I just bought Synergistic Research's new Tesla Accelerator speaker cables and Tesla Vortec interconnects from The Cable Company. I have tried many demo cables from The Cable Company over the past year. These were the first to give me that WOW factor I been looking for so long.
Does anyone have these cables and can you please post your impressions and comments? Thanks.
They are just Levitron cheaters that have been Quantum Tunneled. I had 7 of them done for my system, which requires that all but the line stage be ungrounded. They are far superior to the standard Levitron cheater. I tried a comparison of treated and untreated in all positions. One note tells you the difference.
>>06-13-10: Tbg They are just Levitron cheaters that have been Quantum Tunneled. I had 7 of them done for my system, which requires that all but the line stage be ungrounded. They are far superior to the standard Levitron cheater.<<
Quantum tunneled cheater plugs.
LOL
What's next clever clocks and teleportation tweaks?
Bacardi, much depends on what you hear with all ground loops removed from your system. On my H-Cat equipment putting them on all grounded units except the line stage makes a great difference. YMMV.
Tvad and Splaskin, I have had them for well over a year. I don't even recall whether I sent Levitrons to them are they provided them. When I found a solution to my need for better cheaters I acted. I had no idea that they were going to actually do these although I told others with H-Cat about them.
Synergistic Research has sent me several different types of small adapters to help me for little or no charge, I guess because I have bought so many items from them and considered a loyal customer.
I dont have the cheater adapters but I think if I asked Synergistic for some they would provide them again at little or no cost.
But then again, if everyone started asking for freebies they would take the opportunity to add those items to there product line up and figure out a cost for them.
Tvad, I don't really understand why you post here. Can you please explain it?
Again, it was long ago and I could not find cheaters that didn't corrupt the sound. I may have originated the idea of Tunneling the Levitrons, but these cheater were a godsend.
Again why have you posted nothing on your experiences with the MIGs? Why have you yet to visit SR as you are so nearby and were invited? I get tired of your conspiratorial tone of voice always and really why.
Tvad, how is it that I bring it on myself? Why are you so interested in the price of the SR cheaters? Is forgetting how this all developed a sin? It all developed out of my asking Ted if he knew of any good cheaters. Can you not believe that?
Do you own any SR products that you inveigle yourself in discussions of products which don't interest you, especially, as you don't seem to learn anything from others' experiences?
Tvad and Tbg, Here's a educational test for both of you. I have a SVS PB 13 Ultra with a Phase 2 RCA with a factory power cord, each of you in different thread tell me an upgraded RCA and power cord in the Tesla series for my beast. Let's get back to positive air....
I use a SR Precision AC cable on my Wilson Watch Dog powered sub. It makes a very postivie improvement over the standard AC cable that comes with the sub.
Understand that the Ground Lifter just does that. You could do the same thing by cutting of the ground pin on the plug going into the wall. I don't really know whether lifting the ground on the PowerCell would adversely affect it, however.
But I do know that most systems sound better with only one component grounded to the ac. This is especially true of the H-Cat components and is why I was so happy to get a good sounding and easy way to lift all grounds on grounded components in my system except the line stage. If anyone is happy using the Levtron cheater in its standard, $.89, form, I am happy for them.
I guess, I have personally had probably five systems were I did this, starting many year ago with the Namichi ac leakage voltage meter. I have heard it also on at least five friends' systems.
But really it is the ground loop issue which is always there with each chassis grounded through the ac cord as well as through the interconnects to other chassis. Many sources have no chassis ground even if they have three prong plugs.
I do agree, however, that few demonstrators don't bother with this.
But really it is the ground loop issue which is always there with each chassis grounded through the ac cord as well as through the interconnects to other chassis.
It should be pointed out that this is potentially an issue just with equipment that is interfaced via single-ended (unbalanced rca) interconnects, because inter-chassis noise currents that may be present flow through the shield or other return conductor of single-ended interconnects in common with signal return currents. Balanced interfaces will normally be immune to that effect.
There is also, of course, a safety risk that arises from lifting grounds. If everything is in good condition the risk is extremely small, and I have the grounds lifted in my own system on all of the components other than the preamp, but it cannot be said that the risk is zero. There are several other threads in the recent past in which this has been debated.
Almarg, I agree there is a slight risk and that in a balance circumstance there is probably little benefit, but personally I don't like balanced systems.
Hey, Dave, I wish I could say, come on up and hear for yourself, but alas I am in the mountains of NM for the summer.
I should say that I brought my three Universal Cells and their Basik speaker wires and ics with me to NM. This is not to say that the Apexs aren't better but the Universal Cells are a must.
Dave - I haven't decided yet whether to keep the speaker cells, although I am leaning towards doing so. They do improve imaging nicely and also add a bit more detail. I'm still undecided how I feel about the soundstage being pushed a bit further back, but I'm slowly getting used to it. A lot of the brightness I was initially concerned about is gone, however some still remains, which seems to be affecting the musicality of my system. At this point, the positives probably outweigh the negatives, but I need to do more listening to more different kinds of music.
If my system weren't already very highly resolving, keeping them would be a no-brainer, as I'm sure they are for most people. What I want to avoid is having to de-tune other parts of my system in order to accommodate the speaker cells.
My advice would be to try them and see how they sound in your system.
Well I have inserted another 2 sets of miggs in my system. One set under my Powercell 10SE and another under my subwoofer, actually between the sub and my hifi pyon mythology platform. I inserted the miggs in pin-point imaging( 2 in front up-side-down and one right-side-up in middle in back) . I will post results in few days.
I had a really good "AHA" moment yesterday regarding the speaker cells. After a bunch of brainstorming, Elliot(SR)and I, with the assistance of nautical Ted, figured out that the main reason I wasn't getting good performance out of the speaker cells was that the 48" bi-wire pigtails of my Apex speaker cables were not also connected to the speaker cells. They were basically acting as antennae and also robbing the speakers of full signal.
When I connected all 4 speaker leads to the 2 terminals on the speaker cell (pretty awkward with spades), the sound changed dramatically for the better. I now have bass again as well as midrange and the glare in the highs I had been hearing is pretty much gone. I will be replacing the 48" bass leads with 16" leads tonite, which should hopefully give me a bit stronger bass response, due to a potential loss of some current with the longer leads. I will post results as soon as I have a chance to set both speakers up and listen.
Currently, I have only got 1 speaker hooked to the speaker cell. The other has the Apex bi-wire on it and is relatively difficult for me to get behind. I am playing all types of music like this, as it is the easiest way for me to hear differences in the lows, mids and highs, of course making allowances for the signals not being identical. (Another benefit of mono amps ;-)). The dogs think I'm playing with them, as I bounce from speaker to speaker. I am hearing positive differences out of the speaker cell side so far, as the positives from before have not gone away, but most of the negatives have.
Glad to hear that you are making progress with the cells, Fplanner. Good thing you stayed with it. You might have sent them back without ever hearing what they really do.
Elliot is definitely one of the finest human beings of all time.
Anxious to hear your impressions when you get the other speaker hooked up.
Fplanner2010, I think I understand what you are attempting to do and don't understand why you are doing it. I think you have two sets of Apex speaker wires running from your amp to each Universal Speaker Cells and one set of pigtails from the Cells to your speakers and that previously you had one set of your Apex speaker wires connected directly to your speakers bypassing the Universal Cells. Forgive me if I misunderstand, but I would simply get another set of pigtails to run between the Cells and the speakers and remove the second set of Apex cables. Or get another set of Universal cells. This would be expensive and I suspect overkill.
Tbg - You almost confused me!! Let me explain a bit more clearly. Before speaker cells: Apex biwires hooked to my VR-7s in bass and mid modules; 1 amp per side. Currently: 1 speaker just as before. 2nd speaker with both Apex main and Apex pigtails (hence "biwire") hooked to speaker cell input terminals; 48" leads(2) from speaker cell hooked to midrange terminals on speaker, 16" leads(2) from speaker cell hooked to bass terminals of the speaker. What we hadn't done before was to hook the Apex pigtails to the speaker cell input terminals as well, but just left them un-connected.
BTW, shortening the bass leads from the speaker cell from 48" to 16" noticeably tightened up the bass, which I was happy to hear. After a few more days of "A-B"-ing the 2 speakers, I will hook the other speaker cell up and hopefully be happy with the result. So far, I am getting better instrument separation and a bit more detail out of the speaker hooked to the speaker cell. The bass is also a bit deeper and tighter than the non-speaker cell speaker.
What is difficult to ascertain until I hook the other speaker to the speaker cell is their effect on the overall musicality of the system. It was pretty non-existent before when the cables weren't hooked up properly. I'm expecting a huge positive difference now, hopefully even better than without the cells at all. If that happens, I will of course keep the cells. The next week or so should be pretty interesting.
Fplanner2010, now I am more confused. What does "both Apex main and Apex pigtails hooked to speaker cell input" mean? I know there are pigtails on the ends of Apex speaker cables. Presumably these are not what you mean. I know that the Universal Speaker Cells come with Basik speaker wires. Is that what you mean by Apex pig tails? If this is so, who suggest that you do this? I would not expect that have fully shielded Apex speaker wires with unshielded Basiks would be best.
Tbg - Its VERY SIMPLE - My Apex cables are BI-WIRE, which means there are 4 ends that go to the speakers. 2 of those ends are heavier(main) and the other 2 come off of the main Apex cable as 48" pigtails. All are spade terminated, with the main ends being heavier spades than those at the ends of the pigtails. Hooking ALL 4 up to the INPUT side of the speaker cell solved my problem. If this is still confusing, SR can perhaps explains better than I. Thanks for your feedback.
Fplanner2010, I now understand. I can only imagine what it must be like dealing with the Apex speaker wires at the Universal Speaker Cells. When I connected my single run of Apex speaker wires, they wanted to twist the Universal cells onto their sides. I just put a lead weight on overnight and let gravity twist the Apex into level.
Ozzy - I have VSA VR-7's which required the extra length for the bi-wire application. I've hooked the 2nd speaker to the speaker cell and will wait a day or two before critical listening. Initial impression is pretty positive.
The speaker cells will be remaining in my system. They are providing a bit better imaging and detail as well as tighter bass and a bit better lower-volume resolution. The presentation is also a little more organic. These are not night/day differences, but there is enough of an improvement that the system sounds better to my ears with them than without.
Update:Miggs under subwoofer.(Pin-point soundstage config)
After a few weeks of the miggs under my SVS PB13 Ultra subwoofer & between my HifiPyon subwoofer platform the results were pretty noticeable. More detail, isolated and defined bass, acurately soundstages bass with refinment. If you walked in the room with your eyes covered and sat in an ideal seat, you couldn't even tell where the sub is sittuated...AWESOME.......Thumbs up miggs.....
I actually might put the miggs in the Ambient Soundstage Configuration and post my results...
KeithR. I let the miggs settle about a week longer for 100% break-in because the amount of bass information is minimal compared to a component running for longer time periods......
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