Synergistic Red Fuse ...

wolf_garcia    7.26.16

" Damn…where’s my Dremmel tool... "

Wolf, I am just as frustrated with Synergistic Research as you and many audiophiles are. The language used to describe cables made with a few strands of wire is really difficult to deal with. At least twice in the last 5 years I decided not to ever deal with them again.

However, since I am a member of the cable company, which provides their products on loan for a small fee, I continue to deal with them if their products prove to be good value when auditioned.

I have been trying to figure out why the overblown language and here is my current thoughts. The products that synergistic research manufacture are basically simple and relatively easy to make, if you know how. I believe SR is reluctant to fully explain exactly what basic materials are used and how the cables and other products are made. Why? Because SR spend a lot of money, using basic trial and error, to develop their products. They probably believe if they let everyone know exactly how to make their products they would be unable to make the same amount of profit as they now do. This of course is just conjecture on my part.

I used to be employed in a company who refused to provide what they regarded as Company secrets to any of their customers. Requests by customers who requested information not in the instrument manuals were simply told That their manufacturing process is "Proprietary" and this was standard in the industry.

It is precisely because you have your dremmel tool ready and waiting to copy their products that I suspect SR behaves as it does.   I really can't blame them. The other aspect of the SR quandry is that they are always
looking for new materials and technologies to maintain market share. Many  of their new technologies are not understood by most audiophiles. How can a few dots placed on walls affect bass frequencies? There are people whose opinions I trust have tried these little dots and have been impressed by them. I will eventually audition them

I remember whenBowers and Wilkenson (The well known English loudspeaker manufacturer B&W ) marketed their DM 4 loudspeaker decades ago. It was built under license owned by the BBC. This bookshelf loudspeaker had not only a bass/midrange driver but also a "Super Tweeter" that handled the range from above 13 Khz. There was an outcry from members of the audio community who maintained that since human hearing goes up to only about 19Khz, there was no need for a super tweeter. But keen listeners welcomed the super tweeter and claimed that its benefits extended not only to the mid-range, and horror of horrors "THE BASS". Today this is a well known phenomenon and super tweeters are now routinely used with tremendous success.

Nyame wrote,

"
I remember whenBowers and Wilkenson (The well known English loudspeaker manufacturer B&W ) marketed their DM 4 loudspeaker decades ago. It was built under license owned by the BBC. This bookshelf loudspeaker had not only a bass/midrange driver but also a "Super Tweeter" that handled the range from above 13 Khz. There was an outcry from members of the audio community who maintained that since human hearing goes up to only about 19Khz, there was no need for a super tweeter. But keen listeners welcomed the super tweeter and claimed that its benefits extended not only to the mid-range, and horror of horrors "THE BASS". Today this is a well known phenomenon and super tweeters are now routinely used with tremendous success."

You might not remember the Ultra Tweeters but if you are alarmed by or put off by marketing jargon this might be the ticket. The Ultra Tweeters operate at frequencies above 1 GigaHertz only, I.e., they have no output in the audio spectrum. Yet, with the Ultra Tweeters in the room there was considerably better high frequency response with more air and overall dimensionality. They attached to the regular speaker posts and could be placed anywhere that was convenient since they didn't have to be time aligned.

nyame ...

I agree with you on IAR and Peter Moncrieff. I was a real fan and subscribed to his publication for years.

It was Peter who led me to the original Well Tempered Turntable. He loved it and continually raved about it. Too bad he didn't hear it with all of the mods and tweaks that can be done to it. I've had mine since it first came out. I bought the arm, new in the box, from an engineer who bought it directly from Bill Firebaugh after Bill demonstrated it at the engineer's audio society meeting. Then, I subsequently bought the bare table from a WT dealer. Total outlay was $1,900.  That was the best buy I've ever made in the audio hobby.  Thanks to Peter Moncrieff I will never need another table for the rest of my life. I've been told by really credible sources that to get better than what I have now,  I'd have to exceed $50,000 for a new table. 

I've searched the web over and over for Peter's Well Tempered review. Not attainable.

Here's Peter's review on the Von Gaylord IC's:  

http://vongaylordaudio.com/beta/wp-content/uploads/pdf/pmoncrieffreview.pdf
 
On the Von Gaylord IC's. I have one pair of balanced between my preamp and amp and an RCA pair between the turntable and phono stage. They are the Von Gaylord "Return of The Legend" IC's.  $1,995 for a meter pair. I was so impressed by them that I now have the Von Gaylord speaker cables as well.

When I refer to my system as a "Magic Music Machine," the Von Gaylord cables are a big reason. Ray Leung, the designer, is truly a genius ... and he knows the sound of music too. I heard his system this past year at the Newport Show .. .and was so taken by how accurate and musical the sound was that I had to try the cables. Not looking back at this point. No need.

 The Von Gaylord cables are very compatible and synergistic (no pun intended) with the Synergistic Research power cords too. Great combo. For those who say cables don't make a difference, I'd say ... get the wax out of yer ears. 

I'm tellin' ya nyame ... its Nirvana. :-)

OP

Hi Frank,

Your mentioning the Well Tempered Turn table (WTT) brings back memories. I own that (the original classic model, early 1990s) and the Linn Sondek LP 12, the WTT was easily the better turn table. The Linn was a very good table with proper set up but the WTT was truly special IMO.I owned it for many years and finally sold it to a friend who literally begged me to sell it to him.

In hindsight I should have probably kept it as it would’ve been a superb mate with my terrific  Yamamoto YDA DAC. Both cut from the same natural sounding cloth that just gets the tone,harmonics and fluidity /flow of music right. Frank here’s a recommendation for you. Lee Konitz, "Live At The Half Note" 1959. It’s very good.

Charles,

Hi Charles,

I am not familiar with the Well Tempered table but I am very familiar with the Linn Sondek  LP 12. I used it with a Grace 707 tonearm and a Fidelity Research low output moving coil cartridge. I have forgotten the name of the FR cartridge. The Grace tonearm was very popular with reviewers in HIFi News and other English publications. I eventually found out that the main reason they liked it (apart from the fact that is was awesome) was that it was available with several heads so that reviewers could conveniently
change heads for cartridge performance comparisons. I epoxied mine to prevent vibrations at the point of connection to the arm. My Linn Sondek was one of the early ones. The bearings were so precise it would cause problems in the summer when the temperature rose. To prevent this I used a very fine oil to keep things running smoothly. I really loved the LINN Sondek. and was a bit of an expert on setting it up. However at a later date I made a policy to throw away any- thing I owned that was not used in the previous 2 years. I made no exception with the Linn and put it in the garbage. In retrospect it was an unwise decision.