Happy Listening!
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I am a fervent advocate of SR products & cables (have over $100,000 in their power cables & interconnects; plus another $70-80,000 in their components)...
If I had that kind of money, everything in my system would still be a mix of Kimber and SR. BUT: much newer and higher in their product lines.
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I bought the Synergistic dots at Axpona 2022. They work. Weirdest tweak I‘ve encountered in audio. I made the mistake of pulling one off of my USB cable going into the DAC once while the music was playing. System made a pop sound and the music stopped. Thought I had broken something but I hit play and the music started again. Don‘t touch the dots unless the system is muted. I don‘t use them now except for two that I put on my two dedicated circuit breakers. They don‘t seem as effective that far away from the equipment. I no longer need them but how would I ever sell “dots“?
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