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.
Sorry, I'm not here to go to bat for obvious scam artists. If it was a valid A/B test with live switching, allowing listens to hear a whole track without suggestive/guiding questions while openly abusing audio memory mechanics -- I may have just chalked it up to being stressed / in a poor seat / whatever.
The people doing the demo were asked TWICE while I was there to do a live switch, which they denied with silly excuses.
One audio board declares itself an AB testing free zone. While I like healthy skepticism and comments on products that don't perform well, Pehaps audiogon should be a troll free zone.
while I have no problem with the OP posting he heard no benefits to the product, declaring a company a scam is a serious allegation.
Also as others have pointed out, discerning differences in audio gear is a skill that takes time and experience to learn. I have turned my subs on and off for a friend who thought it was a minor difference, while to my ears it was huge.
I cannot comment on your findings, etc. but overall you don't explain what changes the other people heard. Was is sound stage, details, micro or macro dynamics, air, positioning of instruments, backing vocals, backing instruments, etc. How can one determine what you were hearing versus the others. For example, I heard a guys system recently when comparing DACs. His dac sounded OK to me but when we switched the sound stage grew wider and deeper, vocal and instrument placement changed and were very solid, tone was way improved, and details were much better. To me and others a 100% improvement. He heard all that but he felt the bass was better/deeper with the other DAC. So what mattered to him was the bass over what I thought was a big improvement.
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.
I understand your position though, I just don't know what the others heard. And what really matters is what you think because it is your money to spend to improve your system.
Everyone needs to remember something about 'madavid0'. In his 'Class D Trash' post, he lists the amps he was talking about. The first two were $300.00 and $400.00. If he really thinks that spending that much money on equipment is going to get him into the state of the art equipment category, he probably also believes what he's saying in this post.
I've noticed often that when someone says that they hear no differences in sound they invariably make the assumption that listeners who "do" hear differences are some how suckers, foolish or gullible. This is a faulty conclusion.
I agree. Also, you never hear owners of high-end cables deprecating those who do not believe they have an impact on sound...even though (more often than not) these bitter critics have never experienced these cables.
Don’t worry the video is coming. You guys will see it for yourselves. The lame excuse as to why the Atmosphere room resonance controller can’t be live a/b tested. The leading question "you prefer the first one right?" Why can’t the active Tranquility base be live a/b tested? Why can’t he move the Black Boxes in and out of the room with the music playing? Why couldn’t he let us listen to the whole track? Why does he cut it off just as new instruments come in? And then resume after change where he left off? Who is that clown in the back wearing the dealer badge constantly stating how amazing the room is and how great the demo sounds?
Last year at the show in Irvine, SR gave their demo in the largest room at the show. They had all of their goodies hooked up when the demo started. What I heard was a wall to wall Imax type of Cinerama sound.
When the SR demo pieces were removed from the room, the entire sound stage collapsed. Night and day. When Ted Denny hooked everything back up again. that enormous sound stage returned just like before.
The guy sitting next to me asked me if I had heard a difference. I said: "Of course, it was like night and day." He just shook his head and gave me a little sneer of a smile and said: "Well, I didn't hear a damned thing." He walked out.
Go figure.
Could it be that folks like the guy at the show, and the OP haven't trained themselves on what to listen for?
I've noticed often that when someone says that they hear no differences in sound they invariably make the assumption that listeners who "do" hear differences are some how suckers, foolish or gullible. This is a faulty conclusion.
It's definitely possible for a variety of good reasons why some will hear what others do not. Two people could be seated side by side listening to a demonstration and legitimately have quite different impressions of what was heard. Charles
So you couldn't hear a difference, that says more about you than a company that has thousands of satisfied customers. Spend your money on music and keep your unfounded opinions to yourself.
I heard a SR demo at an audio show some years ago and they kept the music playing while fiddling with the cables right in front of me. These were active cables and things were added as the music played. Changes were obvious and immediate. I couldn't say it was all for the better as it was done on the fly, in a large open room with people talking, but the one thing that was patently obvious was the detail and clarity that improved with each and every measure taken. I believe I was wearing headphones as well which aided in my evaluation.
Pretty harsh post to put out there just because your ears could not hear an improvement. I took a look at you other posts that you have started here on Audiogon, and found that they were all just as negative. You also recently posted a similar piece about Anticables, calling them a "scam" as well. Are you just trying to hurt these businesses because you don't care for their products? They are both reputable companies, and neither have done anything wrong to consumers.
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