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Synergestic Research: SCAM

Well, I just sat down to a demo of several Synergistic Research products including the Black Box room bass resonators, their new line conditioner, their active Tranquility Base, little treble resonators and the Atmosphere room acoustics tuner.


Total scam. Never once did they just play a track while moving things around. It was always a few seconds of a track followed by a 30 seconds of so of moving stuff, etc, then another maybe 30 seconds of sound. They'd start a track and then stop it right as some instruments came in, do the change, and then continue playing where it left off. The guy doing the demo was asked twice if he could do a live a/b and he'd give an excuse about how it takes a little time for system to charge or some bs like that and the transition process would mask the differences. Absolute con BS they are DEAD to me.


Also? I could hear JACK SQUAT changes in the demo. A few people around me would comment on the changes but I could hear nothing -- at least as best I could manage with the small clips and pauses in between changes. I really tried, but I could hear nothing.


Here, I took a video of a part of the demo. I'll post it when I have a chance.

madavid0
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 

Lak,

Yes I agree with you. Certain terms are used too often and IMO inappropriately.

"Great" when good is probably the better choice.

"Hate" when dislike is the better description.

Words do have meaning. Just my observation.

Charles

jc4659
550 posts
 
I listened to that video and do think I heard a difference- for the better.  I do not own any SR products, have never heard any, and was not expecting to hear any difference.  What I heard was a reduction in noise or distortion that is in the music itself; not in the background.  It sounded more natural, easier on the ears especially during the dynamic swings.  The echo sounded more real too. I would not call it a huge difference but if I had the money I would try it in the context of my own system.  As far as the demonstration itself, it seems like it could have been done differently and would have been very interesting to hear instantaneous A-B rather than the way it was done with the delay in between.
holygrailaudio
94 posts
 
Let me guess, you think power cords are a scam too, and can't hear the difference between a basic upgraded power cord and a serious one, am I right?
Because your system does not have the resolution to hear the zones of improvement does not mean they don't make huge differences in another system that has better interconnects and speaker wires. Your money will be better spent upgrading the other wires and power cords.
madavid0 OP
214 posts
 
Let me guess, you think power cords are a scam too, and can't hear the difference between a basic upgraded power cord and a serious one, am I right?
Because your system does not have the resolution to hear the zones of improvement does not mean they don't make huge differences in another system that has better interconnects and speaker wires. Your money will be better spent upgrading the other wires and power cords.

Sorry, incorrect. I've auditioned and compared various interconnects and power cables. Sometimes the difference is large, sometimes it's mild, and once I could tell no difference. Possibly SR cables are great, I've never compared them. I'm talking about their various tweak products and their line conditioner.

The SR was top dollar -- Magico + VAC and some high end source. If I could hear any difference with any system it should be that one.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Well, for one thing demos at the shows are a pig in a poke. in fact, most systems at shows sound very generic and unconvincing IMHO. There are many reasons for this. So there’s no reason to think any tweak demo would necessarily be convincing. It’s likie any test that is subject to the whims of the system and time limitations that shows present. If someone complain he didn’t hear tweak X it certainly doesn’t mean it’s a scam, anymore than ANY test. Follow? In fact, I’ve lobbied for a long time for static displays for the simple reason getting audio manufacturers to agree to break in their products prior to showtime is almost impossible. Everybody’s got to show off his brand new shiny little gadget. Fine, have a static display! Hel-loo!
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