Synergistic Research: SCAM

[DrT]

Sorry for coming late to this party but only recently have been introduced to Synergistic Research's products. Several years ago, we bought their Atmosphere Level 4 speaker cables from Scott Walker Audio and like them very much. So... when at the Florida Audio Show 2022, we saw they had a room and we stopped in. We were on the verge of buying yet another amp (Takatsuki 300B) & speakers (Blumenhofer horns) from another show participant when Josh Gates (Scott's partner/assistant) instead suggested holding off and trying instead to maximize our current system (custom Art Audio PX25/Art Audio pre/Antipodes K30 streamer/Wavelength Pelham DAC/Avantgarde Duo Grossos) with their power cell, power bases, grounding block, cables, etc; which they would personally set up after flying in to our Ohio home, and... money back guarantee - no-risk (!!). If we were not satisfied they would refund our money and ship their products back to California So... we spent around $40,000 with Scott Walker at Tampa and for the next 3 weeks many boxes arrived at our home.

     The following month, immediately after AXPONA 2022, Josh & Scott flew in from Chicago and for the next three days my wife & I listened, compared, and critiqued as they installed various Synergistic Research products. The end result, after three full days, is staggering. The sound, the sound stage, the audio experience; incredible. After fifty years in this hobby we are finally 100% satisfied with our system. In the past, there was always something missing, something not quite right; so we'd buy yet another amp/preamp/speakers/etc etc. and six months later repeat. No more. Our system now equals the best we've ever heard; it is simply... right. Our humble $100,000 system (+ their adds) rivals systems ten times more expensive that we've listened to at shows.

     Now the price... the additional items (above our initial $40k at Tampa) totalled $105,000. VERY expensive. However, we negotiated and Scott had no problem reducing the $105k to $65k. Still pricey but... for the first time in 50 years we are totally satisfied with our audio system; the sound is fabulous. FABULOUS. We've spent approximately $1 million over the past five decades, since our first system in 1971 when fresh back from Vietnam; everything from $98k Magico speakers to $28k Audio Note amps to McIntosh to Apogees to David Berning OTLs to... on & on - and now for the first time ever we are in love with our system. Fully & totally satisfied. It is beautiful.

     My wife & I could have never done this ourselves. The total we spent with Scott was $105,000 (both at Tampa & their visit) for their power cell, power grounding block, power bases, an Artesania rack, Galileo power cables, Galileo speaker cables, SX interconnects, HFT room treatments, & two-sphere Vibratron. Still a lot of money (our system now totals $200k) but for us, worth every dime (what price do you put on your relaxation; your pleasure?). We've accepted that top level audio is not an inexpensive endeavor, that we value our audio experience enough to spend the money, and to those that deny the results of Synergic Research's products I suspect something is wrong; with either their system, their hearing, or to their resistance to the cost. Don't know the man, am not in the fan club, but without question Synergistic Research's Ted Denney is a genius; and Scott Walker & Josh Gates are top shelf representatives. 

[DrT]

I apologize; obviously not a shill; Josh's last name is Doyle (not Gates). 

[DrT]

I apologize; obviously not a shill; Josh's last name is Doyle (not Gates). 

[DrT]

My opinion of Ted Denney is solely based upon his thinking out of the box and inventing products that others have never thought of. His products work in the real world, but unfortunately are difficult to appreciate via Youtube videos and scientific explanation. Some of the effects are subtle, some obvious, but all add up to a positive improvement. I was a total skeptic, scoffed at the explanations, thought this was all voodoo & bs until hearing with my (& my wife's) ears. I have a very critical ear, my wife's even more so, and we've walked away from many audio products that did nothing more than placebo. I don't know how his stuff works - but it does; and I don't know of anyone besides Mr Denney who have done what he has. That is why I consider him a genius. You may not like him, I have never spoken with him and frankly don't care about his personality or likeability, but what we hear in our system, products invented & developed from his fertile mind, is beyond denial - and damn impressive.

[DrT]

Why is a demonstration in which a product is added, then removed, as proof of its effect "snake oil salesman tactics"?? ...and how does a money back guarantee stand with products based on "fairy dust and magic"? In a recent conversation with Gordon Rankin (another I consider a genius for his literal invention of digital audio) he related how Mpingo discs transformed the sound of one of his AXPONA rooms a few years ago. Mpingo discs, Shun Mook monks; ummmm okay ...yet a scientific & educated person like Mr Rankin attests that they do indeed work. Audio is a funny endeavor; it is very subjective (the polar opposite of objective). Two different audio components can scientifically measure the same, yet sound very different. How? Two people listen to the same piece of music and one loves it while the other considers it awful. With Synergistic Research products I merely appreciate what they've done in my system, in my listening room, with my ears. They optimized my system and took it to a much higher level.

BTW, I have no dog in this fight. Am not friends with anyone at SR, don't work in the audio biz, get nothing for my opinion (except attacks from the naysayers). I suspect much of the SR attacks are from those who either cannot afford their products or those that require a scientific explanation before they will accept what their ears are telling them. There is also the law of diminishing returns; a $7000 subwoofer will have a much more profound effect on the listening experience than a $7000 SR Vibratron - (so I suggest buying the Vibratron after you already have the sub...). 

[DrT]

One addition; Synergistic Research cables and the Galileo SX active ground unit are tuneable. The tuning bullets can soften or sharpen the sound of the cables and there are four different sound & soundstage formats with the Galileo SX. These changes are very noticeable and are a great way to tune the sound of your system, your room, and your preferences. I know of no other gear that has this ability and is reminiscent of being able to tune the sound of tube gear via tube rolling. A very nice feature.  

[DrT]

Thank you Blackmorec; spot on!

[DrT]

Thank you Blackmorec; spot on!

[DrT]

ummmmm.... okay fas42; sure thing; whatever...you...say.  But, seriously, do you really work on airplanes??

[DrT]

fas42, you echo my thoughts. I don't understand the principles behind many of Synergistic Research's products and the explanations offered by them do indeed sound far fetched; but I do know what I hear when their items are inplace. Most of their items are high-quality cables and power cords, and acknowledged by most, these do indeed have an effect on the sound. I was very skeptical of their Vibratron until we tried a PMR Novum (the brass candy dish-looking thing) that had a nice effect especially on poor acoustic recordings. Now, added to our system, the Vibratron has an even greater effect than the PMR, in the sound's 'smoothness' and in the size of the soundstage. The other items we've purchased from SR seem to lower the noise floor which also has a positive effect. Besides that, tailoring the sound to our room & our preference via their bullets on their cables and four different sonic profiles of their Galileo SX active ground system also makes a noticeable difference in both the sound and soundstage. Those things all add up to a not-so-subtle improvement in the system's sound. I do not understand how these things work, and maybe Ted Denney doesn't either, but perhaps he discovered them by trial & error and experimentation. That said I can forcibly attest that they do indeed work - and the effect is obvious.

[DrT]

The bottom line to this entire subject is: does it make the sound better? Without analyzing the science (or lack of), how can it be, the price, does it defy logic, what's the physics, it cannot be, etc etc; ...does it sound BETTER? Gordon Rankin heard a noticeable improvement from Mpingo Discs; a small hockey puck looking disc of plastic(?) placed on his 300B amps; and although we've never tried them I don't doubt his ears or his judgement. Mikey from OCD Audio noted an improvement placing rose quartz crystals on his amps; and he has quite a nice system, much experience, and good ears.

There's a lot of things in this world that defy scientific explanation but are very real. What I can definitely attest to is that the soundstage of our system went from merely okay to absolutely huge (from the Vibratron), that we now have more solid & deeper bass (Power Cell SX), and the overall sound is better; cleaner, more natural (Galileo SX & power cords/ICs). I don't think our system or results are so different or unique than other people's. As previously stated, we have no dog in this fight; am a retired surgeon - and not in the audio business; but maybe some of the naysayers on this blog should actually give this stuff a try; there's a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

[DrT]

Racernetx: Thanks for the sage advice; but as a guy who has been into this hobby for 50+ years, and has owned many Many MANY excellent pieces of audio gear over those years (20+ amps, 30+ speakers, too many cables to recall, easily $1 million total, etc (including $98,000 Magico speakers & $28,000 Audio Note amps)); your veiled insult only demonstrates your ignorance & closed mindedness. You may trust your "COMMON sense" but me, I trust only one thing - my ears. BTW, you keep the rock.

[DrT]

Racerxnet; in the fifty years we've been into this, many things have changed. Tube gear went out, and then returned. Transisters were not so good, then got remarkably better. As these improvements developed, we changed too. From hard rock & Klipsches to vocal jazz & Avantgardes. We enjoy trying new & different technologies. Apparently we're not as well versed as you or on par with your Genesis system (some great speakers BTW), but we enjoy the hobby & the journey. One thing we learned, different ears prefer different things in different systems. My friend's Apogee Grands driven by no fewer than 6 big Krells sounds great to him; and torture to us (and we've owned and like Apogees). But tell me, should we bring weapons and have our vaccines in order when visiting Hunts ville? LOL 

[DrT]

boytrytis is grossly misinformed. The comparison tests I've witnessed at audio shows were several minutes with, followed by several minutes without, the device in question playing the same piece of music. The listening test at home is... thirty days. Of course if all of this is beyond your ability to afford, or your ability to evaluate, and either case really angers you, it really doesn't matter. 

[DrT]

MarkusBarkus, there's nothing wrong with being content with whatever you have. In fact, you're lucky. We have friends, both affluent professionals, that have a Bose Wave radio; and they love it. Years ago I gave them a pair of Apogee Slant 6s, a Velodyne sub, and a Golden Tube integrated amp, and they've never plugged them in. Who are we to say they're wrong? They listen to their Bose Wave, are content, and like what they hear.

As per scientific measurements, how many speakers are out there that measure perfectly but sound bad? Many. Why do tube amps in general measure poorly but sound beautiful and why do most solid state amps (particularly when compared to tubes) measure perfectly but sound flat & two dimensional? There's an intangible, unmeasureable aspect to sound, our hearing, and how we process it that defies scientific measure. Pertaining to Synergistic Research and those that say it's a scam, I think most have a) never given it an open-minded chance either due to either its price or questionable explanation, b) never actually auditioned it except in maybe a poorly situated audio show listening room, or c) have never actually tried it in their system in their homes. In our case, it's the best thing we've ever done for our system; it truly made an amazing improvement. 

[DrT]

Thanks Confused; you're obviously a learned audiophile. But... why do solid state amps that measure well often not sound good? Is it because they lack that lovely harmonic distortion, and if so, why haven't the years of solid state development figured out how to produce that? To wit, we recently had an expensive ($22,000) Rockna Wavedream SE & a ($12,000) Rockna Wavenet - highly acclaimed ultra-modern solid state - that was blown away by a $9000 Art Audio tube preamp w/$9000 Wavelength Pelham tube DAC. It wasn't even close. The Rocknas sounded flat, compressed, 2D; uninvolving;  whereas the old-tech measuring poorly & 'distorted' tubes... gorgeous. 

[DrT]

Just today we received a new Synergistic Research item; and it is truly amazing. AMAZING. It's their FEQ Carbon acoustic field generator with the tuning module that sits on top. This device makes the sound stage even more halographic and enhances the music's dynamic response. Bass is deeper, treble cleaner, voices suspend midair. Relatively poor recodings (as the Door's Riders On The Storm) now sound like a HD version; and are no longer bad recordings. The soundstage is bigger, taller, and even better than before. Sounds float midway between the plane of the speakers and our listening seat.

Josh offered to send us one last week and I was hesitant; our system was already mesmerizing; but he offered for us to try it for a month and if we didn't see any merit, return it. Man; this thing is a keeper. Already hearing from the many naysayers on this blog I'm sure this will trigger more cries of snake oil, it can't be, it doesn't add up scientifically, etc etc but I'm telling you, these effects are blatant; not at all subtle; and this device is a keeper. AMAZING.

[DrT]

Man... this thing is really something. I don't know if adding it to a system with no other SR components will have as profound an effect but for only $2300 with a 30 day guarantee it's worth a try. Oh, the Cobra? eye candy...

[DrT]

A point to ponder; several have mentioned the really great sound in the SR room at shows, how they stop in just to hear the sound or the song playing. Indeed Scott Walker uses excellent components (Magico, Soulution, etc) but I can guarantee you that without the SR stuff you could never duplicate that same experience. The magic, the huge soundstage, the halographic presentation, the immersive effect would be missing. This Carbon acoustic field generator is like being in a large stadium with sound coming from all directions. 

[DrT]

A bit off subject but... noooo Sam; the stereo is ear candy, the Cobra eye & adrenaline candy. Guy sports. The only folks thinking 'affluence porn' are those guilty of envy. For a guy growing up poor & parentless, at ages 14-16 sleeping in the local Golden Gloves boxing gym, homeless back in the days before welfare & the gov safety net; a guy who worked his way up without any assistance except the GI Bill after Vietnam combat at age 18, a guy who for the past thirty years pays six digit fed income tax; I am proud, very proud, of where we are. 'nuff said.

[DrT]

Frankly don't care about impressing anyone except myself but are you sure it's a knockoff?

[DrT]

Racerxnet: "dick swinging contest"?? ahhhh... just another prime blowhard. But that said; waaaay off topic. Sorry I posted the pic of our factory built continuation series; it was in the camera & popped up while dragging pics of the FEQ Carbon, but obviously it offends some of the low-Testosterone crowd on here. I'm done; thought that maybe as an actual owner of the latest SR gear I could shed some light on those interested; or those that merely enjoy the hobby (as we do). Too many haters, know-it-alls; so... see ya! 

[DrT]

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.