Acoustic Zen vs Synergistic Research

Have not listened to their speaker wire but have auditioned the Acoutic Zen Silver Reference and the Synergistic Reference Acoutic and Preciscion Reference. So have some familiarity with their house sounds.
The Acoustic Zen was very relaxed, flowing, open and easy to listen to.
The Acoustic Reference had way to much bloom on my all tube system.
The Precision Reference is much more of a 3-D image with nice highlighting, details and engaging.
At the moment I am comparing it to Nordost's Tyr and it is getting hard to make a solid choice between the two but a choice has to be made at some point.
To my ears and with my system, the Precision Reference seem to pick up the music and makes it straighen up and fly right out of the speakers as it should. It is tighter.
The Acoustic Zen was a more relaxed sound, not as tight or detailed, but only in comparison.
My system is a Turntable with a Sumiko Celebration cartridge into a Thor phono preamp into a Conrad Johnson Premier 16 preamp to a Conrad Johnson Premier 11a amp to Legacy Focus 20/20 speakers.
As much as I like the detail and air, had a Dynavector 20 XL for a bit and found it to far forward for my tastes. Hence the Sumiko which places me back a few rows rather than front and center. Hope this helps.

you cant lose considering what you can pick a pair up on audiogon for(satoris,shotguns).

I had both cables. The AZ Satori Shotgun and Accelerator.
AZ is a very good cable. But Accelerator is better.

Here is the summary of 2 cables in my system:
AZ - highs are sweet, yet detailed. Midrange is a bit grainy(only realized in comparison). Bass is deep and powerful but not as controlled and as a result tends to be a bit fat, bloaty and lacks a bit of speed. Imaging is very precise. Soundstage is deep and wide with a good height. Soundstaging is this cable's strength.

SR Tesla Accelerator - Highs are more detailed than the AZ but still within reason and never get harsh. Mids are crystal clear. More air in the soundstage and better separation. Not grainy as the AZ is in the mids. Sibilants sound much more natural with this cable. Bass is very deep, tuneful and provides a solid foundation. Imaging is as precise or better than AZ, soundstaging just as good. Overall a faster, more natural, dynamic and open sounding cable with improvements over AZ in any meaninigful area.
It is also thinner, has active shielding, very flexible.

AZ may be better priced used. Accelerators may be hard to come by on the used market. However, they are a bit over $1k new for 8ft.

Both cables are excellent but my preference would be towards SR Tesla Accelerator. I just found this cable to be more real sounding than AZ Satori Shotgun.

Good luck.

I have AZ cables throughout
they are very natural and resolving
if the Accelerator made them sound grainy in comparison then that's one hell of a cable

I'm sure this is very system dependent

I recommend AZ to people who want resolution without brighteness

>>>if the Accelerator made them sound grainy in comparison then that's one hell of a cable<<<

It is my friend, oh but it is.

LM

I guess I am one of those that prefers AZ over SR Tesla..

AZ = more body, better for human vocal

SR Tesla = more transparent, spacious, better for instruments

I'm a sucker for human vocal, so I settle on AZ

Try the AZ double barrel. You can find it for less than $1000. For me it is alot better than Satori. Robert Lee told me that he adds some silver to both high and low runs (it's not just a satori over a hologram). The low frequency portion is 8 gauge which may or may not be an advantage to you. YMMV - Jim

I compared Synergistic Tesla Acoustic Ref with the AZ Satori Shotgun, and found the Synergistic somewhat better balanced and more accurate overall. That said, however, I found the AZ to be an extremely fine sounding cable, with an excellent sense of imaging and a nice fullness to the sound. My only minor quibble was that in my system, I found the lower midrange/mid-upper bass region to be just a tad too much, to the extent that double basses seemingly sounded undistinguishable from lower registers of cellos. Albeit, different tastes for different folks. I could easily live with either of these two top quality cables.

It would be interesting to compare AZ Absolute to SR Tesla cables. Absolute shows the traits Audiophile1 writes SR cables have.